Same return, fewer tradesFind the trades that added nothing.
Even if you are already profitable, your journal can probably show you how to make the same return with less risk, lower costs and less screen time, by finding the trades that added almost nothing.
What a journal lets you measure
Most of this module is about finding mistakes. This lesson is for the trader who is already making money. A journal lets you track your performance over time: your returns, your win rate, which is the share of your trades that end in profit, and which trading style suits you best. A lot of traders never check any of it, especially once they are profitable.
Being profitable tells you the overall approach works. It doesn’t tell you which trades did the work, and which ones only added risk, costs and screen time.
Count the risk behind the return
Say you made 40% last year with 30 trades, risking 1% on each. That means you risked 30% in total to get that return. The numbers are only an example, and the arithmetic works for any account: add up the risk of every trade, and you see what the return really cost.
Now you go through your journal and notice that 10 of those trades added almost nothing. You would have made about the same with just 20. Same return, but you would have risked 20% instead of 30%, a third less.
Fewer trades, lower costs
Fewer trades also means lower costs. Every trade pays the spread, and often commission and swap as well, so cutting a third of your trades cuts those costs with them. Your account also swings around less, which makes the whole plan easier to stick with.
The style that suits you
The journal can change how you trade, too. Tag every trade with its style and compare the results. Scalping means very short trades that last seconds or minutes, day trading means you close everything the same day, and swing trading means holding for days or weeks.
Maybe your journal shows you would get similar results from longer-term position trades, held for weeks or months, instead of day trading. That means far less time staring at charts for the same outcome, and that time is worth a lot.
| Style | How long you hold | Screen time |
|---|---|---|
| Scalping | Seconds to minutes | The most |
| Day trading | Closed the same day | High |
| Swing trading | Days to weeks | Lower |
| Position trading | Weeks to months | The least |
Mistakes to avoid
- Judging a year only by the return. 40% made with 30% risked and 40% made with 20% risked are not the same result.
- Sticking with a style out of habit. Many traders never check which style actually works for them.
In short
- A journal tracks your returns, your win rate and which trading style works for you, even if you are already profitable.
- Say 30 trades at 1% each made 40%: you risked 30%, and if 10 added almost nothing, 20 trades would have made about the same with a third less risk.
- Fewer trades also mean lower costs, smaller swings in your account and, with longer holds, far less screen time.
Questions
Does fewer trades mean less profit?
Not if the trades you cut added almost nothing. The aim is to find those trades in your journal, not to trade less for its own sake.
What counts as a trade that added almost nothing?
One whose result ended close to zero: a small win, a small loss or breakeven. Together they barely move the return, while each one still carried its full risk and its costs.
Key terms
- Win rate
- The share of trades that make money. On its own it says little: a 40% win rate can be very profitable with the right risk to reward.
- Trading styles
- How long you hold trades: scalping (minutes), day trading (hours), swing trading (days) and position trading (weeks or longer).
- Spread
- The gap between the buy price and the sell price. It is a cost you pay on every trade, and it widens when the market is quiet or nervous.
- Commission
- The fee a broker charges per trade, on top of the spread.
- Swap
- The interest you pay or receive for holding a currency position overnight.