Post Trade Review Process Essentials

Post Trade Review Process Essentials

For beginners in cryptocurrency trading, moving from simple buying and holding in the Spot market to using derivatives like Futures contracts can feel complex. This guide outlines essential steps for reviewing your trades, focusing on practical risk management by balancing your spot holdings with simple futures strategies. The main takeaway is that consistent review and small, controlled steps are key to long-term safety and learning.

Balancing Spot Holdings with Simple Futures Hedges

Once you own an asset in your spot wallet, you might consider using futures contracts to protect against short-term price drops without selling your underlying spot position. This concept is often called When to Consider a Basic Futures Hedge.

A beginner's safest approach is partial hedging.

1. Determine your total spot exposure. If you hold 1 Bitcoin (BTC) in your Spot market, you own 1 BTC. 2. Decide what percentage of that risk you wish to hedge against a potential downturn. For a beginner, starting with a 25% or 50% hedge is prudent. 3. If you decide on a 50% hedge, you would open a short position in the futures market equivalent to 0.5 BTC. This means if the price drops, the loss on your spot holding is partially offset by the gain on your short futures position. This practice is detailed further in Balancing Spot Assets with Simple Futures.

Important risk notes:

• Futures involve leverage. Even a small amount of leverage, if misused, can lead to significant losses or Liquidation risk with leverage. Always set strict leverage caps; see Minimizing Risk with Low Leverage Caps.
• Hedging is not a guarantee. It reduces volatility but introduces other risks, such as Understanding Basis Risk in Hedging and the cost of Understanding Funding Rates in Futures.
• Always calculate potential costs. Fees Impact on Small Trade Profitability can significantly erode small gains, especially when opening and closing both spot and futures positions.

Using Indicators for Entry and Exit Timing

While indicators should never be the sole reason for a trade, they provide valuable context when reviewing past trades or planning future ones. It is crucial to learn When to Ignore Indicator Suggestions if they conflict with overall market structure. Remember that indicators are often lagging, meaning they confirm a move that has already begun.

Commonly used indicators include:

• RSI: The Relative Strength Index measures the speed and change of price movements. Readings above 70 often suggest an asset is overbought, and below 30 suggests it is oversold. However, in strong trends, these levels can persist. Reviewing how the RSI interacted with your trade entry is vital.
• MACD: The Moving Average Convergence Divergence shows the relationship between two moving averages. A bullish crossover (fast line crossing above the slow line) can signal buying momentum, while a bearish crossover signals the opposite. Pay attention to divergences between the MACD histogram and price action. See Using MACD Crossovers for Trend Shifts.
• Bollinger Bands: These measure volatility. Prices touching the outer bands suggest a potential reversal or a strong trend continuation, depending on context. They help visualize volatility expansion and contraction. Adjusting Indicator Settings for Crypto can sometimes improve their utility.

When reviewing, ask: Did the indicator give a clear signal before I entered? Did I wait for confluence (multiple signals agreeing)? For more complex chart analysis, review guides like Simplifying Complex Trading Charts.

Post-Trade Psychology Review

The most significant risk often comes from internal decision-making, not external market forces. New traders frequently fall prey to emotional trading patterns detailed in Psychology Pitfalls for New Traders.

Common pitfalls to review in your post-trade journal:

• Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): Did you enter a trade because the price was already moving rapidly, rather than waiting for confirmation?
• Revenge Trading: Did you immediately re-enter the market after a loss, trying to win back the money quickly? This often leads to larger losses.
• Overleverage: Did you use excessive leverage on a trade that was outside your Setting Initial Risk Limits for Trading? High leverage magnifies both gains and losses, increasing the chance of premature Futures Market Settlement Basics via liquidation.

When reviewing, be honest about the emotional state during the trade. If you felt anxious or rushed, that trade setup should be scrutinized more heavily during review.

Practical Review Examples and Sizing

Reviewing trade size and risk/reward ratios is essential for improving future performance. Always aim for a positive expected value. A simple way to frame this is through a defined risk/reward ratio.

Example Scenario: Hedging a Spot Purchase

Suppose you bought 100 units of Coin X at $10.00 in the Spot market. Total spot value: $1,000. You are concerned about a short-term dip. You decide to partially hedge 50 units using a Futures contract with 5x leverage.

You set your stop loss based on technical analysis, aiming for a 2:1 reward-to-risk ratio if the hedge works as intended.

Metric	Spot Position (100 Units)	Hedge Position (50 Units Equivalent)
Entry Price	$10.00	$10.00 (Short)
Stop Loss (Risk)	$9.50 (5% loss)	$10.50 (5% adverse move)
Target (Reward)	$11.00 (10% gain)	$9.00 (10% favorable move)
Max Loss on Hedge (If triggered)	N/A	Approx $25 (Before fees/funding)

If the price drops to $9.50:

1. Your spot holding loses $50. 2. Your short hedge gains value because the price moved in your favor (down). If you exit the hedge at $9.50, the gain on the 50-unit equivalent position helps offset the spot loss.

Reviewing this: Did you use proper Using Stop Losses in Futures Trading logic? Did you check the Spot Trade Exit Planning Basics before entering the hedge? For more on managing positions, see Spot Holdings Versus Futures Exposure. If you are looking at different asset classes, you might review guides like How to Trade Energy Futures Like Propane and Ethanol.

Finalizing Your Review Process

A robust post-trade review is not about judging success or failure on a single trade, but about improving the process. Document everything: entry reason, exit reason, indicators used, emotional state, and final P&L (Profit and Loss) after factoring in Fees Impact on Small Trade Profitability.

If you are trading on an exchange, ensure you understand the platform mechanics, as detailed in How to Use Crypto Exchanges to Trade with High Confidence. For more advanced analysis concepts, you might look into tools like the Chaikin Oscillator mentioned in How to Trade Futures Using the Chaikin Oscillator. Remember that market liquidity, discussed in Spot Market Liquidity Considerations, affects trade execution, especially for larger spot positions.

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