What Is a Forex Sheet?

Understanding the Forex Sheet

A forex sheet isn't just a spreadsheet—it's your daily trading sidekick.

Think of it as a live, evolving snapshot of your trading brain:

• How many trades you’re taking per week or per month.

• Which currency pairs you’re consistently winning or losing on.

• What setups actually work for you (breakouts, pullbacks, mean reversion).

• How risk is being managed—or not.

Your forex sheet gives you a structured way to look at:

• Market conditions – trend or range? Volatile or quiet?

• Trade specifics – entry, stop, target, lot size, direction.

• Emotional state – confident, fearful, revenge trading (be honest here).

• Outcome – did it follow the plan or not?

It’s more than numbers. It’s a mirror that shows you exactly how you trade—without excuses.

At the core, a good forex sheet helps you:

• Track your performance over time.

• Refine your strategies based on real data, not vibes.

• Control risk so one mistake doesn’t blow your account.

• Spot patterns in your behavior (like over-trading after a loss).

In short: your forex sheet keeps your trades tight, your logic sharper, and your risks in check.

What is a Forex Sheet Used For?

• Trade logging becomes second nature with a forex sheet, letting you record every trade: the pair, direction (long/short), entry price, stop-loss, take-profit, and position size.
       • It supports performance tracking, showing where you nail trades and where you repeat mistakes—by pair, time of day, or strategy.
       • It serves as a risk management center, letting you monitor how much of your capital is on the line at any moment.
       • It’s a learning tool—your past trades become data, not drama.

A forex sheet can be digital (Excel, Google Sheets, Notion, TradingView exports) or even on paper, but the key is consistency.

Key Forex Terminology You’ll Meet in a Forex Sheet

Before you can really master a forex sheet, you need to be fluent in the language it speaks. Here are the essentials that show up over and over again.

1. Pip

A pip (percentage in point) is the standard unit of movement in forex.

• For most pairs (like EUR/USD), 1 pip = 0.0001.

• For JPY pairs (like GBP/JPY), 1 pip = 0.01.

If EUR/USD moves from 1.1000 to 1.1010, that’s a move of 10 pips.

Why it matters in your sheet:

• Pip values help you calculate profit and loss.

• Your stop and target distances are often set in pips (e.g., 30-pip stop, 60-pip target).

2. Spread

The spread is the difference between the bid (sell) price and the ask (buy) price.

Example:
       If EUR/USD is quoted at 1.1000 / 1.1002, the spread is 0.0002 = 2 pips.

Spread matters because:

• It’s a hidden cost of trading.

• Tight spreads = lower cost, especially for scalpers.

Your forex sheet should note:

• Average spread per pair.

• Whether high spreads influenced your net P/L (especially around news events).

3. Leverage

Leverage lets you control a large position size with a smaller amount of capital.

Example:

• 1:100 leverage means 1 unit of your money controls 100 units in the market.

Leverage is a double-edged sword:

• It multiplies both gains and losses.

• Your forex sheet should track the effective leverage per trade (position size vs account size) to keep your risk under control.

4. Lot Size

Lot size is how big your trade is.

• 1 Standard lot = 100,000 units of currency.

• 1 Mini lot = 10,000 units.

• 1 Micro lot = 1,000 units.

Your forex sheet will likely include:

• Lot size per trade.

• Pip value per lot (e.g., on EUR/USD, 1 standard lot ≈ $10 per pip).

This directly affects how much you gain or lose per pip movement.

5. Margin

Margin is the amount of money your broker locks up to keep your position open.

• It’s not a fee, but a requirement.

• If your account drops too low relative to your open trades, you may face a margin call.

In a forex sheet, you might log:

• Margin required per trade.

• Free margin remaining.

• Times when over-leveraging led to stress or positions being force-closed.

Knowing these terms doesn’t just help you read a forex sheet—it helps you structure it properly.

How Forex Sheets Support Trading Decisions

A forex sheet is not just a notebook—it’s your decision engine.

Here’s how it shapes your trading choices:

• Entry Detection: By tracking the conditions you require (trend direction, RSI level, price near support/resistance), your sheet confirms whether your setup truly meets your rules.

