Which process metric predicts next month better than P&L?
Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2026 11:59 am
I've been testing this question on my own records for the past year, because monthly P&L is a terrible predictor of the next month. A good month is followed by a bad one about as often as by another good one.
What I tracked monthly, alongside P&L:
Percentage of trades that followed the written plan, judged from screenshots.
Number of trades taken outside my allowed hours.
Average time between a losing exit and the next entry.
Percentage of days on which I stopped at my daily limit.
Number of days with no trade taken (valid "no setup" days).
Then I looked at which of these, in one month, best predicted the next month's result in R.
With only 18 months of data, I have to be careful. But the clearest relationship was with plan adherence. Months in which I followed the plan on more than 90% of trades were usually followed by positive months. When adherence fell below 80%, the following month was negative more often than not.
The time between a loss and the next entry was also useful. When that average fell below ten minutes, the next month tended to be poor. I read that as a sign that I'm getting impatient, which usually gets worse before it gets better.
P&L itself predicted almost nothing.
I don't want to overclaim from 18 data points. But I now look at plan adherence first on the monthly review, and P&L second.
What I tracked monthly, alongside P&L:
Percentage of trades that followed the written plan, judged from screenshots.
Number of trades taken outside my allowed hours.
Average time between a losing exit and the next entry.
Percentage of days on which I stopped at my daily limit.
Number of days with no trade taken (valid "no setup" days).
Then I looked at which of these, in one month, best predicted the next month's result in R.
With only 18 months of data, I have to be careful. But the clearest relationship was with plan adherence. Months in which I followed the plan on more than 90% of trades were usually followed by positive months. When adherence fell below 80%, the following month was negative more often than not.
The time between a loss and the next entry was also useful. When that average fell below ten minutes, the next month tended to be poor. I read that as a sign that I'm getting impatient, which usually gets worse before it gets better.
P&L itself predicted almost nothing.
I don't want to overclaim from 18 data points. But I now look at plan adherence first on the monthly review, and P&L second.