Journaling: turning trades into lessons
After this lesson you can keep a trading journal with the fields that matter, tag your mistakes, and run a 20-minute weekly review that shows what to keep and what to change.
Journal: har trade ko sabaq banana
Jo likha nahi jata, woh yaad mein badal jata hai. Har trade par yeh likhein: tareekh, market, timeframe, setup, ek jumle mein wajah, entry, stop, target, size, risk rupay aur R mein, mood 1 se 5, aur Nafs Guard paas hua ya nahi. Trade ke baad: exit, nateeja R mein, fees, plan follow hua ya nahi, ek mistake tag aur screenshot.
Mistake tags rakhein: chased, no stop, moved stop, early exit, oversize, revenge. 20-30 trades ke baad gin lein, pata chal jayega paisa kahan se nikal raha hai. Har hafte 20 minute ka review karein aur chhe sawal likh kar jawab dein. Rule sirf mahane review mein badlein, jab kam az kam 20 trades ka data ho. Misal: ek hafte mein sirf ek moved stop ne +0.5R ko -0.8R bana diya.
- Har trade par plan, halat aur nateeja R mein likhein.
- Mistake tags ginein; yeh batate hain nuqsan kahan se aa raha hai.
- Haftawar review karein, magar rule sirf 20 se zyada trades ke baad badlein.
Poora sabaq neeche English mein hai. Quiz English mein hai; asaan alfaaz mein.
Imran, a sales manager in Gujranwala, had been trading for a year. When his wife asked whether it was working, he said, 'Roughly break-even, I think.' He remembered his big wins in detail and almost none of his losses. When he finally exported his exchange history, he found 140 trades, Rs 38,000 in fees and a total loss of Rs 61,000. He had no idea which setups made money, which lost, or why. He had a year of experience that taught him almost nothing, because none of it was written down.
What to record, every time
A journal is a record for your future self, so write it for someone who remembers nothing about today. Fill in the first two groups before you enter, while the plan is fresh, and the rest after you exit. Five groups of fields cover everything that matters; if one has no box in your journal, put it in the notes:
- Before: date, market and symbol, timeframe, setup name, the reason in one sentence, the Barqish reading at the time.
- Plan: entry, stop, target, position size, risk in rupees and in R, planned reward-to-risk.
- State: mood from 1 to 5 with one word, hours of sleep, whether the Nafs Guard checklist passed.
- After: exit price, result in R, fees, and whether you followed the plan (yes or no).
- Lesson: one mistake tag, plus a screenshot of the chart at entry and at exit.
Mistake tags make patterns visible
A free-text note like 'bad trade' teaches nothing. Use a short, fixed list of tags so you can count them: chased, no stop, moved stop, early exit, oversize, revenge, off-plan asset, news trade. After 20 or 30 trades, counting the tags shows you exactly where the money leaks. Most people find that one or two tags explain most of their damage.
Also mark good process. A trade that followed every rule and still lost is tagged 'plan followed'. It is not a mistake; it is the cost of doing business. Separating bad outcomes from bad decisions is the whole point of a journal, and without it you will keep fixing things that were never broken.
The weekly review: six questions
Once a week, at a fixed time, open the journal and answer these six questions in writing. It takes about 20 minutes. Change a rule only at a monthly review with at least 20 trades behind it, never after one bad week, because a single week is too small a sample to tell skill from luck.
- How many trades did I take, and how many followed the plan fully?
- What was my total in R, and what was it for plan-following trades only?
- Which mistake tag appeared most, and what did it cost in R?
- Which setup performed best, and in which market conditions?
- When did I trade worst: time of day, mood, after a loss?
- Did trading take time from salah, family or work this week?
One week, reviewed
Imran's week has 8 trades, in R: +2, -1, -1, +1.5, -1, -2.3, +2, -1. Wins: 2 + 1.5 + 2 = 5.5R. Losses: 1 + 1 + 1 + 2.3 + 1 = 6.3R. Total: -0.8R.
The -2.3R trade is tagged 'moved stop': he pushed his stop lower and lost more than planned. Had he kept it, that trade would have been -1R, and the week would be 5.5 - 5 = +0.5R.
One broken rule turned a small winning week into a losing one. With 1R = Rs 2,500, that is -Rs 2,000 instead of +Rs 1,250. The fix is not a new indicator; it is leaving the stop where it was placed.
The longest verse of the Quran commands believers to write down transactions made on a term and to have them witnessed (Quran 2:282). Its spirit is clarity and accountability: what is written cannot be quietly rewritten by memory or ego. A trading journal applies that spirit to your own decisions, and it is a form of muhasabah, honest self-review. Keep it complete, including the trades you are not proud of, because a journal that hides mistakes cannot help you fix them.
Education, not a fatwa. Where scholars differ, we say so. See what scholars say.
The trap is journaling only the good trades, or only when you feel like it. A journal with gaps is worse than none, because it tells you a flattering story. The second trap is writing everything but never reviewing it. The value is not in the writing; it is in the weekly review, where the numbers show you what your memory prefers to hide.
Open the trading journal. Create entries for your last five trades, real or Chart Replay practice, using every field group in this lesson, including a mistake tag and a mood score. Then answer the six weekly questions for those five trades and write one rule you will keep exactly as it is next week.
Open your journal →Key takeaways
- Record plan, state and result on every trade, with the result in R and one mistake tag.
- Tags turn vague regret into counts, and counts show where your money leaks.
- Review weekly with six fixed questions, and change rules only after 20 or more trades.
Check yourself
Pass with 2 of 3 to complete the lesson. Answers are checked on our server, so the certificate means something.
Barqish is an educational platform. Nothing here is financial advice or an instruction to buy or sell, and screening is not a fatwa. Spot ownership only: no leverage, no short selling. Updated 30 September 2026.