Platform Guide · Lesson 13 of 13
Grade the Process With Replay and the Journal
Pause Replay before the outcome, write what you see, then step forward. Record the study in the journal and grade the decisions, not just the dollars.
In this lesson
- Run a Replay exercise without looking ahead
- Keep practice trades apart from real ones
- Grade a decision separately from its outcome
Open Replay, choose a recorded session and pause before the moment you want to study. Write what you can observe, then use Step to reveal what happens next. Looking ahead and rewriting the plan afterwards produces a good story, not a useful exercise.
Record the study in the Trade Journal (or your own notes): the ticker and time, the context, your two scenarios, the contract or spread, the entry condition, the invalidation, the exit plan, and the review. Keep practice studies apart from filled trades so they don’t distort your results.
Example Consider this example
A practice trade made money even though you ignored the expiration date. The outcome is positive, but the process still needs fixing. Another study may lose money while following a clear plan. Review the decisions as well as the dollars.
One winning trade doesn’t show a repeatable edge, and a small sample can make a win rate or profit factor misleading. Include costs and the conditions that went against you. Journaling and Expectancy goes further.
Check your understanding
1 question. Answer each one, then open “Show answer” to compare.
Question 1 of 1 Put the Replay exercise in order. Put these in order, first to last.
- Grade the decision, then the result
- Pause before the outcome
- Write what you observe
- Step forward to reveal the next move
Show answer
Correct order:
- Pause before the outcome
- Write what you observe
- Step forward to reveal the next move
- Grade the decision, then the result
Writing before revealing the outcome keeps hindsight out of the review.
Key takeaways
- Write before you reveal the outcome.
- Keep practice and real trades apart.
- A good outcome can follow a poor process, and the reverse.
Try it in StratosHedge
Run one Replay exercise: pause, write what you see, step forward, and grade the decision before the result.
Open Replay Needs: Retail plan
Sources and further reading
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Educational content, not investment advice. Lessons describe how markets and models tend to behave. They don’t tell anyone what to buy, sell or hold. Interactive examples use illustrative sample data, and simulator results are simulated — not actual trading. Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors.
Risk disclosureCharacteristics and Risks of Standardized Options (OCC) (opens in a new tab)