I'd comment on both my entry and my exit for every single trade. If it was a really good trade, I'd write down whether the exit was good, like selling into the extension on a second gap-up with an increase in volume, or a good entry, like buying after an inside day or on weekly higher lows. For the bad trades I'd also write down what I did wrong, like being oversized in a position and taking a bigger loss, or chasing the stock. There was a column for entry remarks and one for exit remarks. I also did a weekend, or even daily, market plan, writing a few paragraphs on the trade ideas for the coming days and describing my trades from the previous day. Gradually I gave that up. It was too time- consuming, because back then I still had to study, find jobs and apply for internships. I still log my trades in Excel, and if it is a huge winner I go back to the chart and look at my entries and exits, comparing them with the market, the peers, the sector and the index. If I'm in a huge or prolonged drawdown, I write a few paragraphs describing my feelings: what have I done wrong, and how could I prevent it from happening again? Back in the days there was no AI, so I had to think about all of it myself. If you use AI now, I don't recommend asking it directly for a summary or for the ways to improve. Ask it for directions, tips and guidance instead of the answer. You have to build your own thinking process first instead of relying on the AI. Maybe let the AI ask you questions instead of you asking the AI.
Source: EP108 | 23 Oct 2026