Trading News for Beginners – Should You Start a News Trading Journal?

In this article, you will read about the advantages of keeping a news trading journal.

• Set your current and ongoing financial goals.
• Comment on the market’s reaction to trading events.
• Develop trading scenarios based on your observations.
• Add reminders about the trading events which interest you.

Trading on financial news adds up to much more than the simple bottom line of profits and losses. While these statistics tell part of the story, they don’t contain the everyday details of how you reached those numbers. The future you would probably be truly grateful for the notes in your journal.

To start journaling, first decide on the frequency of your entries. Perhaps you want to keep a daily journal or a weekly journal to create a record of your observations. It depends on the timing of each news event that interests you and the amount of time you have available to make entries.

If the bottom line is a summary, your news trading journal is the whole story of when, how and why you achieved your high and low performance points, and where the medium performance point is somewhere in the middle of the highs and lows.

Set your current and ongoing financial goals

Any story starts at the beginning. The first step is to set your current goals and update them according to your progress and results. A quarterly, half-yearly and yearly goal-setting session is one option.

Financial goals include the amount of money you intend to invest and your target return range, for example, a 200 GBP initial investment in the first quarter with an expected return of 3-5 percent. You should always trade with money you can afford to lose as trading carries risks. Then, adjust the figures according to your performance.

Comment on the market’s reaction to trading events.

Every trading event has a market consensus which contains useful information about analysts’ expectations. For example, when the UK releases its latest economic growth figures, it’s an important trading event around which analysts have built forecasts.

Market-moving trading news and market expectations can be found on Admiral Markets Forex Calendar.

Develop trading scenarios based on your observations.

Your observations of how the market reacted to each event can be valuable information when building trading scenarios.

Were there surprises in the results? If so, note how the market reacted and how much prices changed and in which direction. Were the results the same or close to analysts’ targets? Note how other traders reacted and whether prices changed.

Developing negative, positive and neutral scenarios can help you to see where to add stop losses on your orders and spot potential entry and exit price points.

You might want to track metrics like Technical Analysis charts you used during the trade and take screenshots to add to your journal as a reminder.

Making a note of any tools you used can be helpful to the future you when you’re racking your brain trying to remember...what was that plugin called?

Main takeaway: it’s worth stepping back and finding the time to make notes on market reactions.

See an example of a trading journal in our Forex Basics section.

Note the important trading news events

The market already has a range of important trading news events, and it’s up to your judgment which ones you find interesting. A lot depends on your experience and knowledge. As a beginner you might want to attend Admiral Markets’ educational webinars to gain some background understanding before starting to trade.

As a rule, the main market-moving events include Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reports, employment reports, industrial productivity reports, services sector performance benchmarks, and central bank interest rate decisions and monetary policy statements. There are many more to discover. Once you’ve decided which of them interests you, add them to your calendar and trading journal.

Additional notes for the future could be a favourite analyst, and most trusted and reliable news source.

Schedule reminders about high-impact trading events

Timing is important when trading on news events, as prices might move before, during and after an economic report is released to the public. Scheduling reminders a few days before the benchmark report gives you time to develop your trading scenarios and do your research.

In summary, trading news events are a major component of the market structure, and it’s worth journaling about your experiences to support your strategies and trading routine.

Does trading on news interest you? Learn how this approach works with our free webinars. Meet and interact with expert traders. Watch and learn from live trading sessions.  

This material does not contain and should not be construed as containing investment advice, investment recommendations, an offer of or solicitation for any transactions in financial instruments. Please note that such trading analysis is not a reliable indicator for any current or future performance, as circumstances may change over time. Before making any investment decisions, you should seek advice from independent financial advisors to ensure you understand the risks.