How to fix inconsistent trading results with a trading journal

Lately the market has been giving me more trouble than I like.

Now, that happens. It’s not abnormal.

But my results have been… less than admirable.

And when a bad streak like this happens, most traders do one of two things:

- They blame the market

- They change strategies

But the market isn’t the one clicking “enter” for me.

And I definitely don’t plan on switching strategies right now.

So I did what most people probably never do… but should do a lot more often:

I pulled up my journal and reviewed my trades.

And what I found was a pattern that instantly explained why I was being inconsistent.

 

The Column That Exposed Everything

In my journal, I track a column for every trade:

“Was this trade in plan?”

Here’s exactly what that means.

 ✅ In Plan

I identified the trade pre-market

OR I spotted it early in the session

I waited for price to come to my level

I entered only when I got my confirmation

❌ Not In Plan

I didn’t identify it pre-market

I saw something moving in real time

I entered without confirmation

I chased the move instead of being patient

 

What the Data Revealed

When I reviewed my last trades, here’s what I found:

I had 174 trades.

Only 13% of them were out of plan…

…but that 13% accounted for 31% of my total losses.

Read that again.

A relatively “small” percentage of trades created a massive amount of damage.

So even though the majority of my trades were in plan and profitable…

That small chunk of “not in plan” trades was holding my overall performance back.

 

 Why You Don’t Notice This Day-to-Day

The reason this is so dangerous is because in the moment, those trades feel “good enough.”

You tell yourself:

“I’ll just take this one…”

“It’s moving right now…”

“I don’t want it to get away from me…”

But the journal doesn’t care how it felt.

The journal shows you the truth.

This Is Why Journaling Is Critical

Most traders judge themselves day-to-day.

But day-to-day is too noisy.

You can have a green day and still be sloppy

You can take a loss and execute perfectly

The only way to see what’s really happening is to zoom out.

When you review a big enough sample size, your patterns become obvious.

And once you see your patterns…

you can stop repeating the ones that are holding you back.

In my case, simply tracking “In Plan vs Not In Plan” showed me a leak that was costing me 31% more losses than it should’ve.

 

Your Simple Takeaway

Add one column to your journal:

 ✅ In Plan? Yes / No

Because you can’t fix what you don’t measure.

And the fastest way to improve your performance isn’t always a new strategy…

Sometimes it’s just removing the trades you were never supposed to take.

Til next time — trade ‘em safe.