# Tracking Setups by Tag - Strategy Analysis Made Easy > The tag system in your trading journal is the mechanism that makes strategy-level analysis possible. Here is how to design and use tags for maximum analytical value. **Tags:** tagging, setup-tracking, strategy-analysis, journaling **URL:** https://traderjournal.app/trading-strategies/tracking-setups-by-tag-strategy-analysis --- # Tracking Setups by Tag - Strategy Analysis Made Easy Tags are the index system of your trading journal. Without them, your trade history is a chronological list that can only be analyzed by date or symbol. With them, you can group trades by any meaningful category and compare performance across those groups. The most important category for strategy development is setup type. --- ## Designing Your Setup Tag Vocabulary The goal is a vocabulary small enough to use consistently but granular enough to be analytically useful. **Too few tags:** "trend" and "counter-trend" - these categories are so broad that every trade fits one of them. The analysis tells you nothing specific about which approaches work. **Too many tags:** 25 different setup tags - maintaining this many consistently across hundreds of trades is impractical, and each tag accumulates too few trades for statistical reliability. **The right range:** 5-10 setup tags that each represent a distinct, specifically defined entry approach. --- ## Sample Vocabulary for Trend Traders - **tp-ma** - trend pullback to moving average - **tp-structure** - trend pullback to prior support/resistance level - **bo-continuation** - breakout of minor consolidation within trend - **bo-range** - breakout of major range (larger context change) - **reversal** - counter-trend entry at extended level Five distinct setups. Each is specifically enough defined that trades can be consistently categorized. --- ## Sample Vocabulary for Range Traders - **sr-buy** - buying support in established range - **sr-sell** - selling resistance in established range - **breakout-buy** - buying breakout above range resistance - **breakout-sell** - selling breakdown below range support - **fade** - fading a false breakout back into range Five setups covering both range-trading and breakout modes. --- ## Using Tags Over Time Tags accumulate value as your sample size grows. The first 20 trades in each category are suggestive but not conclusive. After 50 trades per tag, patterns become reliable. After 100 trades per tag, you have strong evidence. Monthly, run your setup performance report: win rate and profit factor per tag. The patterns that emerge guide decisions about which setups to emphasize and which to eliminate. --- ## Tag Consistency Is Everything The only rule that matters for tags: use them the same way every time. A tag that you use loosely is worse than no tag at all, because it creates false data. Before using a tag, write a one-sentence definition of what qualifies for that tag. Reference it when uncertain. Do not expand the definition retroactively to include trades that should have been tagged differently. --- Trader Journal's tag field accepts comma-separated values, making multi-tag entries easy. Download at android.traderjournal.app or ios.traderjournal.app.