What should an options weekly review include?
An effective weekly review includes a clean trade list, a short performance summary, a process audit on entries, sizing, management, and exits, plus a next-week action list. The point is not to explain every outcome. The point is to decide which habits to repeat, tighten, or stop.
Before you start, make sure each trade has enough context to review. The tags and notes guide, trade tracking workflow, and trade review scorecard all make this weekly pass much easier to run consistently.
1. Prepare the review set
Collect all trades closed during the week and any open positions that were adjusted. Make sure each trade has tags, the original thesis, and a clear exit or management note. If trades are missing core fields, fix that first so the review is based on evidence rather than memory.
2. Summarize results without judging yet
- Total closed trades and strategies used
- Wins/losses by tag or setup type
- Largest positive and negative outcomes
- Open positions that need attention next week
If your journal mixes ordinary exits with rolls, assignments, or exercise events, separate those before interpreting results. The roll decision checklist and assignment and exercise checklist help keep those edge cases from distorting the week.
3. Audit plan adherence
Separate outcome quality from execution quality. A profitable trade can still be a process error, and a losing trade can still follow the plan well. This is the stage where the risk plan checklist, entry checklist, and exit checklist give you something objective to compare against.
| Question | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Did the entry match the setup rules? | Check tags and entry notes for deviations. |
| Was size appropriate for the risk? | Compare stated risk plan to position sizing. |
| Did exits follow the plan? | Review whether emotions or late decisions changed execution. |
How do you run a 30-minute weekly trading review?
| Minute block | What to do | Useful output |
|---|---|---|
| 0-5 | Pull the week’s closed trades and adjusted open positions. | A clean review set with missing notes fixed. |
| 5-12 | Summarize outcomes by setup, tag, and largest deviations. | A short results snapshot without excuses. |
| 12-22 | Review low-score or high-stress trades one by one. | Specific process failures or strengths. |
| 22-27 | Check open positions near key decisions for next week. | An action list for rolls, exits, or sizing adjustments. |
| 27-30 | Write one to three rule changes for the next trading week. | A short improvement list you can actually follow. |
4. Define next-week adjustments
End the review with a short list of process changes. Keep them specific and testable: one sizing rule, one entry or management rule, and one note-quality rule is usually enough. If the same problem appears for several weeks, carry it into the monthly trading review checklist instead of rewriting the same weekly promise.
When can a weekly review mislead you?
- A single oversized winner or loser can make the whole week look better or worse than the process actually was.
- If you judge the week only by P&L, you can miss repeated entry, sizing, or management mistakes.
- Open trades near expiry, earnings, or assignment-sensitive dates may need separate handling before they are mixed into normal exit statistics.
- Vague notes like "be more disciplined" do not create a useful rule for next week.
Weekly reviews are for process clarity, not personalized financial advice. Use them to improve documentation and execution discipline, and be careful about turning one week of results into broad strategy conclusions.
Related guides
Use this checklist with the monthly review checklist, risk plan checklist, performance review metrics, trade review scorecard template, trade mistake log template, and tag and note structure guide.
FAQ
How long should a weekly review take?
Start with 20 to 40 minutes. The goal is consistency, not a perfect post-mortem every week.
Should I review open trades too?
Yes, especially positions that were adjusted or are close to key decision points. Include them in your action list for the next week.
Should I judge the week by profit alone?
No. A weekly review is more useful when it separates outcome noise from process quality, including sizing, execution, management, and note quality.