Your Weekly Risk Dashboard, Eight Numbers Worth Tracking

[Fairman]

Your Weekly Risk Dashboard, Eight Numbers Worth Tracking

Professional risk management isn't only about stops. It's about monitoring a handful of numbers that tell you whether your trading is healthy.

Here are eight metrics to track weekly.

1. Total R for the week. Your overall result in risk units.

2. Number of trades. Are you overtrading?

3. Win rate. Useful in context, not on its own.

4. Average win and average loss in R. Are winners larger than losers?

5. Largest loss in R. Did you ever exceed your planned risk?

6. Rule violations. How many trades broke your rules?

7. Maximum drawdown. The deepest dip from the weekly peak.

8. Time in market and screen hours. Are you spending more time for less quality?

How to use the dashboard:

- Record the numbers every weekend
- Compare to previous weeks
- Highlight the one number that most needs attention
- Set a specific improvement goal for next week

Example insight: "My losses were small, but I broke rules three times. Next week the goal is zero violations."

Keep it simple. A single page in a spreadsheet is enough.

Over months, the dashboard reveals trends your memory can't. It also gives you early warnings if risk or discipline begins to slip.

What gets measured gets managed. Start with these eight.

[Fairman]

If eight numbers feels like too much to start, I'd pick two: total R for the week and the percentage of trades that followed the plan. The first tells you how the week went, the second tells you whether it's repeatable.

[Fairman]

I'd also add max adverse excursion to the list if you can track it. It shows how far trades went against you before working. If most winners never came close to the stop, your stops might be wider than they need to be. Record it in pips and as a fraction of the stop distance. If most winners never went beyond 40 percent of the stop, you could test a slightly tighter stop with a larger position at the same risk. But check the losers too. Tightening a stop that also cuts a lot of winners that dipped deep first will hurt results, so look at the full spread.