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Manual Trade Entry

Purpose​

Manual trade entry lets you log trades directly in TradeMonkey as you plan or execute them. Unlike CSV imports, manual entry captures both the financial details and your real-time psychology (emotions, conviction, plan adherence) around each decision.

When to Use Manual Entry​

Manual entry is especially useful when:

  • You want real-time psychology capture
    You record how you actually felt at entry and exit, not how you remember feeling days later.

  • You trade infrequently
    If you only take a few trades per week, logging them manually is often faster than exporting and importing CSVs.

  • You use journaling as a discipline tool
    You log trades as part of a pre-trade or post-trade ritual, forcing yourself to write down your reasoning and risk.

  • You use a hybrid workflow
    You manually log important trades (big wins, revenge trades, rule violations) and use CSV import for bulk financial history. TradeMonkey can reconcile the two.

What You Capture at Entry​

Financial (required)

  • Symbol
  • Side (Buy/Sell)
  • Entry price
  • Position size
  • Account

Risk (recommended)

  • Stop loss
  • Take profit
  • Risk–reward ratio (calculated when SL/TP are present)

Psychology (critical for insights)

  • Entry emotions (e.g., confident, fearful, FOMO, revenge)
  • Entry conviction score (e.g., 1–10)
  • Plan adherence (Yes / Partial / No)
  • Entry notes (short reasoning for the trade)
  • Tags (e.g., strategy, setup type, session: breakout, london-open, scalp)

Status

  • Planned – you intend to take this trade but have not entered yet.
  • Entered – you are currently in the trade (open position).

You can create a trade as Planned, then update it to Entered when you actually execute.

What You Capture at Exit​

When the trade is closed, you add:

Financial

  • Exit price
  • Exit time
  • P&L (calculated automatically from entry/exit and size)

Psychology

  • Exit emotions (e.g., relief, regret, pride, frustration)
  • Exit conviction score
  • Exit plan adherence (Yes / Partial / No)
  • Exit reason (e.g., hit stop, hit target, manual exit)
  • Exit notes (what actually happened)

Status

  • Closed – trade completed.
  • Cancelled – planned but never executed.

Once a trade is Closed, it becomes part of all relevant analytics.

Basic Manual Entry Workflow​

  1. Log the trade near the decision point

    • Before or right after entering is ideal for accurate psychology.

  2. Fill financial and risk fields

    • Ensure symbol, side, entry price, size, and account are set.
    • Add stop loss and take profit where applicable.

  3. Add psychology at entry

    • Choose emotions, conviction, adherence, and tags.
    • Add a short note on why you're taking the trade.

  4. Update at exit

    • Set exit price/time and confirm P&L.
    • Record exit emotions, conviction, adherence, and reason.
    • Mark status as Closed (or Cancelled if you never entered).

You can still import broker CSVs later to verify financial data and catch any trades you forgot to log; TradeMonkey will merge matching trades rather than duplicate them.

Important Notes​

  • Manual entry is about accuracy, not volume
    You don't have to manually log every historical trade. Focus on trades where psychology and plan adherence matter most.

  • Delayed logging reduces psychological accuracy
    The further you are from the trade, the less reliable emotions and conviction scores become. Log as close to execution as possible.

  • Consistent fields beat perfect fields
    Pick a minimal set of psychology fields you'll fill every time (e.g., emotions + conviction + adherence) and be consistent.

  • Planned trades can go stale
    If you never execute a planned trade, mark it as Cancelled to keep your open trades view clean.

Support​

If you're unsure how to structure your manual logging workflow, contact hello@trademonkey.app.