Entry and Exit Prices Recorded

The entry and exit prices are the two most objective pieces of data in your trading journal. They are not emotions, not opinions, not rationalizations—they are facts from your broker's fill log. Yet many traders log approximate prices or prices they wish they got, not prices they actually got. This is where self-deception creeps in, and where your journal stops being useful.

Precise entry and exit prices are critical because they let you calculate your actual profit or loss, detect hidden slippage, and measure whether your system performs as expected. A strategy that wins 55% in backtests but only 51% in live trading often has a slippage problem. Only exact prices reveal it.

Quick definition: Entry and exit prices recorded are the exact price fills your broker executed at entry and exit, logged in your journal to calculate real profit/loss and identify slippage patterns that reduce your edge.

Key takeaways

• Log the exact fill price, not the price you thought you'd get or the price you aimed for—what your broker actually filled.
• Record both prices to within two decimal places (for stocks) or the appropriate precision for your market (forex pips, futures ticks).
• Use entry and exit prices to calculate your pips, points, or percentage gained, separate from your dollar profit/loss.
• Compare your actual execution to your entry and exit plans; slippage of <0.05% per trade adds up to 5% of your capital per year.
• Over dozens of trades, precise prices reveal whether you are losing money to poor entries, premature exits, or hidden slippage.

Why exact prices matter: the slippage problem

A trader has a mechanical system that backtests at a 54% win rate, average win of 15 pips, average loss of 12 pips. In live trading, he's hitting 51% win rate with average win of 14.8 pips and average loss of 12.3 pips. The difference is small, but over 200 trades a year, that <0.2 pip-per-trade slippage costs him about <$1,200 in lost profit (on a typical position size).

He discovers this only because he logs exact entry and exit prices. If he had logged approximate prices ("around <$52.00") or his target prices instead of fill prices, he would have attributed his underperformance to bad luck or market conditions, never realizing he has a <$0.01 slippage leak on nearly every trade.

With exact prices logged, he investigates: his broker has high spreads during the first 15 minutes of market open, and he's entering right at 9:30 a.m. He moves his entry window to 10:00 a.m. and his average win jumps back to 15 pips. Exact prices revealed the problem.

Recording entry and exit prices correctly

Entry price: the price you filled at, not your intention

When you enter a trade, your broker fills you at a specific price. If you set a buy order at <$52.00 but it fills at <$52.03, log <$52.03, not <$52.00. If you use market orders, log the exact fill. If you use limit orders, log what you got filled at.

This is not optional. If you rationalize and log your intended price, you're creating a false record. The difference between intended and actual is slippage—exactly what you need to measure.

For stocks, log to cents: <$52.34. For forex, log to pips: 1.2045. For futures, log to the tick: 4,950.5. Use the precision your market uses.

Exit price: the price you sold at, not your target

You set a profit target at <$53.00. Price runs to <$53.01 but your order fills at <$52.97 as price pulls back. Log <$52.97, not <$53.00. You intended to get <$53.00; you got <$52.97. That <0.03 slippage is real, and it compounds.

For manual exits, log the exact fill price. For automated exits (stop or limit orders), log where your order actually filled. If you had a trailing stop that filled at <$52.80 when price was at <$52.79 (i.e., the order was triggered one tick below your trailing stop), log <$52.80.

Entry and exit as separate fields

In your journal template, create two columns or fields: Entry Price and Exit Price. Never combine them or net them. Calculate the difference separately so you can spot which trades had bad entries, bad exits, or both.

A trader might have a great setup (good entry at <$52.00) but terrible exit (sold too early at <$52.30 when the trade ran to <$52.80). Or he might have a sloppy entry (filled at <$52.05 instead of <$52.00) but a perfect exit at <$53.00. Separating entry and exit prices lets you spot these patterns.

Calculating pips, points, and percentages from prices

Once you have entry and exit prices, calculate your move in pips, points, or percentages. This is the market move you captured, separate from your dollar profit/loss.

Pips and points

For a trade from <$52.00 (entry) to <$52.15 (exit), you captured 15 cents = 15 pips (if we're using pips, which usually means <$0.01). For a futures contract from 4,950 to 4,965, you captured 15 points.

Calculate this in your journal: Entry <$52.00, Exit <$52.15, Pips Gained: +15. This is your net move, not accounting for position size.

Percentage gain

For a <$52.00 entry and <$52.15 exit, your percentage gain is: (<$52.15 − <$52.00) / <$52.00 = <0.29%. This is useful for comparing trades across different price levels (a <0.29% move on a <$52.00 stock is the same as a <0.29% move on a <$104 stock).

Percentage gains matter if you want to scale trades by position size proportionally, or if you trade multiple instruments at different price levels.

Dollar profit or loss

Once you have pips and position size, calculate dollars. 15 pips on 100 shares = 15 × 100 = <$15 gain (before commissions and slippage). 15 pips on 500 shares = <$75. The pips are the same; the dollars scale with position size.