• Exit Logic: You log your plan for exits—take profit, trailing stops, manual closures. Over time, you see whether your exits are too early, too late, or just right.

• Strategy Filters: You might only take breakout trades when volatility is high or when the trend is strong. Your forex sheet helps test these filters in real numbers.

• Risk Decisions: By logging risk per trade (in % of account), you know whether you’re staying within your rules—like never risking more than 1–2% per trade.

• Post-Trade Review: After trades close, you can score them:

• Followed plan?

• Broke rules?

• Emotionally driven?

• Setup valid or forced?

Over time, your forex sheet becomes a database of decisions, revealing:

• Which currency pairs are your strongest.

• What time frames you trade best.

• Which strategies have the highest expectancy.

• Whether increasing position size in certain setups makes sense.

Why Indicators Matter in a Forex Sheet

Indicators aren’t magic—but when you log them in your forex sheet, patterns start to emerge.

Some of the most important ones to track:

• RSI (Relative Strength Index) – measures momentum and overbought/oversold conditions.

• MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence) – highlights trend direction and momentum shifts.

• Support/Resistance – where price reacts repeatedly.

• Moving Averages – help define trend direction and dynamic support/resistance.

Tracking these in your forex sheet lets you answer real questions like:

• Do RSI overbought signals near resistance actually lead to reversals for you?

• Do MACD crossovers in the direction of the daily trend give you higher win rates?

• Are you entering trades into major resistance just because the short-term chart looks good?

Industry research and backtests suggest that strategies combining multiple technical signals can, in some cases, outperform simple single-indicator rules over certain periods. That idea alone should make anyone reconsider skipping their indicator homework next time around.

EUR/USD vs. GBP/JPY: What Forex Sheets Reveal About Popular Pairs

The forex market isn’t just one big messy blob—it’s a network of currency pairs, each with its own behavior.

Two of the most studied pairs:

• EUR/USD – the “king” of forex pairs, known for high liquidity and relatively tight spreads.

• GBP/JPY – volatile, spiky, and often called “the beast” for its explosive moves.

From a forex sheet perspective, comparing these two helps you understand:

• Volatility – GBP/JPY typically moves more pips per day than EUR/USD.

• Spread Cost – spreads on GBP/JPY are usually wider, meaning higher costs.

• Behavior – EUR/USD often respects technical levels in a smoother way, while GBP/JPY can whip around levels before picking a direction.

According to the BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey, EUR/USD accounted for about 22.7% of global daily FX turnover in 2022, while cross pairs such as GBP/JPY had only a low single-digit share. This gap tells you who’s dominating the liquidity game.

Trading Platform Considerations: EUR/USD vs. GBP/JPY

On most platforms:

• EUR/USD offers:

• Tight spreads.

• High liquidity.

• Smooth price action—good for beginners and advanced traders alike.

• GBP/JPY offers:

• Faster moves.

• Larger intraday swings.

• More opportunities for big wins—and big losses—if your risk isn’t dialed in.

In your forex sheet, you might notice:

• Higher win rates on EUR/USD when using swing setups.

• Larger but more inconsistent P/L on GBP/JPY when scalping or day trading.

Seeing this in your data helps you allocate your focus: which pair deserves more of your capital and attention?

Trading Platforms: Comparing MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5

Your forex sheet doesn’t live in a vacuum—it usually works alongside your trading platform.

Here’s a quick look at MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, two of the most widely used platforms for forex trading.

Both versions support thousands of brokers worldwide.

From a forex sheet perspective, both platforms allow you to:

• Export trade history into CSV or Excel.

• View detailed metrics: open time, close time, swap, commissions, P/L.

• Combine logs from your platform with your custom forex sheet to get a single, unified view of your performance.

Some traders even use scripts or EAs to auto-fill their external forex sheet from MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5, making tracking nearly effortless.

How Forex Sheets Enhance Decision-Making

Let’s get practical. Here’s how a forex sheet directly upgrades your decision-making.

1. Clarity on Risk Per Trade

Instead of guessing:

• You define your risk per trade (e.g., 1% of account).

• Your sheet calculates:

• Position size.

• Pip value.

