trade-journal Checked
Installation
Copy the prompt below and send it to your AI assistant (e.g. Claude Code) — it will follow the instructions and install automatically.
Install the "trade-journal" skill by following the instructions at https://skill123.me/install/trade-journal.
Run in your terminal — downloads and installs to ~/.claude/skills/.
curl -fsSL https://skill123.me/install/trade-journal.sh | bash
Download the zip and extract it into your skills directory (e.g. ~/.claude/skills/), then restart your session.
⬇ Download v1.0.0 · 25 KBNot live-tested yet — this skill is rated on static analysis only.
About this skill
Structured trade logging, performance review, behavioral pattern detection, and strategy attribution for systematic improvement
Trade Journal
Structured trade journaling for systematic improvement. Log every trade with context, review performance at multiple cadences, detect behavioral patterns that destroy edge, and attribute returns to specific strategies.
Documentation
Structured trade logging, performance review, behavioral pattern detection, and strategy attribution for systematic improvement
Trade Journal
Structured trade journaling for systematic improvement. Log every trade with context, review performance at multiple cadences, detect behavioral patterns that destroy edge, and attribute returns to specific strategies.
Why Journaling Matters
Most traders fail not from bad strategies but from bad behavior. A trade journal transforms subjective "feel" into objective data:
- **Strategy Attribution**: Know which setups actually make money vs. which feel profitable
- **Behavioral Detection**: Catch revenge trading, FOMO entries, and premature exits before they compound
- **Pattern Recognition**: Discover that your Monday morning trades lose money, or that you cut SOL winners too early
- **Accountability**: Written rationale before entry forces deliberate decision-making
- **Improvement Tracking**: Measure whether changes to your process actually improve results
Without a journal, you optimize on noise. With one, you optimize on signal.
Trade Record Structure
Every trade record captures context at entry and outcome at exit. See references/record_format.md for the complete 18-field schema.
### Minimum Required Fields
trade = {
"id": "T-20250310-001",
"token": "SOL",
"direction": "long",
"entry_date": "2025-03-10T14:30:00Z",
"entry_price": 142.50,
"size_sol": 5.0,
"strategy": "momentum-breakout",
"rationale": "Breaking above 4h resistance at 141.80 with volume confirmation",
"exit_date": "2025-03-10T16:45:00Z",
"exit_price": 146.20,
"pnl_sol": 0.648,
"outcome": "win",
"lessons": "Held through initial pullback to 143.0, rewarded for patience"
}
### Strategy Tagging
Use consistent tags to enable performance attribution:
| Category | Tags |
|----------|------|
| Momentum | momentum-breakout, trend-continuation, pullback-entry |
| Mean Reversion | range-fade, oversold-bounce, deviation-snap |
| Event-Driven | listing-play, catalyst-trade, news-reaction |
| On-Chain | whale-follow, wallet-copy, flow-signal |
| DeFi | lp-entry, yield-farm, arb-capture |
### Rationale Templates
Write rationale **before** entering. Templates by setup type:
Momentum: "[Token] breaking [level] on [timeframe] with [confirmation]. Target [price], stop [price]."
Mean Reversion: "[Token] at [X] std devs from [mean] on [timeframe]. Expecting reversion to [target]."
On-Chain: "[Signal type] detected — [wallet/flow description]. Historical hit rate [X]%."
Storage Format
The journal uses JSON for structured querying and CSV for spreadsheet compatibility.
### JSON Format (Primary)
View full documentation
{
"journal_version": "1.0",
"trader_id": "anon",
"trades": [
{
"id": "T-20250310-001",
"token": "SOL",
"direction": "long",
"entry_date": "2025-03-10T14:30:00Z",
"entry_price": 142.50,
"size_sol": 5.0,
"size_usd": 712.50,
"strategy": "momentum-breakout",
"setup_quality": 8,
"rationale": "Breaking above 4h resistance with volume",
"exit_date": "2025-03-10T16:45:00Z",
"exit_price": 146.20,
"pnl_sol": 0.648,
"pnl_pct": 2.60,
"outcome": "win",
"hold_time_minutes": 135,
"emotional_state": "calm",
"lessons": "Patience through pullback paid off",
"tags": ["high-conviction", "clean-setup"]
}
]
}
### CSV Format (Export)
id,token,direction,entry_date,entry_price,size_sol,strategy,exit_date,exit_price,pnl_sol,pnl_pct,outcome,lessons
T-20250310-001,SOL,long,2025-03-10T14:30:00Z,142.50,5.0,momentum-breakout,2025-03-10T16:45:00Z,146.20,0.648,2.60,win,"Patience paid off"
Analytics from Journal Data
### Win Rate by Strategy
from collections import Counter
def win_rate_by_strategy(trades: list[dict]) -> dict[str, float]:
"""Compute win rate grouped by strategy tag."""
