# How to Use the Reports Tab in Trader Journal > The Reports tab in Trader Journal is where the real analysis happens. Here is how to use every section to understand your trading performance. **Tags:** reports, analytics, trader-journal, statistics **URL:** https://traderjournal.app/app-guide/how-to-use-reports-tab --- # How to Use the Reports Tab in Trader Journal The Reports tab is the analytical core of Trader Journal. While the Dashboard gives you a 90-day snapshot, the Reports tab lets you choose your date range and dig into the breakdowns that identify patterns in your trading. --- ## Choosing a Date Range At the top of the Reports tab, a segmented selector lets you choose: - **7 days** - recent performance, useful for weekly reviews - **30 days** - monthly view, enough data for most pattern analysis - **90 days** - the default dashboard period, good for quarterly strategy review - **1 year** - long-term view, requires a paid plan for full history All statistics on the page update immediately when you change the range. --- ## The 12 Stat Tiles The Reports tab shows 12 metrics in a 2-column grid: **Net P&L** - bottom-line result for the period **Win Rate** - percentage of trades that closed in profit **Profit Factor** - gross profit / gross loss **Expectancy** - average profit per trade including losers. This is the most predictive metric for long-term performance. A positive expectancy means you make money on average per trade. Formula: (Win Rate x Avg Win) - (Loss Rate x Avg Loss). **Avg Win** - average profit on winning trades **Avg Loss** - average loss on losing trades (shown as positive for readability) **Best Trade** - your largest single winning trade in the period **Worst Trade** - your largest single losing trade in the period **Trades Count** - total closed trades **Volume (lots)** - total lot volume traded **Max Drawdown ($)** - largest peak-to-trough equity drop in dollars **Drawdown %** - the same drawdown expressed as a percentage of peak equity --- ## By Symbol Breakdown Below the stat grid, the by-symbol table shows your performance broken down by trading instrument. For each symbol, you see: - Number of trades - Net P&L This tells you which instruments you trade profitably and which are losing money. It is common to find that 2-3 pairs account for most of your profit, while several others are consistently negative. That is actionable information - you can reduce or stop trading the losing pairs. --- ## By Day of Week The day-of-week breakdown shows your performance for each calendar day: Monday through Sunday. For each day: - Number of trades - Net P&L Most traders have patterns here that they are not consciously aware of. Monday and Friday are commonly weaker days for many strategies. If your Friday trades are consistently negative, stopping trading on Fridays immediately improves your results. --- ## By Hour of Day The hourly breakdown shows performance for each hour from 00:00 to 23:00. This is particularly useful for: - **Scalpers** who want to find their best trading window - **Day traders** who want to confirm or challenge their assumptions about which sessions are strongest - **Anyone** who wants to know whether their worst trades happen during specific market conditions (e.g., low-liquidity Asian session vs high-volatility London open) --- ## Reading the Data Correctly A few cautions when interpreting the reports: - **Small samples are unreliable.** A day-of-week breakdown based on 3-4 trades per day is not statistically meaningful. You need at least 20-30 trades per category to draw conclusions. - **Correlation is not causation.** If Wednesday shows the highest net P&L, that does not necessarily mean you should trade more on Wednesdays - it might just mean you took better setups that happened to fall on Wednesdays. - **Look for consistency, not one-off results.** The best trade you ever made might skew your best-trade or best-day stats. Focus on averages and medians, not peaks. The Reports tab is most powerful when used regularly, monthly or quarterly, to track whether your adjustments to strategy or risk management are actually improving the numbers.