• Max loss if stop is hit.

Over hundreds of trades, your sheet shows if you’re respecting this rule—or quietly breaking it.

2. Understanding Your Edge

By logging:

• Strategy used (trend-following, breakout, reversal).

• Timeframe.

• Pair.

• Indicator confluence (e.g., RSI + MACD + support level).

Your sheet can reveal:

• Which strategy has the highest win rate.

• Which setups have the best R:R (risk-to-reward).

• What to double down on and what to drop.

3. Emotional Pattern Detection

If you add a simple “emotion tag” to each trade (calm, rushed, revenge, FOMO), a forex sheet can show:

• Whether emotional trades are dragging down your results.

• If you tend to overtrade after a loss.

• Whether certain days or times trigger poor decision-making (e.g., late-night low-discipline sessions).

You’re not guessing anymore—you’re confronting hard data.

Final Thoughts: Why Your Forex Sheet Matters

The forex market is fast, emotional, and unforgiving.

A forex sheet doesn’t slow you down—it keeps you grounded.

• It turns scattered trades into a coherent story.

• It exposes what works and what doesn’t.

• It upgrades your intuition from “I think this works” to “I know this works because I have the data.”

If you treat your forex sheet like a serious trader treats their P&L and risk, you’ll start noticing:

• Cleaner setups.

• Less emotional churn.

• A steadier, more professional approach to the markets.

You can’t control the market. But you can absolutely control your data, discipline, and decisions—and that starts with the humble, powerful forex sheet.

Why Understanding Indicators Matters in a Forex Sheet

Indicators are like subtitles to price action—they tell you what’s being whispered beneath each candle.

Let’s look at two of the most important ones you’ll see (and should track) in your forex sheet: RSI and MACD.

Forex Sheets: RSI and MACD

Let’s break down how these two indicators help you read your forex sheet like a pro:

1. RSI (Relative Strength Index):

• Measures momentum.

• Values above 70 = overbought; below 30 = oversold.

• Great for spotting exhaustion in trends.

2. MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence):

• Shows trend direction + momentum shifts.

• Tracks the relationship between two EMAs (e.g., 12 & 26 period).

• Crossovers and divergence can signal potential reversals or continuation.

If you write down RSI and MACD readings in your forex sheet at entry and exit, you start seeing patterns like:

• Most of your best shorts came when:

• RSI > 70 at resistance.

• MACD crossed bearish.

• Your worst trades happened when you:

• Bought into overbought conditions.

• Ignored MACD divergence.

This turns indicators from “pretty lines” into hard evidence.

Using RSI & MACD Together on Your Forex Sheet

The magic isn’t just in RSI or MACD alone—it’s in how they work together in context.

Example: EUR/USD Reversal Setup

Imagine this setup you might log in your forex sheet under EUR/USD – Reversal Strategy:

• Trend: Uptrend on the 4H chart.

• Price: Testing a strong resistance level it has failed at twice before.

• RSI: Above 70 and starting to curl downward.

• MACD: Bearish crossover forming, with histogram shrinking.

In your forex sheet, you might record:

• Pair: EUR/USD

• Direction: Short

• Entry: 1.1050 (after confirmation)

• Stop: 1.1100

• Take Profit: 1.0950

• RSI at Entry: 74 → curling down

• MACD: Bearish crossover on 4H

• Notes: “Bearish divergence vs price, third test of resistance.”

Over time, you might find entries like this have:

• Higher-than-average payoff.

• Lower drawdown.

• Better R:R compared to random entries.

That’s exactly how a forex sheet informs your future strategy choices.

Highlighting Market Sentiment

Your forex sheet doesn’t just track price—it can track sentiment.

Sentiment tools include:

• Broker position ratio data (what % of clients are long vs short).

• CFTC Commitment of Traders (COT) reports.

• Social sentiment, news tone, etc.

You can add a simple sentiment column to your forex sheet:

• “Retail long-heavy? Yes/No.”

• “Institutional positioning risk-on/off?”

• “News sentiment: bullish, bearish, mixed.”

Analyses of CFTC Commitment of Traders data repeatedly show how crowd positioning can end up on the wrong side of big moves when sentiment shifts quickly. That reality alone proves how crucial it is to track the vibe of the market like your paycheck depends on it—because it kinda does.

