How to Keep a Futures Trading Journal

A futures trading journal is a record of your decisions, execution, and results. Its value comes from consistent entries and honest review—not from writing long notes after only the best or worst trades.

What to record after every trade

Date, market, session, and direction.
Setup name and the conditions that qualified it.
Entry, stop, target, size, and planned dollar risk.
Result in dollars and in R-multiples.
Whether you followed the plan.
One concise lesson or screenshot reference.

An R-multiple compares the result with the initial planned risk. If you risk $100 and make $200, the result is +2R. If the full stop is hit, it is approximately -1R before costs.

Separate outcome from execution

A winning trade can still be a poor trade if it broke your plan. A losing trade can be well executed if the setup, size, stop, and exit all followed tested rules. Track both result and plan adherence so luck does not hide bad behavior.

A weekly journal review

Total the number of trades, wins, losses, dollars, and R.
Group results by setup, session, and market.
Count rule violations separately.
Find one repeated strength and one repeated mistake.
Choose one behavior to improve next week.

Do not change a strategy after one trade. Look for a repeated pattern across a meaningful sample and review market conditions alongside the numbers.

Journal questions that produce useful notes

What information justified the entry?
Where was the trade idea invalidated?
Did the size match the planned risk?
Was a scheduled event approaching?
Would I take the same setup again under the same rules?

Trading-journal FAQ

Should I journal trades that I did not take?

Record missed valid setups when doing so helps you study hesitation or timing, but keep them separate from executed results.

How long should a journal entry be?

Long enough to explain the decision. A few structured fields and one clear lesson are often more useful than a page of emotion.

Put the guide into practice

Open the matching Garner Gold tool and use the steps from this article.

Open Trading Journal View all guides

Educational information only—not financial advice. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss. Verify current exchange specifications and prop firm rules before trading.