Where do you start and how can you get the most out of your Edgewonk trading journal? As you probably have noticed, Edgewonk is a pretty sophisticated tool with lots of functions and features. For someone who opens Edgewonk for the first time, it takes a bit of time to get used to it. The good news is that the learning curve is pretty steep and you will become familiar with all the different components very quickly – often within a day or two.
But for you to get the most out of your Edgewonk experience, we developed a cheat sheet that helps you get started much faster. It shows you which areas to consult based on your own interests and what you want to improve. The following graphic explains the three step process:
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Step 1 : Pick the area(s) you want to improve on
What it is that you want to improve in your trading? Without knowing what you want to get better at, tracking data becomes a pointless task. But, if you have a clear goal, Edgewonk will get you there super-fast.
Pick as many areas as you like; we suggest narrowing it down to one or two at a time because it allows you to really focus on those areas and see improvements faster. The 4 big pillars that Edgewonk can help you with are developing discipline and building a better mindset, finding ways to optimize your trade management approach, analyzing your order placement, your stop loss and take profit strategy, or improving your risk management and position sizing.
Step 2: Streamline your data-entry process
The Journal area of the Edgewonk trading journal is quite extensive, but you probably do not need all the things at once. Depending on the areas you identified in step one, there are specific fields you need to fill out to unlock the analytic features – you are able to leave out others.
By optimizing your data entry process and only entering what you really need, you can significantly reduce the time it takes to enter your trades and find your edge much faster.
Tip: The only absolutely mandatory fields include: the Entry Date, Instrument, Setup, Buy/Sell, Entry Price, we highly recommend entering the Stop Loss and Take Profit prices, Exit Price, Outcome and the Gain/Loss ($). Then, identify the additional fields based on your goals.
Step 3: Consult the right Edgewonk analytics
After entering a large enough number of trades, you can then start analyzing your data. Based on the area(s) you picked during step one, Edgewonk provides individual and very specific analytic functions.
We also provide detailed and step by step guides for each of the analytic sheets to make sure you understand what Edgewonk is telling you. Therefore, take a look at our manual site where we put together a list of all features and explanations.
What’s next?
After working on one area, you can then move on to the next things you want to work on. To do this, go back to step one, pick your new chosen field and continue with the other steps.
As you can see, using Edgewonk does not require magic tricks and if you know which buttons to push, your journaling experience will be effortless and very enjoyable, just as it should be.
Further reading:
5 Excel hacks for a faster Edgewonk experience
What to do when you open Edgewonk for the first time?
Our manual site includes links to the most important articles and helpers