How to grade your trading month: a monthly review checklist
A monthly review checklist for traders: grade the month fairly, find what kept happening, read the trend across your weeks and write three lines for next month.
A week is a small sample. Five trading days can be ruined by one bad morning or saved by one lucky trade. A month has enough trades to show what you actually do, again and again. Here's a monthly review checklist, built around one question: what kept happening?
Grade the month, not just the weeks
Use the same six subjects as the weekly scorecard: Results, Risk control, Discipline, Emotional control, Journaling and Focus, with the same weights. Two adjustments keep it fair:
- Count per week. Three trades after two losses is a lot for one week and less for a month. Divide those counts by the number of weeks you traded, so a month isn't graded four times as hard as a week.
- Wait for enough trades. A month with fewer than about 10 trades doesn't say much yet. Grade it, but read it as an early signal.
The monthly checklist
| Question | What to look at | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Which subject was low most weeks? | Your four weekly grades side by side | The same subject below a B in 3 of 4 weeks |
| How much came from your worst day? | Worst day ÷ total of all losing days | One day is more than half of your losses |
| Which setup paid, which cost? | Net P&L per setup tag, 10+ trades each | A setup that lost money all month |
| When do you make and lose money? | Net P&L by hour of the day | An hour that lost money every week |
| Which rule broke most? | Your daily rule checklist | The same rule broken on 3+ days |
| Did fees eat the edge? | Fees ÷ gross profit | Fees above about a third of gross profit |
| Where are you on your firm’s rules? | Distance to max loss, best day share | Best day close to the consistency limit |
The first row matters most. A subject that dips one week is a bad day. A subject that's low in three of four weeks is a habit, and habits are what monthly reviews are for.
Read the month as a trend, not a total
A month that started at D and ended at B is a better month than one that started at B and ended at D, even if the second one made more money. Look at the order of your weekly grades. Are your losses getting tighter? Are there fewer trades after two losses? That direction is what you're paying for with your review time. Am I improving? shows how to track it.
Write three lines for next month
- Keep: the one thing that worked and that you'll keep doing, like your best setup or your best hour.
- Stop: the one leak that cost the most, with a rule that removes it. See how to find your biggest money leak.
- Test: one small change you'll try for a full month before judging it.
Put these three lines at the top of your trading plan, and read them every morning before the open. Next month's review starts by asking whether you did them.
If you trade a prop account
A month is also a good time to step back from the daily rules. How many evaluation days are left, how far are you from the target at your average day, and is your best day getting close to the consistency limit? The consistency rule explained covers that last one.
Get the monthly grade without the spreadsheet
In Market Matrix, open Insights → Report card and switch from Week to Month. You get the same six grades for the whole month, compared with the month before, with the one thing to fix first. The free trading report card grades your latest weeks from a trade file; the monthly grade is free with an account.
This article is for education only and isn't financial advice. Prop firm rules differ and change, so check your firm's current rules. Trading futures involves substantial risk of loss.