How monthly reviews differ from weekly reviews
A weekly trading review helps you catch fresh execution mistakes and prepare for the next few sessions. A monthly review is slower and more selective. It asks whether the same themes are repeating often enough to justify a rule change, a sizing change, or more work on one strategy.
| Review cadence | Primary question | Typical output |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | What needs attention next week? | Small tactical adjustments and follow-up notes. |
| Monthly | Which patterns persisted long enough to matter? | One or two process rules or focus areas for the next month. |
1. Consolidate the monthly review set
- Gather all weekly review notes for the month.
- Pull the trades, tags, and scorecards you referenced most often.
- List any repeated rule violations, especially sizing and entry-quality problems.
- Separate one-off event-driven trades from your routine setups.
2. Compare patterns by strategy, tag, and process quality
Do not start with raw P&L alone. Begin with the categories that explain why results happened. The fastest way to make a monthly review useful is to compare process quality, then outcome quality, across the same recurring setups.
| Review slice | What to compare | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy | Which structures were easiest to execute cleanly? | Separates strategy fit from random short-term outcomes. |
| Tag or setup | Which setup labels keep showing strong or weak discipline? | Helps tighten your watchlist and planning criteria. |
| Process score | Which trades scored poorly even when they made money? | Prevents profitable mistakes from becoming habits. |
3. Ask the monthly questions that lead to rule changes
- Which setup type produced the cleanest process scores this month?
- Which mistake repeated across multiple weeks?
- Did a risk or sizing rule break down in the same way more than once?
- Which weekly notes deserve escalation into a written process rule?
- What should stay unchanged for another month because the sample is still too small?
4. Leave the review with a short action list
Use the monthly review to choose what you will track more closely next month. Examples include one strategy to deprioritize, one setup tag to refine, or one risk-planning rule to enforce more consistently with your risk plan checklist and trade review scorecard.
- Write one process rule to continue using.
- Write one process rule to remove or rewrite.
- Choose one metric to watch in next month’s weekly reviews.
Related guides
Use this page after the weekly trading review checklist, alongside the options performance review guide, trade mistake log template, and journal tags and notes guide.
FAQ
What is the difference between a weekly and monthly trading review?
Weekly reviews are tactical and short-term. Monthly reviews look for patterns that repeated enough times to justify a broader process decision.
How many changes should come out of a monthly review?
Keep it narrow. One or two tracked changes are usually more useful than a long list of new rules that never gets tested consistently.