How Do Pro Traders Review Their Trades?

The difference between pro traders and retail traders isn't luck. It's process.

Specifically, it's how they review their trades.

The Pro Trader's Review Process

1. Immediate Review (Within 24 Hours)

Right after a trade closes, pros review it while it's fresh:

• Did I follow my plan?
• Did I execute at the right price?
• Did I exit at the right time?
• What was my emotional state?

2. Weekly Review

Every Friday, pros review the week:

• Total trades and win rate
• Best trade and why it worked
• Worst trade and why it failed
• Patterns they noticed
• One thing to improve next week

3. Monthly Review

Every month, pros do a deep dive:

• Total profit/loss
• Win rate and average return
• Biggest win and biggest loss
• Most common mistake
• Progress vs. last month
• Major changes to make next month

4. Quarterly Review

Every quarter, pros look at the big picture:

• Is the strategy still working?
• What's changed in the market?
• Do I need to adapt my approach?
• Am I improving or staying stuck?

What Pros Look For

Execution Quality

Did you execute your plan? Or did you improvise?

Pros care about this more than the outcome. A well-executed losing trade is better than a lucky winning trade.

Emotional Control

Were you calm or emotional? Did you panic sell? Did you get greedy?

Emotional trades are almost always bad trades.

Risk Management

Did you risk the right amount? Did you use stop losses? Did you follow position sizing rules?

Pattern Recognition

Do you see patterns in your wins and losses? Do you always lose on certain types of trades?

The Key Insight

Pros don't review to feel good about their wins. They review to learn from their losses.

A loss is data. It tells you what went wrong. And if you can identify what went wrong, you can fix it.

This is why pros improve over time. They're not relying on luck. They're systematically fixing their mistakes.

How to Start

You don't need to be a pro to use this process. Start today:

1. After each trade, write down what happened
2. Every Friday, review the week
3. Every month, review the month
4. Look for patterns
5. Make one change based on what you learned

That's it. That's the difference between pros and everyone else.