Trading turning points: which changes actually improved your trading
Want to improve trading performance? First find out what changed in your trading and what happened after. A simple before and after method, with real rules.
You've changed a lot of things since you started trading. A new rule after a bad week. Dropping to micros. Quitting a setup that kept losing. Some of those changes helped, some did nothing, and a few probably made things worse. The hard part is knowing which is which, because memory is a terrible judge.
The fix is simple: date each change, then compare how you traded in the 60 days before it with the 60 days after. If several measures moved clearly in the same direction, with enough trades on both sides, you've found a turning point. That's how you improve trading performance on purpose instead of by accident.
Why you can't trust your memory here
When you add a rule and then have a great week, the rule gets the credit. When you add one and have a bad week, you decide it doesn't work. Both conclusions come from a handful of trades, and a handful of trades says almost nothing.
Memory also blends changes together. You switched to 1 MES, started a daily loss limit and stopped trading lunch, all in the same month. Six months later you remember “things got better around spring” and have no idea which part did it. Writing the date down is the whole trick.
What counts as a change?
Anything that changes how you trade on a normal day, as long as you can put a date on it:
- A new rule, like a daily loss limit or no trades after two losses in a row.
- A size change, like going from 2 MES to 1, or moving from minis to micros.
- A setup added or dropped, especially one you were trading often.
- A schedule change, like stopping at 11:30 or skipping the open.
- A tool or habit, like a new platform, a pre-market routine, or journaling every day.
Things that happen to you count too, if they change your trading: a new job, a baby, a move. You can't plan those, but logging them explains a lot later.
How to compare before and after
- Pick the date. The first day the change was in effect: the first day you ticked a new rule, traded the smaller size, or stopped taking a setup.
- Take 60 days on each side. Long enough to collect a real sample. Short enough that the market and the rest of your life haven't completely changed.
- Require 20+ trades on each side. With 10 trades, one trade moves your win rate 10 percentage points. With 20, it's 5. Under 20, you're reading noise.
- Wait at least 3 weeks after. A change that's a week old hasn't been tested by a bad day yet.
- Use several measures. Win rate, P&L per trading day, revenge trades per week, trades per day, worst day. One measure can move by luck. Two or more moving clearly the same way is a pattern.
An example turning point
Here's a turning point from a sample trader in our demo. On February 23, 2026, they went back to 1 MES and added two new rules. Before: 73 trades in the 60 days. After: 140 trades.
| Measure | 60 days before | 60 days after |
|---|---|---|
| Win rate | 26% | 56% |
| Revenge trades per week | 4.7 | 2.2 |
| P&L per trading day | −$253 | +$26 |
| Trades in the window | 73 | 140 |
Three measures, all moving the same way, with plenty of trades on each side. That's about as clear as a turning point gets. Notice what it doesn't show: a big jump in profit. Going from losing $253 a day to making $26 a day is modest. The real change is behavior, and the money followed slowly.
A good turning point usually changes how you trade first and how much you make second.
Group changes made in the same week
The sample trader changed size and added two rules on the same day. Which one did it? Honestly, you can't tell. When changes land within a week of each other, treat them as one turning point. Splitting them would mean pretending you know something the data can't show.
If you want to know what each change does on its own, make them at least a few weeks apart. That's slower, but every turning point you get will actually teach you something.
After, not because
This is the most important rule: a turning point tells you what happened after a change, not that the change caused it. Markets shift. Volatility comes and goes. You might have started sleeping better the same month. Maybe a setup you trade just had a good stretch.
So read a turning point as strong evidence, not proof. If you see the same kind of change line up with better results more than once (say, every time you cut size, your revenge trades drop), that's when you can start trusting it.
Worse turning points matter too
Some changes are followed by things getting worse. Those are just as useful, maybe more. Common ones:
- Adding a new setup you saw in a video, and your P&L per day drops.
- Raising size after a good month, and your worst day doubles. See size creep.
- Dropping a rule because it “felt restrictive”, and revenge trades come back.
- Adding a second screen or a new indicator, and your trades per day jump.
When a change is followed by worse results on two or more measures, the cheapest move is usually to undo it and see if things recover. For turning a habit into a rule you'll keep, see how to turn a bad habit into a rule.
How Market Matrix finds your turning points
In My Trading Journey, Am I getting better? has a Turning points section. It looks at the dated changes you already make in the app: the first day a new rule was ticked, Playbook plays added or retired, experiments, moments and lessons you logged, and your average size on one instrument dropping by a third or more. Then it compares 60 days before with 60 days after.
It only shows a turning point when there are 20+ trades on each side, at least 3 weeks after, and two or more measures moved clearly the same way. Changes within a week are grouped. Each one says “Things got better after this” or “Things got worse after this”, and reminds you it's what happened after, not proof of cause.
Mark the change on the day you make it
The best habit here takes 20 seconds: when you change something, write it down that day. In Market Matrix, Mark a change logs it as a moment with today's date. In a notebook or spreadsheet, a line with the date and one sentence works too: “February 23: back to 1 MES, no trades after two losses.”
- Write the date and the change in one sentence.
- Write what you expect to improve (for example, fewer revenge trades).
- Make only one change at a time when you can.
- Come back in 60 days and compare before and after on at least three measures.
- Keep what helped, undo what hurt, and log that decision as a change too.
Do this for a year and you'll have something most traders never get: a list of what actually works for you, backed by your own trades. For a broader look at progress, see then vs now.
This article is for education only and isn't financial advice. Trading futures involves substantial risk of loss.