Trading logs can be used by both new and experienced traders to keep a record of the trades that they have made. Trading logs can be kept in a variety of different formats, with the most popular formats being text and database trading logs (e.g. a text file, a SQL database, etc.), but one of the most useful formats being a graphical trading log.
Graphical Trading Logs
Graphical trading logs are graphical charts showing both the analysis and the trades that have been made, and are therefore one of the most useful, but also the easiest formats of trading logs to keep. Graphical trading logs do not require any additional software (not even a text editor), and they already exist as a side effect of trading (i.e. the same charts that a trader uses during their trading are the same charts that they will use to keep their trading log).
Graphical trading logs automatically include all of the possible information about each trade, including the date and time of the trade, the analysis that provided the trade, the trade's entry and exit prices, how the trade progressed over time, and the resulting profit or loss, and are therefore far more comprehensive than text or database trading logs can ever be.
Graphical trading logs are designed to be viewed by the trader keeping the log (in exactly the same manner as the trader would view their charts during their trading), and therefore use the same file type and format that is used by the trader's charting software. As graphical trading logs are graphical they cannot be analysed mathematically (e.g. calculating the cumulative profit or loss of trades on a specific market), but the advantages of a graphical trading log (i.e. the additional information that they include, and the manner in which the information is provided) more than make up for any potential disadvantages.