Trade Review

What is a trade review?

A trade review is the check you make after a trade. You compare the written plan with what you actually did, confirm the entry, exit, costs and result, then write one factual observation.

A profit does not prove that you followed the plan. A loss does not prove that the decision was wrong. Review the decision and the result as two separate pieces of information.

Simple XAUUSD trade review

Use the same fictional XAUUSD London-session breakout from the trading journal example:

1. Plan: Wait for the Asian high to break and for a candle to close above it.
2. Execution: Entered after the close, used the planned stop and made no unplanned change.
3. Record check: Entry, exit, stated costs and the +$85 result match the account history.
4. One observation: The written conditions and the recorded action matched in this trade. That does not prove the setup will work next time.

Now imagine you entered before the candle closed and still made +$120. The review should call it a profitable rule break. The outcome was positive, while setup compliance was not complete.

What should you check?

1. Is the journal entry complete enough to review?
2. Did the planned setup and confirmation actually appear?
3. Did you change the entry, exit, stop, size or reason?
4. Do the execution, costs and result match the account history?
5. What one factual note should you carry into a later multi-trade review?

Trade review vs performance report

A trade review checks one completed decision. A trading performance report summarises a defined group of trades. The first helps you understand one record; the second helps you compare results and recorded process across a larger sample.

Trade review vs weekly or monthly review

A single-trade review can happen after the trade or at a consistent later time. A weekly or monthly review compares several completed entries to see whether a pattern repeats. There is no universal five-minute, thirty-minute or one-hour schedule that every trader must follow.

Use the weekly trading review template or monthly trading review template when you are ready to compare several records.

What should you do next?

Open one completed journal entry and mark it plan matched, plan changed or record incomplete. Then write one factual sentence. Do not turn one trade into a universal rule or a prediction about the next result.