Auction Market Theory Research & Development for Professional Traders

Co-founded by J.T. Wellesley, author and former dealing desk operator

Why should traders journal?

We've worked with traders of all levels, and one common problem with those who fail to maintain consistency is clear:
They are not learning enough from their mistakes. And the key is to keep a journal.

Many of these traders had heard of the merits of a trading journal through books or online sources, but they had always dismissed it. "I can remember when I messed up," they thought. Yet, when we enforced the habit and they began keeping a journal the right way, they saw improvements quickly. It was the turning point.

The human mind is capable of subtle and subconscious pattern recognition, and it gets better as you continue to gain screen time. Some of these tendencies can also lead to illusions (seeing what it not actually there.) Others lead to real cause an effect.

The reason that many of the biggest market participants use Machine Learning technology is because ML effectively works this way:

It tests patterns, checks whether those apparent patterns truly have any predictive ability, and then discard the ones that don't. Humans naturally do the same... except if you're not accurately logging down the successes and failures in a journal, then you are trading like a broken Machine Learning system that cannot filter what patterns truly work for you and what are simply a mirage.

Why prop firms?

There are many caveats when it comes to trading with a funded trading prop firm. First and foremost, if you are already well-capitalized, there is little benefit to using one. However, the main problem for many beginners is that they not only lack experience, they also lack capital. And the psychological toll of trading a demo account with no stakes is simply not the same as a real account. This is why many traders can perform in a demo and immediately fold in a live account. Prop firms provide a unique bridge: Real stakes but not your life savings. As long as you can afford the evaluation fees, trading with a prop firm is a unique opportunity for today's traders that the beginners of the past simply did not have access to.

The AM Trading Journal

We've developed AM Trading Journal, a cross-platform trading journal aimed specifically at traders looking to pass prop firm challenges and get funded. It works just as well for traders of all levels. After all, that's what we originally developed it for.

But we've adapted it to import data from popular prop firm trading platforms (and we're continually developing new tools to include more platforms) so traders can get a realistic view of their stats and how likely they are to pass a challenge based on real data.

And best of all, it's 100% free to use.

Get Started with the
Free AM Trading Journal
for Prop Traders