Trade-review journal template
A standalone PipCairn starter-kit page for recording the original risk assumptions, comparing the plan with what happened, and making space for neutral observations.
01 / Set the context
Keep the record specific, without turning it into a verdict.
Use the fields to reconstruct what you knew, expected, and did at the time. A review can hold facts, observations, and uncertainty together. One result by itself does not prove that a process will produce a future result.
Note when you are making this record.
Use the name and contract wording shown by the broker or venue.
Use a private label that helps you find the related record later.
Record the time range without assuming a future holding period.
02 / Original risk assumptions
What did the original plan assume?
Write from the original record where possible. If you do not know or cannot verify something, mark it as unknown instead of filling the gap with a guess.
Describe the setup, direction, entry idea, exit idea, and conditions you had written down.
Note units, lots, contracts, leverage, related positions, and the assumptions behind them.
Record the planned invalidation, stop, or other boundary and what could make it differ from an actual result.
Write down spread, commission, financing, conversion, or other costs, including anything left unknown.
Consider slippage, gaps, liquidity, changing spreads, fast markets, or order-handling limits.
Keep a neutral timeline of changed conditions, observations, decisions, or information.
03 / Planned versus actual
Compare the record with what occurred.
Use the two columns to name differences in entry, exposure or size, exit, costs, execution, and result. This comparison is a record of one trade, not a forecast or proof of future performance.
04 / Lessons and future questions
Leave room for uncertainty and observation.
Lessons can be questions rather than conclusions. Record what you noticed and what you may want to revisit later, without prescribing a future trade, size, entry, exit, or other action.
Separate an observation from an interpretation or conclusion.
Name missing information, unclear costs, execution limits, or questions you cannot answer yet.
Write a neutral question about your record-keeping or review process, not a trade instruction.
Leave a factual reminder for yourself without prescribing a trade, size, entry, or action.