Common Mistakes When Reading a Forex Sheet (and How to Avoid Them)

Even with a beautifully structured forex sheet, traders still blow accounts because they misinterpret what the data is actually saying.

Here are five of the biggest mistakes and how to dodge them.

1. Ignoring Indicator Confluence

Some traders log RSI, MACD, moving averages… and then ignore them in the actual decision.

Your sheet might show:

• RSI screaming overbought.

• MACD turning bearish.

• Price slamming into weekly resistance.

But then you buy anyway because “it looks bullish.”

Fix it:

• Add a simple checkbox column: “All rules met? Yes/No.”

• Refuse to take trades with “No”—no matter how tempting the chart looks.

2. Misreading Reversal Signals

You jot down:

• “RSI divergence here.”

• “MACD flattening.”

• “Doji at resistance.”

But instead of waiting for confirmation (like a break of structure), you jump early.

Result: you get steamrolled when the trend keeps going.

Fix it:

• Add a column: “Confirmation candle closed? Y/N.”

• Only enter after confirmation is fully formed (e.g., a close below support, a full-bodied reversal candle, etc.).

3. Overcomplicating Readings

Some traders treat their forex sheet like a dumping ground of indicators:

• RSI(7), RSI(14), Stochastics, MACD, Ichimoku, Bollinger Bands—on every trade.

The result?

• Analysis paralysis.

• No clear pattern in what works.

Fix it:

• Pick 2–3 core indicators to focus on (such as RSI, MACD, and 1–2 moving averages).

• Simplify your sheet to prioritize:

• Trend direction.

• Key levels.

• 1–2 confirming indicators.

4. Not Tagging Strategy Types

If you lump everything into “just trades,” you never see which strategy actually works.

You need to know whether:

• Breakout trades outperform mean reversion.

• Trend-following entries beat counter-trend stabs.

Fix it:

• Add a “Strategy” column with tags like:

• Trend-following.

• Reversal.

• Range.

• News fade.

• Run basic stats every 20–50 trades:

• Win rate per strategy.

• Average R:R per strategy.

5. Ignoring Time and Session Data

Taking trades at random times leads to random results.

Your sheet might reveal:

• London session trades are consistently profitable.

• Late New York session trades are often emotional and rushed.

Fix it:

• Add columns:

• Session (Tokyo, London, NY).

• Time of day.

• Filter your results by session and focus on your strongest one.

Avoiding Common Forex Sheet Mistakes

Let’s zoom in on specific mistakes related to indicators and sentiment directly within the context of a forex sheet.

Mistake 1: Ignoring Key Indicators

Plenty of traders fill in columns like “RSI,” “MACD,” or “trend direction,” then treat them as decorative.

Ignoring indicators on your sheet can lead to:

• Buying into exhausted uptrends.

• Selling into strong bullish momentum.

• Entering against both trend and momentum simultaneously.

If your forex sheet keeps showing red P/L next to trades where RSI and MACD disagreed with your entry direction, that pattern is the market screaming at you.

Mistake 2: Misinterpreting Signals

It’s not enough to log indicators—you have to understand them.

For example:

• RSI above 70 doesn’t always mean “sell now.” In strong trends, it can stay overbought for a long time.

• MACD crossing down on a 5-minute chart inside a strong daily uptrend may not mean a major reversal—just a minor pullback.

If your forex sheet details:

• Timeframe of signal.

• Higher timeframe trend.

• How price behaved after the signal.

You’ll see where you misinterpret noise as signal.

Mistake 3: Over-Reliance on a Single Indicator

Your forex sheet might show that trades based only on RSI levels or only on MACD crossovers underperform.

That’s because:

• Single indicators lie—especially in choppy conditions.

• Confluence (multiple signals agreeing) carries more weight.

If you log:

• RSI level.

• MACD direction.

• Structure (higher high / lower low).

• Key support/resistance.

You can later filter trades where 3–4 factors aligned vs trades with just 1 weak justification.

Mistake 4: Ignoring Market Sentiment

Skipping sentiment is like driving with only one eye open.

