Trading Evaluation

• Did the trade's chart pattern conform to the criteria in our plan?

• Did the market as a whole support the direction of the trade we chose? (Every equity trader should have some clear rules about this in his or her trading plan, with a specific set of market criteria to cross-reference.)

• Were the precise entry requirements fully met, thereby legitimately triggering our participation in the trade? (I can't tell you how many students of mine confess to being overly anticipatory in their trading, entering a whole host of positions that never really triggered.)

• Did we hesitate once the entry requirements were met and then find ourselves chasing the trade?

• Did we use the proper position size for the trade, according to our rules?

• Did we locate our stop loss for the trade in the correct place?

• Did we obey the stop loss? (This is probably the most important issue of all. If we make too many errors in this department, we are bound for an early exit from our trading career.)

• Did we allow our position to fall (rise) all the way to the stop loss, or did we pre-empt it? (While this is not as serious as the issue above, there are traders who constantly eject themselves from perfectly good trades on the slightest hiccup, dramatically changing their overall trading odds.)

• Once the trade started to move in the desired direction, did we implement a trailing stop loss, and if so did we place it correctly?

• Were our targets for the trade chosen with a healthy reward-to-risk ratio in mind?

• Were those targets placed correctly based on support/resistance considerations?

• Did we hold the position all the way until we reached our targets, or did we take profits early?

• Did we add more position size once the trade was underway, either by averaging up or down? If so, was this allowed under our rules?