How to Get Started with RazorJournal
Once you signup for an account and login, follow these steps to get up and running quickly.
In order to use RazorJournal, you must complete steps 1-3, before entering trades.
1. Setup Your Accounts
When you login to RazorJournal for the first time, your Dashboard will be empty. Start by setting up at least 1 account.
Click on the Profile icon in the upper right corner, then click on Accounts.
Click on the Add Account button to setup your first account.
Choose a descriptive name and write a brief description of the account. It's helpful to keep the account name as short as possible, so it is easy to read on reports. Then click Save and you will be taken to your list of accounts.
Setup different accounts to track the following:
- Single brokerage accounts
- Backtesting strategies
- Missed trades
- Demo trading results
- Multiple brokerage accounts you want to track in one journal account
The way that you setup your accounts will depend entirely on how you trade and how you want to see your data. So put some thought into how you want your data organized before you enter trades.
2. Setup Your Strategies
Next, setup the strategies that you use to trade.
This allows you to see a breakdown of your results by strategy and account. If you only see the results of your overall account, you could be missing out on opportunties to optimize each individual strategy, or cut strategies that are no longer working.
Create strategies to see separate data on:
- Individual trading strategies
- Strategy ideas that you are testing
- Different versions of a strategy
- Trade entry mistakes
- And more
Strategies are a way of grouping trades in an account to give you actionable data. You can always change the strategy on each trade later.
To setup a strategy, click on the Profile icon in the upper right corner.
Then click on Strategies. This will take you to your Strategies page, which will be blank.
Click on the Add Trading Strategy button to create a new strategy.
Enter a short name for the strategy and describe the strategy in detail. The more descriptive you can be, the better.
This description also appears on your trade entry page and it can help you double check your trade entry criteria before entering a trade.
3. Setup Your Exits
Your exits are a description of why a trade was closed.
Make your exit categories as objective and precise as possible. Describe exactly why you closed the trade.
You will have the opportunity to rate the quality of your entry and exit in your trade review. So just stick to the facts with your exit descriptions.
Using objective categories is important because you will want to sort your data later and find out if there are any exits that are leading to unnecessary losses.
Start by clicking on the Profile icon in the upper right corner of the screen. Then click on Exits.
You will be taken to a list of your exits, which will be blank. Click on the Add Exit button to create a new exit.
Here are a few basic exits names that you could use to get started:
- Stop Loss Hit
- Profit Target Hit
- Trade Entered By Mistake
Then depending on how you trade, here are some exit names that could be useful:
- Protect Profits
- Price Not Moving Correctly
- Breakeven Stop Hit
- Closing Before Weekend
- Closing Before News
- Price Closed Below Moving Average
Feel free to use whatever works for you. But keep in mind how you will want to analyze your data later and what type of exit descriptions will make that easier.
Don't judge the trade by creating exit descriptions like:
- Bad Trade
- Felt Good
- Great Price Action
These types of descriptions don't help you understand your reasoning behind closing the trade and will only lead to confusion later.
Of course, you can always change your exit categories later, but you will have to edit your old trades one by one, so it's best to get it right the first time 🙂
4. Enter Your First Trade
Once you have completed the steps above, now it's time to enter your first trade.
Click on the New Trade button at the top of the screen.
Enter the information and click the Save button. If you want to update the results immediately, click on the Save and Edit button.
5. Update Your Trade
To update your trade, click on the pencil next to the trade you would like to edit.
6. Review Your Results
There are two places to review your trades:
- Trades
- Flash Cards
Use the Trades or Flash Cards buttons at the top of the screen to review your trades. Flash Cards are good for comparing your before and after screenshots.
To read tutorials on other RazorJournal features, go here.
If you have any questions, contact us here.