Broker positioning and tools like COT data can show:

• Whether retail is heavily long or short.

• Whether big players are loading up or offloading.

Broker disclosures and retail-trading studies often show that a large majority of CFD and forex accounts lose money, frequently because traders ignore clear technical and sentiment signals during major currency pair swings.

If your forex sheet includes a “sentiment” tag (e.g., “retail heavily long, I shorted with trend”), it becomes far easier to tell whether trading with or against retail crowd behavior improves your results.

Importance of Reversal Patterns and Price Structures in a Forex Sheet

Beyond indicators, your forex sheet should track price structures and reversal patterns.

These are often the backbone of powerful setups.

Key Reversal Patterns to Track

Some high-value patterns you may want to tag in your forex sheet:

• Double top / double bottom

• Head and shoulders / inverse head and shoulders

• Pin bar reversals

• Engulfing candles

• Break of structure (BOS) with retest

When you combine these with RSI and MACD logging, you get powerful confluence.

Example: Double Top with RSI Divergence

Forex sheet entry example:

• Pair: GBP/JPY

• Pattern: Double top

• Indicator confluence:

• RSI making lower highs.

• MACD flattening or crossing bearish.

• Location: At daily resistance.

• Sentiment: Retail heavily long (based on broker data).

Your forex sheet might reveal that trades combining:

• Key pattern (like a double top),

• Strong level (daily resistance),

• Momentum divergence (RSI/MACD),

• And sentiment alignment,

have significantly better performance than naked “it looks like a reversal” guesses.

Tips for Incorporating Fibonacci Retracement Levels

Fibonacci isn’t magic—but it’s incredibly useful when logged in a forex sheet.

When you record Fibonacci levels in your sheet, you’re tracking:

• Where retracements occurred (38.2%, 50%, 61.8%).

• Whether price respected or sliced through those levels.

• How your entries and exits behaved around those levels.

Why Fibonacci Matters

Fibonacci retracements help you:

• Identify potential pullback zones in a trend.

• Set logical stop-loss and take-profit areas.

• Avoid chasing entries far from fair value.

Using the retracement tool isn’t just about drawing lines—it’s about reading between them.

How to Log Fibonacci in Your Forex Sheet

Consider adding columns like:

• “Fibonacci anchor points” (swing high/swing low).

• “Entry vs Fib level” (e.g., entered near 61.8%).

• “Outcome” (win/loss, RR, slippage).

This lets you later filter:

• Trades taken near 38.2% vs 61.8%.

• Which Fib zones work best on which pairs and timeframes.

Practical Steps for Using Fibonacci in Your Analysis

When the market is trending, Fibonacci retracement levels help outline logical zones to watch for potential pullbacks or continuation:

1. Start from the swing high or low of any strong move and let it auto-populate common levels like 38.2%, 50%, and 61.8%.

2. Watch how price reacts around those levels—whether it stalls, rejects strongly, or slices through.

3. Combine these reactions with trend direction, support/resistance, and indicators like RSI divergence or MACD shifts.

4. Use your forex sheet to log not just the level hit, but how price behaved afterward (e.g., sharp reversal, slow grind, fakeout).

5. Don’t forget context—a retracement level inside consolidation doesn’t carry the same weight as one during strong trending moves.

6. Brokers and trading educators consistently describe Fibonacci retracements as one of the most widely used tools for mapping potential support and resistance in forex markets.

Some traders treat these levels like gospel; others use them more loosely as “zones of interest.” Your forex sheet will tell you which approach actually works for you.

Real-World Impact: How a Forex Sheet Changes the Way You Trade

A well-maintained forex sheet turns:

• “I feel like this setup works” into

• “I know this setup has a 58% win rate with 2.1 R:R over 120 trades.”

That shift—from emotional to evidence-based—is where traders go from guessing to growing.

By combining:

• Solid terminology.

• Clear indicator tracking (RSI, MACD, etc.).

• Structure and pattern tagging (double tops, Fibonacci zones).

• Sentiment context (COT data, retail positioning).

• Platform exports (from MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, or other tools).

Your forex sheet becomes more than a record. It becomes an edge.

