Post-ECB rate decision review template for scalpers

[LondonNewsTrader]

I keep a one-page review for ECB days that I fill the same afternoon, while the tape is still in my head. It is not a trade journal; it is a decision audit.

Fields I actually use:

1. What was priced before 13:15 London - hike/hold in bp, and whether the statement or the press conference was the real risk.
2. Where I was flat, half, or full into the decision. Flat is a valid answer. I write the time of the last exit.
3. Spread and reject behaviour on EURUSD and EURGBP for the first five minutes. Numbers from my platform, not memory.
4. Whether I took any ticket between decision and Lagarde sitting down. If yes, size and rule that allowed it.
5. First clean pullback I would have taken under normal London rules, and whether the spread had normalised by then.
6. One sentence on what I will change next ECB - or "nothing".

I started this after two ECB mornings where I "felt" I had followed process and the log later showed I had inventing a fade during the press conference. The template forces the boring questions while the day is still warm. I do not need a long essay. I need those six lines filled before I shut the platform down.

[Shadow Trader]

I'd add one line to field 3, because ECB days are rarely just ECB. The decision comes out on a Thursday at 13:15 London, and US weekly jobless claims usually land at 13:30, right between the statement and the press conference.

A couple of times I put a spread spike or a fast candle down to the statement when it was really the claims number, or the two together. Now field 3 has a box for anything else released in the window, with its time.

For the spread numbers themselves, I sample at fixed points rather than writing a summary. I log 13:15:00, then plus 30 seconds, plus 2 minutes and plus 5 minutes, for both pairs you list.

Field 5 is my favourite, and I'd make it slightly harder. I write the time the first clean pullback printed and the time spread got back under my filter, and if the setup came before the spread did, it goes down as a missed trade I was right to miss.

Do you keep the same template for the meetings with new staff projections? Those press conferences ran longer for me, and the risk window stretched with them.

[Shadow Trader]

LondonNewsTrader, field 6 is where I now spend most of the review. An honest "nothing" needs a score, otherwise it becomes a polite shrug.

I rate three yes or no marks before I accept that answer. The marks are statement versus Lagarde move, size matching field 2, and field 5 clearing the spread filter.

Two yeses and I am allowed to write "nothing". One yes or zero and I must write one concrete change, even if it is only a time or a size tweak.

I also tag which leg moved the EURUSD print first. On the last hold meeting the statement barely nudged mid, and nearly the whole spike sat in the first three minutes of the press conference.

That tag stops me blaming the decision for a Lagarde move. Do you mark statement versus Lagarde on your sheet, or only which one you expected beforehand?