The Monthly Reset — My End-of-Month Review That Keeps the Process Clean

Introduction

Once a month I sit down and do the single most valuable thing in my trading year. Not the trades themselves. Not the profits. The Monthly Reset. Twenty-something sessions get distilled into one clean page. Old noise dies. New direction appears. I leave the month behind lighter, sharper, and pointed exactly where I need to go. This is the exact system I run — no fluff, no theory, just what I actually do.

What the Monthly Reset Actually Is

It’s a deliberate pause where:

• numbers become information
• mistakes become patterns
• wins become blueprints
• emotion becomes irrelevant
• the next month gets one clear focus

It’s not motivation. It’s calibration.

How It Feels When It’s Done

It feels like:

• the slate is wiped
• baggage is gone
• clarity is back
• the next session already feels cleaner
• I know exactly what matters Quiet. Calm. Ready.

The Six-Step Ritual

This is the exact sequence. I never skip a step.

1. Raw Data First — No Story Attached

I pull the unfiltered numbers:

• total sessions
• A-quality setups taken
• forced or emotional trades
• rule violations
• valid setups skipped
• average execution score (1–10)

No PnL yet. PnL lies. Behavior doesn’t.

2. Tag Every Mistake — Patterns Surface Instantly

Each mistake gets one label:

• impatience
• fatigue trading
• overconfidence
• revenge
• FOMO
• early exit
• no confirmation
• size violation

Three repeats of the same tag → automatic priority for next month. No debate.

3. Dissect the Top 5 Trades

I open my five best trades and ask:

• Was the setup perfect or the execution perfect?
• Where was my state exactly?
• Did I follow every rule without hesitation?
• What does my “Neutral Zone” actually look like here?

These trades are my reference point for what right feels like.

4. Re-Score the Core Process Areas

I rate each from 1–10:

• pre-market routine
• setup selection
• risk discipline
• execution quality
• journaling depth
• emotional neutrality
• daily review consistency

Lowest three scores become non-negotiable focus areas.

5. Write the One-Page Summary

One page. Always. Contains only:

• biggest recurring mistake
• biggest process improvement
• the behavior that helped most
• the behavior that hurt most
• the single rule to enforce next month
• dominant emotional trend
• highest-edge setup(s)

This page lives on my desk the entire next month.

6. Define Next Month in One Sentence

Final line at the bottom of the page: “This month is about _________________.” Examples from my journal:

• This month is about waiting for confirmation.
• This month is about full size only on A setups.
• This month is about no trading after two consecutive violations.
• This month is about protecting capital above all.

One sentence. One direction. Zero ambiguity.

Why This Reset Keeps Me Consistent

Because it:

• kills recency bias
• turns noise into signal
• forces detachment
• makes progression measurable
• prevents drift

Most traders carry last week’s emotions into next week. I close the door on the entire month.

Final Thoughts

The Monthly Reset is not a performance review. It’s a deliberate ending. A quiet ceremony that says: Last month is finished. Lessons are extracted. Direction is set. Now we begin again — cleaner, clearer, calmer. Consistency isn’t built trade by trade. It’s built reset by reset. See you next month.