Trading strategy
Trend Following Trading: What to Log and Review
Trend following makes its money from a few big winners you have to actually hold. The strategy is simple; sitting in the trade is not. The journal is where you find out if you do.
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What trend following is
Trend following enters in the direction of an established move and aims to ride it, accepting many small losses in exchange for a few large wins. The math depends on a fat right tail: a handful of trades carry the whole year, so cutting them short quietly destroys the edge.
Which means the hard part is not the entry — it is the holding. Most trend traders do not fail because their signals are bad; they fail because they take profit early, skip entries after a losing streak, or hesitate to re-enter. All of those are behaviors, and behaviors are what a review surfaces.
Ideal setups
Trend setups worth taking
Established direction
A clear higher-high / higher-low (or the inverse) structure, not a guess at a turn.
Pullback entries
Entering on a pause within the trend, with better risk than chasing the extension.
Confirmation of continuation
Evidence the trend is resuming, not rolling over.
Asymmetric room
Enough trend left that the winners can pay for the string of small losers.
The rules
Rules to write into your play
Trend following needs rules that protect the winners as much as the losers. Define:
Entry trigger
The pullback or continuation condition that allows the trade.
Initial stop
Where the trend idea is wrong, set before entry.
Hold/trail rule
How you stay in — a trailing stop or structure rule — so you do not cut winners by hand.
Re-entry rule
Permission to get back in after a loss, so a losing streak does not make you skip the big one.
Journal checklist
What to log on every trend trade
Held by plan?
Tag whether you held to your trail rule or took profit early out of fear.
Skipped entries
Log the valid setups you did not take, especially after losses — the skipped winner is the silent killer.
Cut-winner tag
Mark trades where you exited a runner early so the pattern is countable.
Outcome vs. decision
A small loss taken by the rules is a good trade; record it that way.
The scorecard
How to score your execution
Grade the parts you control, with extra weight on the exit, where trend edges are won or lost:
Entry
Did you enter at your trigger with good risk?
Stop
Was the initial stop set and honored?
Exit
Did you hold by your trail rule, or cut the winner early?
Sizing
Consistent risk, so the winners can do their job?
You grade these yourself. Mettle structures the self-report so it is fast and comparable week to week; it does not objectively grade your fills.
FAQ
Why do I keep cutting my winners early?
Usually fear of giving back open profit, which feels like prudence and quietly removes the trades that pay for the strategy. The fix is to make it visible: tag every early exit, score the exit honestly, and watch the rate in your weekly review until holding by the rule is the default.
Are the scores objective or self-reported?
Self-reported, by design. No software can see whether you hesitated, chased, or broke your own rule — only you can. Mettle structures that self-report so it is fast, honest, and comparable week to week, and keeps its analysis grounded in what you actually logged.
Does Mettle pick trends or place trailing stops for me?
No. Mettle does not trade, signal, or manage positions — it is a review tool. It helps you write your trend rules, log whether you held or cut, and review the behaviors that decide whether trend following actually works for you.
Is Mettle free to start?
Yes. You get full access free for 14 days with no card. We only ask for a card once you have reviewed three sessions, after the product has earned a place in your routine.
Review how you hold
Write your trend play, log your exits and the entries you skipped, and let the review show what your hands are costing you. Free to start, no card.
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