1 Why this matters
Find out what works for YOU
The most powerful upgrade to a journal is to grade each trade — not by whether it made money, but by the quality of the setup and the discipline of the execution.
Borrowed from the PlayBook method, you sort your setups into tiers and, over many trades, learn which plays actually carry your edge — and which quietly drain it.
2 The A+/A/B tiers
Press the best, cut the rest
- A+Highest-conviction, best-tested plays. Press these — biggest size (see the A+ Rule of Risk).
- AStrong, repeatable setups. Normal size.
- BMarginal trades. Take them small, or skip them.
3 Grade by process, not outcome
A good trade can still lose
A good trade followed your plan even when it loses; a bad trade broke your rules even when it wins. Grading this way stops you reinforcing lucky bad habits and from punishing disciplined losers. Across a large sample, process quality — not the result of any single trade — predicts long-term performance.
4 Reasons2Sell
Plan the exit as hard as the entry
An exit checklist
Most traders obsess over entries and improvise exits. Decide in advance what makes you sell:
- ✓Target reached or measured move complete.
- ✓Price stalls / momentum fades at a key level.
- ✓A reversal candle or pattern against you.
- ✓The tape shifts — sellers (or buyers) take control.
- ✓The catalyst or thesis changes.
- ✓Your stop is hit — exit, no negotiation.
Cap losers here automatically; let winners run by scaling out against the rest.