strategy_outcomes: dict[str, list[str]] = {}
for t in trades:
strat = t["strategy"]
strategy_outcomes.setdefault(strat, []).append(t["outcome"])
return {
strat: outcomes.count("win") / len(outcomes)
for strat, outcomes in strategy_outcomes.items()
if len(outcomes) >= 5 # minimum sample size
}
### Performance by Time of Day
from datetime import datetime
def pnl_by_hour(trades: list[dict]) -> dict[int, float]:
"""Aggregate P&L by entry hour (UTC)."""
hourly: dict[int, float] = {}
for t in trades:
hour = datetime.fromisoformat(t["entry_date"].rstrip("Z")).hour
hourly[hour] = hourly.get(hour, 0.0) + t.get("pnl_sol", 0.0)
return dict(sorted(hourly.items()))
### Profit Factor by Token Type
def profit_factor(trades: list[dict], group_key: str = "token") -> dict[str, float]:
"""Compute profit factor (gross wins / gross losses) by grouping key."""
groups: dict[str, dict[str, float]] = {}
for t in trades:
key = t.get(group_key, "unknown")
groups.setdefault(key, {"wins": 0.0, "losses": 0.0})
pnl = t.get("pnl_sol", 0.0)
if pnl > 0:
groups[key]["wins"] += pnl
else:
groups[key]["losses"] += abs(pnl)
return {
k: v["wins"] / v["losses"] if v["losses"] > 0 else float("inf")
for k, v in groups.items()
}
Behavioral Pattern Detection
The journal enables detection of destructive trading patterns. See references/review_framework.md for the full framework.
### Revenge Trading
Rapid re-entry after a loss, often with larger size:
def detect_revenge_trades(trades: list[dict], max_gap_minutes: int = 15) -> list[dict]:
"""Find trades entered within max_gap_minutes of a losing exit."""
sorted_trades = sorted(trades, key=lambda t: t["entry_date"])
revenge = []
for i in range(1, len(sorted_trades)):
prev, curr = sorted_trades[i - 1], sorted_trades[i]
if prev["outcome"] == "loss":
prev_exit = datetime.fromisoformat(prev["exit_date"].rstrip("Z"))
curr_entry = datetime.fromisoformat(curr["entry_date"].rstrip("Z"))
gap = (curr_entry - prev_exit).total_seconds() / 60
if gap <= max_gap_minutes:
revenge.append(curr)
return revenge
### FOMO Detection
Entering after large moves without proper setup:
- Entry rationale is vague or missing
- Setup quality self-rated below 5/10
- Entry during a move that already exceeded 1 ATR
### Cutting Winners / Riding Losers
def winner_loser_hold_times(trades: list[dict]) -> dict[str, float]:
"""Compare average hold time for wins vs losses."""
win_times = [t["hold_time_minutes"] for t in trades if t["outcome"] == "win"]
loss_times = [t["hold_time_minutes"] for t in trades if t["outcome"] == "loss"]
return {
"avg_win_hold_min": sum(win_times) / len(win_times) if win_times else 0,
"avg_loss_hold_min": sum(loss_times) / len(loss_times) if loss_times else 0,
}
# RED FLAG: if avg_loss_hold > avg_win_hold, you're cutting winners and riding losers
### Tilt Detection
Size escalation after losses suggests emotional trading:
def detect_tilt(trades: list[dict], threshold: float = 1.5) -> list[dict]:
"""Flag trades where size increased >threshold after a loss."""
tilt_trades = []
for i in range(1, len(trades)):
prev, curr = trades[i - 1], trades[i]
if prev["outcome"] == "loss" and curr["size_sol"] > prev["size_sol"] * threshold:
tilt_trades.append(curr)
return tilt_trades
Review Cadence
### Daily Review (5 minutes)
- How many trades today? P&L?
- Did I follow my rules on every trade?
- Any emotional decisions?
- One thing I did well, one thing to improve
### Weekly Review (30 minutes)
- Win rate and profit factor by strategy
- Behavioral pattern check (revenge trades, tilt, FOMO)
- Best and worst trade of the week — what made them different?
- Strategy performance vs. expectations
- Adjust position
Score breakdown
Assessment methodology
Version history
Imported from agiprolabs/claude-trading-skills@main