Weekly trading review template: turn your notes into one clear focus

A week of trading notes can tell you plenty about what happened and very little about what to work on next. You remember the frustrating session. You remember the trade that worked. Then your review ends with “be more patient,” and Monday arrives without a clear action.

A useful weekly trading review needs a smaller finish line: one observation supported by your record, one action you can take, and one way to check whether you took it.

This template helps you get there. Copy it into a notebook or document; no account is needed. It is a reflection tool, not a calculation of a TraderGrade grade.

Start with the plan and the record

Gather the plan that applied during the week, your session notes, and any supporting records you already keep. Work from what you recorded, rather than reconstructing the week around its most memorable result.

If you need a way to capture those records at the close, use the end-of-day trading review checklist.

If a detail is missing, write “unknown.” Missing evidence is a reason to improve the record, not permission to invent a reassuring answer.

List the days you traded, the days you observed and stood aside, and days off separately. Days off may be planned or unplanned. Not trading is never a violation. There is no missed-opportunity penalty in this worksheet, and a day off does not need a trading story attached to it.

Describe behavior before interpreting it

Look for a repeatable action: when preparation happened, whether you checked a written condition, or whether you completed your review. Use a specific note or timestamp where available.

“I was undisciplined” is a judgment. “On Tuesday and Thursday, I completed the preparation note after my first entry” is an observation you can check.

The trading journal examples show how to turn vague notes into observations you can revisit.

Record emotions as context. Feeling impatient does not, by itself, establish that you broke a rule. Ask what you did and which part of your existing plan applied. Leave any uncertain conclusion open.

Also name something worth keeping. A review that only collects problems can overlook a routine you actually followed. Keep the evidence standard the same for both: a concrete action and a record supporting it.

Keep execution and strategy evaluation separate

Financial results belong in your broader trading records. They cannot answer every question about execution. A profitable trade may have broken your plan; a losing trade may have followed it.

The reverse boundary matters too: following a plan does not prove that the plan has an edge. Strategy profitability needs its own evaluation, with appropriate data and assumptions. This process review cannot supply that proof.

This worksheet is too narrow to establish whether a method should change from one week's results. When a strategy question appears, put it in a separate research note. The focus here is whether you did what you had already committed to doing. How to grade your trading day explains why that distinction matters; this weekly exercise turns the daily record into a next step.

Copy this weekly trading review worksheet

WEEK OF:
PLAN / VERSION USED:
RECORDS REVIEWED:

1. SESSION CONTEXT
Traded:
Observed / stood aside:
Days off (planned or unplanned):
Missing or uncertain records:

2. KEEP
One behavior worth repeating:
Evidence, including date or note reference:

3. INVESTIGATE
One process pattern:
Evidence, including date or note reference:
How often / out of how many applicable sessions:
Possible cause (a hypothesis, not a fact):

4. NEXT FOCUS
One action within my existing plan:
If [observable situation], then I will [observable action]:
Evidence I will record:

5. CHECK BACK
Review date:
Did the situation occur? Did I take the action?
What remains unknown?

SEPARATE RESEARCH NOTE
Strategy or profitability questions to evaluate separately:

A fictional worked example

Imagine a trader whose existing plan requires a written preparation note before an entry. The following week is invented solely to demonstrate the worksheet; it is not a customer story or a recommended trading method.

They traded Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, observed without trading on Wednesday, and took Friday off. Their notes show preparation before the first entry on Monday, but after the first entry on Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday's note was completed before observation began.

The pattern is specific: late preparation on two of three trading sessions. Wednesday and Friday are not failures or extra trading sessions in that comparison. The trader also identifies a behavior to keep: they completed their closeout note on all three trading days.

Their possible cause is that the preparation document was difficult to find. That is a hypothesis, not a diagnosis. Their focus: “If I begin my trading session, then I will open my preparation note and complete it before any entry, as my plan already requires.” They will record the completion time.

Finish with a question you can answer next week

At the next review, the fictional trader checks the notes: did preparation happen before any entry? If there were no entries, they record that context rather than inventing a failure. If timestamps are missing, the answer remains unknown.

Your own focus might concern preparation, a planned check, or closing the session. Make it observable and small enough to remember. Keep other findings in your notes; they do not all need to become next week's assignment.

TraderGrade gives process its own record. P&L does not contribute to your grade. Bring the same principle to your weekly review: name the action, keep the evidence, and return to one clear focus.

Start grading your process.