Decision tree

Detecting slippage patterns in your journal

Over 20, 50, or 100 trades, patterns emerge. Log your intended entry and actual entry as separate columns, then calculate the difference:

Intended Entry: <$52.00, Actual Entry: <$52.03, Slippage: −<$0.03

Do this for exits as well:

Intended Exit: <$53.00, Actual Exit: <$52.97, Slippage: −<$0.03

Now, at month-end, sort your journal by slippage and calculate the average:

• Average entry slippage: −<$0.025 per trade
• Average exit slippage: −<$0.018 per trade
• Total per trade: −<$0.043

Over 200 trades per year, that's <$8.60 per trade × 200 = <$1,720 per year in hidden slippage. For a <$5,000 account, that's a <34% annual drag on your returns.

You can then investigate: Is slippage worse at 9:30 a.m.? Only on certain stocks? Only on exits? Only when volatility is high? Once you spot the pattern, you can avoid those conditions or accept them as part of your cost of doing business.

Real-world examples

Example 1: The <0.01 leak that costs <$2,000 a year. A day trader keeps precise entry and exit prices and discovers that on average, he gets filled <0.02 worse than his intended entry on 70% of his trades, and <0.01 worse on exits. He trades 300 times per year with an average position size of 200 shares.

Average slippage per trade: −<0.015 × 200 = −<$3 per trade × 300 trades = −<$900 per year.

Seems small. But when he calculates his win rate on a 55% win rate with <$1,000 average win and <$800 average loss, that <$900 in slippage cuts his annual profit by <12%. He contacts his broker about lower spreads, negotiates, and reduces slippage to <0.005 per trade. His annual profit jumps <$600—pure slippage improvement.

Example 2: The exit price that reveals premature exit. A trader logs exact exit prices and realizes something: he intended to hold his breakout trades to a <$53.00 target, but he's getting filled at <$52.83 on average. He's exiting 17 cents too early. When he reviews the charts, he realizes he's been using a trailing stop that's too tight. He widens the trailing stop, his average exit price jumps to <$52.97, and his average winning trade increases from <$800 to <$980. Exact prices revealed he was leaving money on the table.

Example 3: The slippage pattern that only appears in the last 30 minutes. A swing trader logs exact entry and exit prices across all market hours. When he analyzes, he finds:

• 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. entries: −<0.01 average slippage
• Last 30 minutes (3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.) entries: −<0.07 average slippage

He stops entering trades in the final 30 minutes. His average slippage drops, and his overall profitability increases by <8%.

Common mistakes

• Logging intended prices instead of actual fills: If you set a limit order at <$52.00 but it doesn't fill and you enter at market at <$52.02, log <$52.02, not <$52.00. The actual fill is what matters.

• Rounding prices: Logging <$52.03 as <$52.00 is rounding away your slippage. Don't round. Log exact cents for stocks, exact pips for forex.

• Not separating entry and exit: Netting entry and exit prices hides slippage patterns. Log them separately so you can compare entry slippage across all trades and exit slippage across all trades.

• Forgetting commissions in your P&L calculation: Your actual P&L includes commissions. If you made 15 pips but paid <$10 in commissions on a 200-share position, log your profit as 15 pips minus commissions.

• Not tracking slippage monthly: Calculate average slippage once a month. This is your "cost of business" and helps you assess whether your system is still working or whether market conditions have changed.

FAQ

What if I use a simulator or paper trading—do I need exact prices?

Yes. In fact, paper trading is where you should develop the habit. If you log approximate prices in paper trading, you'll do it in live trading too. Practice with exact prices now.

Should I include the bid-ask spread in my slippage calculation?

The bid-ask spread is part of your slippage. If you buy at the ask (the higher price) and sell at the bid (the lower price), that spread is a cost you incur. It's all part of "how much worse than ideal did I execute."

What if my broker doesn't show me exact prices?

Use your broker's trade history or fill report. Every broker records exact fills; you just need to look at the right report. If your broker won't show you exact prices, consider switching.

How precise do I need to be for futures or forex?

Forex: to the pip (0.0001 for most pairs). Futures: to the tick (0.25 for ES, 0.5 for GC, etc.). Use your market's standard precision.

Can I use entry and exit prices to improve my system?

Yes. If you notice your system's win rate drops <5% between backtest and live trading, precise prices help you locate the cause (slippage, entry timing, exits). This is invaluable for system refinement.

What if I miss recording a price?

Go back to your broker and fill it in the same day, if possible. The longer you wait, the less accurate your memory. At minimum, pull your trade history from your broker and fill in the gaps.

Related concepts

• What to Record in Your Journal
• Entry: Documentation and Setup Context
• Position Size and Risk Logged
• Market Conditions on Entry Day

Summary

Precise entry and exit prices are the foundation of honest journaling. Log the exact fill prices, not intended prices. Calculate pips, points, and percentages so you can measure your market moves separately from your dollar profit. Track slippage monthly and look for patterns—entry timing, market conditions, or volatility levels that increase slippage. Slippage of <0.05% per trade adds up to real money over hundreds of trades. Only by recording exact prices can you spot hidden costs and fix them.

Next

Position Size and Risk Logged