Tracking Trade History

I find it necessary for my mental trading health to track/log all my trades. Most experienced traders do this, and some platforms may even offer it as part of their interface (though I have a certain way I like things.)

What works for me and could work for others is an excel sheet with built in formulas to track each of your trades, even adding notes to a trade about thesis, reason for entry/exit, mistakes, etc. to review in the future and continue improving.

I separate my sheet into two sections: Derivatives (options) and Equities/LEAPS (I classify LEAPS with Equities because I typically hold them longer in order to sell calendar spreads.

Derivative columns: Date of Entry - Ticker - Position Description (Strike/Call or Put/Covered or uncovered/DTE) - # of Contracts - Delta - Buy Price (negative value) - Sell Price (positive value) - Net Gain/Loss - ROI % - Assignment (Y/N). Assignment column is where I flag a cell for a note/comment stating thesis, mistakes, price action leading to gain/loss, etc.

Equities & LEAPS columns: Date acquired - Ticker - Acquisition (assigned/purchased) - # of shares (or contracts if LEAPS) - Entry/assignment Price - Cost Basis (manual formula of entry price less CCs against) - Date Sold/Called Away - Net Gain/Loss (from acquisition price, not cost basis... cost basis is only for my own personal knowledge.)

I also have side boxes tracking P/L over time for different ranges, as well as overall performance for certain strategies (for example: Tracking my performance in just SPY Iron Flies from 0DTE to 45DTE), which allows me to see which strategies are working and which strategies aren't.

This has greatly helped me manage trades and look at past losing trades to better myself in the future. If you're new, I would strongly suggest to log trades in a similar fashion. Happy Trading!