How to Do a Weekly Trading Review: The 30-Minute Process
Logging trades is necessary but not sufficient. The value of a journal comes from reviewing it — regularly, systematically, and with specific questions in mind. A weekly review is the minimum cadence for turning data into improvement.
This process should take about 30 minutes. Not longer. The goal is to extract the most actionable insights from the week's data and carry one or two specific intentions into the following week.
Step 1: Review the Numbers (5 minutes)
Start with quantitative performance. Look at this week's:
- Total P&L (in dollars and R)
- Win rate
- Average winner vs average loser
- Number of trades taken
- Profit factor for the week
Don't evaluate whether these numbers are "good" yet. Just observe them. You're building a picture before you interpret.
Step 2: Review Individual Trades (10 minutes)
Go through each trade from the week, in order. For each one, ask:
- Was this trade part of my defined setup list?
- Did I execute according to my rules?
- If I made a mistake, which one?
- What was my emotional state at entry?
- Was the outcome influenced by my execution or by random market movement?
Look at the screenshots you attached (if you took them). A chart review makes it easy to spot the difference between a well-placed entry that simply didn't work and an impulsive entry that happened to be profitable.
Step 3: Identify the Week's Theme (5 minutes)
Every week has a theme. Some are positive:
- "I was patient and waited for my A-grade setups"
- "I followed my daily loss limit every day"
- "My execution on Breakout Retest setups was strong"
Some are negative:
- "I overtraded on Wednesday afternoon after two losses"
- "I kept closing trades early — missed three full targets"
- "I took trades outside my defined session on three occasions"
Naming the theme makes it concrete and reviewable. Vague self-criticism ("I was undisciplined this week") produces nothing useful. A specific observation ("I revenge-traded on Wednesday after two losses and gave back the week's gains") is actionable.
Step 4: Set One Intention for Next Week (5 minutes)
From the week's theme, identify one behaviour to focus on next week. Just one. Trying to fix everything simultaneously means nothing changes.
| Theme Identified | Next Week Intention |
|---|---|
| Early exits costing R | Do not close a trade before target unless stop is reached or setup invalidated |
| Overtrading after losses | Stop trading for the session after 2 consecutive losses |
| Out-of-session trades | No trades outside the London session — close platform at 17:00 UTC |
| Oversizing | Calculate position size before every entry, no exceptions |
Step 5: Check the Longer-Term Trend (5 minutes)
Look at your performance over the last 4 weeks, not just this week. One bad week followed by three good ones is not a pattern. A consistent decline in average R across four weeks might be.
Compare your current metrics to your rolling average. If something has shifted — win rate, profit factor, mistake frequency — investigate what changed.
Run This Review in The Trading Terminal
The Trading Terminal's analytics are designed for exactly this review structure. Filter by the current week, review per-trade data, see mistake frequency by category, and compare this week's performance to your rolling average — all in one place.
Weekly analytics, performance trends, mistake frequency — all in your journal.
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