How to Review Your Trades: A 10-Minute Trading Review

What a 10-minute trading review should produce

A short review is not a verdict on whether you are a good trader. It is a repeatable way to capture what happened, separate the outcome from the decision, and leave a clear trail for a later comparison.

Use the same sequence after every session. A single winning or losing trade does not establish a pattern, but consistently recorded facts can show where to look when a pattern begins to repeat.

Minute 0–2: establish the facts before the story

Record the account, market, symbol, direction, session, size, entry and exit, and net Trading P&L after the costs your record includes. Save the order or chart evidence that would let you check the entry later.

Keep deposits, withdrawals, payouts, resets and corrections separate from Trading P&L. They change account equity, but they do not describe the execution of a trade.

Minute 2–5: score execution against a written rule

Ask three concrete questions: Did the setup match the rule you intended to trade? Did the size respect the rule? Did the exit follow the planned management rule or a documented exception? Write the answer before you interpret the P&L.

A positive outcome can follow a rule break, and a negative outcome can follow a disciplined decision. Treat outcome and execution as separate fields so a memorable result does not rewrite the process.

Minute 5–8: compare a defined sample

Choose one comparison group, such as the same setup, market, session, direction or behavior tag. Put the trade count beside the result. Averages can hide a single unusually large trade, changing size, or a sample that only occurred in one market condition.

At this stage, ask a question rather than declare an answer: “Do early exits tagged fearful have the same rule adherence and average outcome as comparable planned exits?” The journal supplies candidates for review; it does not prove a cause from a small sample.

Minute 8–10: choose one next action

Write one response that another person could observe. For example: “After a full-size loss, I wait five minutes before the next order,” or “Before adding size, I attach a chart showing the planned setup.” Avoid broad promises such as “be more disciplined.”

Keep the action for a defined review window and revisit it with the next relevant sample. One focused response is enough; piling up new rules after every session makes it hard to tell which change you are testing.

Copy this trade review template

Use this five-line template in the same order after each session. It deliberately separates the record, the rule and the next test.

1. Facts: account, market, symbol, direction, session, size, entry, exit, net Trading P&L and evidence.
2. Plan: the setup and management rule that applied before the entry.
3. Execution: followed, adapted with a documented reason, or broken—and the specific point where it changed.
4. Context: one behavior tag or market condition that materially affected the decision.
5. Next action: one if–then response to use until the next meaningful review.

Worked example: turn a loss into a testable rule

A trader records a losing long trade after a full-size loss. The setup and initial stop matched the plan, but the trader added size before the planned confirmation. They tag the decision “urgent” and attach the chart. The result is recorded as a loss; the execution field records the early size increase separately.

At the end of the week, the trader finds four comparable “urgent” entries. That is not enough to call it an edge or a flaw, but it is enough to test one response: “If I feel urgency after a missed entry, I wait for the next planned confirmation before changing size.” The next review asks whether the rule was followed and what the comparable sample looks like—not whether the one rule guaranteed a better result.