In the Forex market the raw material for analysis are the data and trading statement we get from the market. The more data we have the better and more accurate the analysis will be. But just as much as a trader needs to analyze the market based on the data he receives, he also needs to analyze inward and look at the trading habits and strategies that form the outcome of trades.
For that inward analysis we also have a form of raw material that is known as an account statement. Getting an account statement and analyzing it are among the most important things that a forex trader should be, but often overlook.
To showcase the importance of getting a proper account statement and then carrying out the analysis associated with it, we will discuss this very topic in this article and go over the significance of forex statements.
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What Is a Forex trading Statement?
In the forex market, traders are dealing with reports all the time. Whether it is the report taken by backtesting a strategy to see if it works or a report that you take to analyze your own performance as a trader.
The focus of this article is of course the latter. The kind of report you analyze to see how you have previously performed as a trader. This is exactly what a forex statement is. A comprehensive report that includes all the trading decisions you have made in a given period of time. This type of report has everything such as your profits, losses, even small details pertaining to the positions you had opened like the stop loss levels. So it is a kind of historical report that tells you how you performed in the market in any given period of time. This is what is known as a forex statement.
The way you can obtain a forex statement is either via your broker or directly through the trading platform that you are using. There are of course some brokers that offer you a complete account statement. So the first way to obtain it is to just ask your broker. There are options made available in your account with the broker where you can go any time you want to download an extended history of your activities with that broker in the form of a report or account statement.
The second way is to obtain the forex statement directly through your trading platform. For instance, you might be using MetaTrader 4 or 5 which are the most popular trading platforms among all foreign exchange traders. With the help of such trading platforms, and other similar platforms, you can directly extract a report of all your activities in that platform.
But what does a forex statement really include and what can you do with it?
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How Can a Forex trading Statement Help You?
So far we learned what a forex statement is and the way you can obtain one. But what can you actually do with it? Well the reason forex traders seek out a statement in the first place is to get help form its information. This way they can gain valuable insights about their performance and the strategy that they have been using.
This is because of the information that is included in a forex statement. It includes every single trade you have made with full details, meaning it has the entry point, exit point, duration, the position that was held open, profit or loss, and all the other details pertaining to any trade.
And this is exactly where the strengths of a forex statement can be found. Because of this amount of information, you can look back and analyze how you had performed in that time period.
In this way if you had indeed made an overall positive impact and had been by and large profitable, then you can continue with that strategy and perhaps make small adjustments to make it better.
But if you see from the statement that you had made damaging mistakes, then you can seek out to remedy the situation as fast as possible and make fundamental changes in your trading approach.
But this is not something that only a forex statement can help you with. There are other ways that you can carry out this retrospective analysis of your own performance.
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Is There an Alternative to Forex Statements?
A forex statement is a full report of all your trades that you can get either from your broker or from the trading platform that you are using. In either case it can help you look back and analyze your performance as a trader.
But there is another way you can do exactly the same thing – i.e. keeping a trading journal.
A trading journal is basically a forex statement or report that you are keeping yourself. So you are in charge of keeping record of all your moves in the market. There are certain advantages that come with this kind of approach.
The biggest advantage is that you are in charge of the report. So this means you can refer to it anytime you want. You don’t have to obtain the report from a broker or from your trading platform.
Since you are keeping the trading journal, then you can refer to your journal at any point and make necessary adjustments in your trading approach.
But with this upside comes a downside compared with a forex statement. While you don’t make the forex statement yourself, you do have to keep the trading journal yourself.
And it is very important that you are consistent with your trading journal in order to be able to reap the most benefits.
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Conclusion
Any trader, no matter how experienced or skilled, needs to look back from time to time and see how they have performed in the market. Forex statements make this possible because they are full reports of all your trades that you can get from your broker or your trading platform. In this article we took a close look at the concept of forex statements and saw how you can use it to your advantage.
