Good morning, traders…

Trading is largely a game of numbers. Market caps, share prices, strike prices, volume, floats — all numbers.

But you don’t need to be Albert Einstein to be a successful options trader…

I’m no math genius, and the best traders I know aren’t either. But you do need to use numbers to track your trades. 

Anyone can get an idea about a strategy that might work … while few can actually prove their method makes money consistently. 

Tracking your trades will help you assess your performance honestly (with some invaluable hindsight perspective). 

You’ll be able to amplify your strengths, minimize your weaknesses, and identify the “blind spots” holding you back. 

It’ll help you answer critical questions, like: What chart patterns are working for you? Do you have more success trading calls or puts? Weekly or monthly contracts? Does a certain time of day work better than others?

But the only way to get these insights is by tracking your trades diligently. 

Here’s how to do it…

Keep a Trading Journal

Step one: Start a trading journal.

Make a simple spreadsheet that includes the following information:

• Ticker
• Entry time and exit time
• Entry share price and exit share price
• % Gained/Lost
• Volume
• Market cap
• Charts
• Catalyst
• General Notes

Add a separate section for options columns:

• Expiration date
• Contract price
• Call or Put
• Option Volume
• Open Interest
• Implied Volatility (IV) %
• ‘The Greeks’ – delta, gamma, theta, and vega

Be religious about inputting every trade, and you’ll have a priceless resource for tracking your trades. 

Check out this video where Tim Sykes lays down some trade-tracking wisdom:

Learn from Your Past Trades

After you’ve entered your trades consistently for a few weeks or months, you’ll be able to see trends in your successes … and more importantly, your failures.

This will illustrate how different factors affect the ultimate outcomes of your trading decisions.

For example, you may notice that you have more success trading calls than puts. 

Or maybe, your journaling reveals you do better as a swing trader, while you tend to win less on day trades. Or vice versa. 

Whatever you do, don’t make your spreadsheet too fancy. Make it fun. It’ll help you build a routine for tracking your data. 

Don’t think of it as a chore. Think of it as a game that can improve your trading skills. 

And if you don’t want to manually build an entire spreadsheet, there are a few trade tracking tools you can try…

TraderSync: Clean, Quick, and Cloud-Based

TraderSync is like if Apple made a piece of software for trade journals. 

Clean interface, very easy to use, and it works across all devices since it’s cloud-based. 

You can import trades directly from your broker, tag them with setups like “Breakout” or “Pullback,” and run performance reports on nearly every metric you can think of.

They even have features like:

• Screenshot uploads for chart annotations
  
• Mistake tracking (you can label trades with things like “chased entry” or “held too long”)
  
• A mobile app so you can track on the go

One standout feature is TraderSync’s AI-generated insights. It’ll tell you things like: “Your win rate is highest when you take Breakouts between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Tuesdays.” 

You won’t catch that on your own unless you’re obsessively poring over hundreds (or thousands) of trades.

Edgewonk: The Deep-Dive Desktop Classic

Edgewonk is a clunkier (but much deeper) trade tracking tool. 

It’s downloadable software, so it lives on your computer. No mobile version. But once you get it set up, Edgewonk gives you a serious look into your performance.

You can:

• Run Monte Carlo simulations on your data (fancy term for stress testing your strategy)
  
• Track mental game metrics like confidence level or discipline
  
• Customize journal columns in obsessive detail

Edgewonk feels more like an Excel power user built it. It’s not slick, but it’s powerful if you’re into doing your own analysis. 

You’ll need to enter more data manually, which some traders like. It forces them to slow down and reflect.

Then, once you’ve journaled your trades for a few weeks, you’ll be ready for the final step of trade tracking…

Begin Backtesting

Backtesting is a method used to evaluate the performance of a trading strategy by applying it to historical market data. 

The idea is to see how the strategy would have performed in the past to estimate its effectiveness in the future.

Most online trading platforms provide access to historical market data, including price history, trading volume, and other relevant information. 

WARNING: Make sure that the data you’re gathering covers a sufficient time period and is representative of the market conditions you’re currently trading. 

If you’re looking for a broker with great data, I’ll recommend StocksToTrade.

Most tools used for scanning, research, and analytics (i.e., TraderSync and Edgewonk) DON’T allow you to trade. 

But StocksToTrade does, plus so much more…

See for yourself — Get a 14-day trial of StocksToTrade for just $7.

The Truth About Trade Tracking

As helpful as these tools can be…

No platform, no journal, no AI-generated chart pattern breakdown is going to improve your trading if you don’t commit to using it daily. 

I don’t say that to guilt-trip you. I’ve had times where I stopped tracking trades because I thought I already knew what I was doing.

But trading without tracking is like trying to get in shape without ever stepping on a scale. You might make progress, but you’ll never really know why.

Start a journal. Label your trades. Tag your setups. Be brutally honest with your mistakes. You’ll learn more in those 90 days than you will in a year of just “feeling it out.”

Make no mistake: This is how you turn trading from a mildly successful hobby into a consistently repeatable skill. 

Happy trade tracking,

Ben Sturgill

P.S. 120 of my recent trade alerts have generated 100% or higher…*

With 27 soaring above 200%, and 12 exploding beyond 300%…*

Want access to this breakthrough trading tool?

Join the great Aaron Hunziker, TOMORROW, May 30 at 12:00 p.m. EST for a LIVE OMEN TRAINING SESSION.

Stop missing Smart Money trades — Click here to reserve your seat.

*Past performance does not indicate future results