If you look at your history and see that 80% of your losses come from 5% of your trades, those trades are almost certainly psychological. The fix is in the journal notes.
The Difference Between Hard and Soft Data
**Hard data** is quantifiable (Entry Price, P&L, Contracts). Your dashboard tracks this automatically. **Soft data** is contextual (Your emotion, rationale, adherence to rules). Tracking soft data is how you fix *yourself*, not just your system.
5 Emotional Leaks to Quantify in Your Journal
1. Revenge Trading
The urge to immediately enter another trade after a loss to "get your money back." This always involves ignoring your setup rules and increasing risk, accelerating drawdown. **Tag it:** *#RevengeTrade*
2. Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)
Entering a trade late because you see the market moving quickly without you. FOMO trades typically occur far from ideal risk/reward levels. **Tag it:** *#FOMO*
3. Over-Sizing (Greed)
Using too many contracts/shares because you are confident in the setup or are trying to hit a P&L goal. This leads to massive volatility in your equity curve. **Tag it:** *#OverSized*
4. Moving the Stop Loss
Breaching a fundamental rule: widening your stop loss (or removing it) to avoid getting hit. This turns small, quantifiable losses into catastrophic losses. **Tag it:** *#BrokenRule*
5. Premature Exit (Fear)
Closing a profitable trade too early because you are afraid the market will turn around, sacrificing planned R:R. This kills your trading Expectancy. **Tag it:** *#EarlyExit*
The Path to Self-Correction
Once you consistently tag these psychological trades, your analytics dashboard can filter them. You will see the **exact P&L** contributed by your emotional trades.
Often, a trader's net P&L is positive *if* they remove the 5-10 trades tagged with *#RevengeTrade* or *#FOMO*. This quantification is the most powerful psychological cure.
"The journal is your therapist. The analytics are your progress report."
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