Trade Review
A trade review is a structured look back at closed trades to check whether you followed your plan and what to change, judged on process rather than outcome alone.
Placing trades is only half the job. The other half is looking back at them honestly. A trade review turns your journal into lessons.
- Reading time
- 3 min
- Also called
- Post-trade review, Trade analysis, Performance review
- Updated
Trade review in plain words
CMC suggests reviewing a trade after it is closed.1
The point is to check whether your decisions were sound, not just whether the trade made money.1
As CMC puts it: the edge comes from review.1
How to review your trades
Record everything
Keep a detailed trading diary.2
Separate decision from result
Judge the decision apart from the outcome.1
Check plan alignment
Ask whether the trade matched your plan.1
Note emotions
Record how you felt during the trade.2
Track metrics
Review key performance metrics.2
Review on a schedule
Do weekly reviews and broader monthly ones.1
Worked examples
Example 1 — Good trade, loss
Keep doing thisA hypothetical trade followed every rule and hit its stop for −1R (−$100).
| Plan followed | Yes |
| Result | −$100 |
Judging the decision separately from the outcome marks this as a good trade.1
Example 2 — Bad trade, win
Profit, but a rule breakA hypothetical trade entered without a setup made +$180.
| Plan followed | No |
| Result | +$180 |
A review asks if decisions were sound, so this win is flagged as a mistake.1
Example 3 — Weekly pattern
One clear change for next weekA hypothetical weekly review of 12 trades finds 4 off-plan trades lost $420 together.
| Off-plan trades | 4 |
| Their result | −$420 |
A weekly review revealed the pattern to fix.1
Trade review vs trading journal
| Aspect | Trade review | Trading journal |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Analysis | Record |
| When | After close, weekly, monthly | During and after each trade |
| Output | Changes to make | Data |
| Focus | Process quality | Facts and feelings |
What to review
Rule breaks
Checking Trading Discipline against the Trading Plan.
Statistics
Win Rate, Expectancy and R-Multiple.
Emotions
Spotting Tilt or Fear and Greed.
Setups
Which Trade Setup and Entry Trigger types work best.
Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
- Turns experience into lessons.
- Separates skill from luck.
- Finds patterns you can fix.
- Builds consistency.
Disadvantages
- Takes regular time.
- Needs a complete journal.
- Small samples can mislead.
- Easy to skip after losing weeks.
Going deeper
Read as far as you need. Each level builds on the one before it.
Common mistakes
Results only
Judging trades solely by profit.
Skipping losers
Reviewing only winning trades.
No schedule
Reviewing only when upset.
No action
Finding problems but changing nothing.
Check your understanding
Test yourself before moving on. Each answer comes with an explanation.
Key points to remember
- Review trades after they close.
- Judge decisions, not only results.
- Check every trade against the plan.
- Review weekly and monthly.
- Turn findings into one change at a time.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I review?
How many trades before drawing conclusions?
Should I review demo trades?
Further learning
- Trading Journal
Collecting review data.
- Expectancy
The key review metric.
- R-Multiple
Comparing trades fairly.
- Pre-Trade and Post-Trade Checklists
Turning lessons into rules.
Sources
This article is written in our own words. The sources below support the specific facts, rules and figures marked with a number in the text. Links open the original publisher’s page.
- CMC Markets. Trading Journals: The Missing Link in the Trading Process (opens in a new tab) Checked .
- IG. The Essential Trading Checklist (opens in a new tab) Checked .
Read more elsewhere
- Trading Metrics (our sister site): Trade Journaling (opens in a new tab)
Educational content, not financial advice. Examples use hypothetical prices and simplified costs; actual fees, margin rules and regulations vary by broker, market and country. Trading Metrics is our sister site, under the same ownership; we are not affiliated with any other publisher linked above. Last reviewed . Report an error or request a source credit.