Platform Guide · Lesson 9 of 13
Review Your Portfolio and Journal
Portfolio shows your holdings, exposure and risk; the Trade Journal records your thesis, results and lessons so you can review the process.
In this lesson
- Look for concentration before adding a position
- Record a trade with its thesis, risk and review
- Read journal statistics without over-trusting a small sample
Portfolio holds positions you enter or sync read-only from a brokerage. Its Positions tab shows each holding’s P&L and its direction (Long or Short by delta: a bought put and a sold call are Short, a sold put is Long); its Performance & Risk tab shows account value over time against the S&P 500, exposure by direction, underlying and sector, concentration, estimated Greeks and expiries for option positions alone, volatility, beta and correlation. Confirm the source and the refresh time, and reconcile important figures with your broker.
Several positions can depend on the same market move even when their tickers differ. Estimated sensitivities change as prices, time and volatility change, so a portfolio estimate is not a maximum loss.
The Trade Journal records notes, stock trades and option trades. For an option, check the strike, expiration, call or put, and the number of contracts; leave the exit empty while the trade is open. Tag setups and write the thesis, risk, outcome and lesson.
Note
The performance summary counts closed trades only. A high win rate can sit beside poor results when losses are larger than wins, so read the average win, the average loss and the total together. The journal doesn’t replace brokerage statements or tax records.
Note Which plans include it
Portfolio and the Trade Journal are included in Advance.
Check your understanding
1 question. Answer each one, then open “Show answer” to compare.
Show answer
Answer: B. The losing trades were larger than the winning ones
Win rate counts trades, not dollars. A few large losses can outweigh many small wins.
Key takeaways
- Check concentration across related positions, not just tickers.
- Write the thesis and risk before the result is known.
- Read win rate, average win and average loss together.
Try it in StratosHedge
Log your last trade, or a practice idea marked as a note, with its thesis, planned risk and a one-line lesson.
Open the Trade Journal Needs: Advance plan
Progress is saved in this browser only.
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)