A journal full of numbers is not the same as insight. A handful of metrics carry almost all the useful information; the rest are decoration. Here are the ones worth watching.
Expectancy
The average amount you make per trade, combining win rate with the size of wins and losses. It is the most honest single number, and the one that tells you whether to keep or drop a setup. Measure it in R to make it independent of position size.
Profit factor
Gross profit divided by gross loss — a fast health check. Above about 1.3 over a large sample is a real, tradeable edge. It exposes strategies quietly propped up by one lucky winner.
Maximum drawdown
The worst peak-to-trough drop. It decides whether you can actually live with a strategy and whether you would survive a prop challenge. Returns get the attention; drawdown gets the accounts.
Breakdown by setup, session and symbol
The most actionable view of all: which of your setups make money, which sessions suit you, which markets bleed you. This is where a journal stops describing and starts improving your trading.
Track them without lifting a finger
NEXALIONE computes all of these live from your synced trades and shows the breakdowns automatically. Start free.