How to Record Entry Reason in a Trading Journal?

Entry reason refers to a written record of the specific factors that led to opening a trade — for example, which entry criteria (covered in the Trading Essentials module) were met, what technical or fundamental analysis supported the decision, and any other relevant context at the time.

Recording entry reason at the moment a trade is opened, rather than reconstructing it afterward, helps ensure accuracy. Memory can be influenced by how a trade ultimately performs — a common pattern where a profitable trade is later remembered as having a stronger rationale than it actually did at the time, or vice versa for a losing trade.

Recording entry reason provides a direct way to verify, during later review, whether pre-defined entry criteria were actually followed consistently, or whether a trade was entered despite not fully meeting those criteria — connecting to the entry criteria discipline covered in the Trading Essentials module and the FOMO and revenge trading patterns covered in the previous unit.