What is a trading plan review?
In one line: A trading plan review is a set, regular time to compare your written rules with your logged trades, check your numbers, and decide calmly whether anything should change.
The idea
Your trading plan is your rules. Your journal is what actually happened.
A review puts the two side by side, at a set time, when markets are closed and you're calm. Not in the middle of a bad day.
A simple weekly review
Pick one time a week, like Sunday morning. 20–30 minutes.
- Count the trades. How many did you take? How many did your plan allow?
- Check rule-following. What share of trades followed every rule? Say 9 of 11, so about 82%.
- Check the numbers in R. (1R is the amount you risk on a trade.) Total R, Win rate and average win and loss for the week, and for your last 100 trades.
- Find the broken rules. Which rule broke most? Was there a pattern, like after 2 losses, or late in the day?
- Pick one fix. One small, specific change to your behaviour for next week.
A simple example
This week: 11 trades, 9 followed the plan, net −1.5R.
The 2 broken-rule trades lost 2.5R together. The 9 planned trades made +1R. So the rules held up this week. The breaks didn't. A math example, not a promise.
The fix isn't a new strategy. It's "stop after 2 losses," because both breaks came after 2 losses in a row. See daily loss limit.
Why it matters
Without a set review, rules change in the heat of the moment, after one painful trade. A review gives every change a calm, numbers-based reason.
A common mistake
Changing the strategy after a small sample. One week is rarely enough to judge a set of rules. Change behaviour weekly. Change rules only after a fair sample size, like 50–100 trades on one version. Use your journal and the journaling prompts to keep it honest.
Write each rule change down with the date. Then your journal can show whether the change helped.
Need a plan to review first? See how to write a trading plan.
Questions
How often should you review your trading plan?
A short weekly review works for most people, plus a deeper one every 50–100 trades or once a month.
What should I look at in a trading plan review?
How many trades you took, how many followed every rule, your results in R, which rule broke most, and one fix for next week.
Should I change my strategy if I had a losing week?
Usually not. Check whether you followed your rules first. A losing week can be a normal part of any method.
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