How to Create Your Own Forex Sheet

Creating your own forex sheet isn’t just for pros—it’s a smart move for anyone who wants better control over their trades.

Step-by-Step Guide: Creating a Forex Sheet in TradingView

Building a personalized forex sheet through the TradingView platform gives you more than just pretty charts. It’s about turning scattered data into something structured and actionable.

1. Set Up Your Chart Layout

Start by:

• Choosing your main timeframes (e.g., 4H, 1H, 15m).

• Marking:

• Support/resistance.

• Trendlines.

• Key levels (daily/weekly highs and lows).

This visual layer will work hand-in-hand with your forex sheet.

2. Decide What to Log

Plan the key columns you want in your forex sheet, such as:

• Date & Time.

• Pair.

• Direction (Buy/Sell).

• Entry price.

• Stop-loss.

• Take-profit.

• Lot size.

• Risk in %.

• Indicators at entry (RSI, MACD, etc.).

• Pattern (breakout, pullback, reversal).

• Sentiment (bullish/bearish, retail majority long/short).

• Outcome (P/L in pips and currency).

• Notes (what you saw, felt, and learned).

3. Sync with Your Charting Process

Step #1 – You spot a setup on your TradingView chart.
       Step #2 – Before placing the trade, you fill in the planned entry, stop, TP, and reasoning in your forex sheet.
       Step #3 – Plot this dual confirmation onto your charting grid and in your live trading journal, whether that’s a spreadsheet or platform log—that’s your true "sheet" in action.

The key is that your sheet and your charts are talking to each other—every trade you see on TradingView has a matching record in your forex sheet.

Reversal Patterns and Price Structure: What to Track on Your Forex Sheet

Beyond indicators and numbers, your forex sheet should track how price behaves.

Reversal patterns worth tagging:

• Double top – signals potential bearish reversal at resistance.

• Double bottom – signals potential bullish reversal at support.

• Head and shoulders – classic trend reversal pattern.

• Pin bars – long wick rejection at key levels.

• Engulfing candles – strong shifts in momentum.

Adding Structure Tags to Your Forex Sheet

For each trade, you might add:

• Structure: HH, HL, LH, LL (higher high, higher low, lower high, lower low).

• Pattern tag: DT (double top), DB (double bottom), H&S, PB (pin bar), ENG (engulfing).

Over time, you’ll see:

• Which patterns lead to the best moves for you.

• Whether entries at structure breaks outperform reversal stabs.

Practical Example: Logging a Double Top Pattern

Let’s say you’re watching GBP/JPY and see a double top form at a major resistance level.

Your forex sheet line might look like this:

• Pair: GBP/JPY

• Setup: Double top + RSI divergence.

• Structure: Lower high failing to break resistance.

• Entry: After bearish engulfing candle confirms rejection.

• Stop-loss: Above the second top.

• Take-profit: At the next key support zone.

• Notes: “Strong rejection at daily resistance; MACD turning bearish; sentiment shows retail long-heavy.”

You then log the result:

• Win/loss.

• Pips gained or lost.

• R:R achieved.

• Emotional notes (did you stick to the plan?).

After a few dozen similar trades, you’ll see:

• Whether double tops at daily resistance outperform those at minor intraday levels.

• Whether pairing patterns with RSI/MACD confluence improves your odds.

Why Ignoring Key Signals on Your Forex Sheet Is Dangerous

One of the sneakiest problems traders face is collecting data and then ignoring it.

If your forex sheet keeps showing:

• Losses when you fight the trend.

• Bigger drawdowns when you don’t wait for confirmation.

• Consistent red numbers when trading during low-liquidity times (like late Friday or pre-news chop).

Then the issue isn’t the market—it’s the behavior your sheet is quietly documenting.

By reviewing your sheet weekly or monthly, you can decide:

• Which setups to cut.

• Which time windows to stop trading.

• Which structures, indicators, or sentiment combos deserve larger allocation.

Bringing It All Together: Forex Sheets, Patterns, and Discipline

At the end of the day, your forex sheet is:

• A tracking tool.

• A honesty tool.

• A performance lab.

It captures:

• The numbers behind your decisions.

• The patterns behind your wins and losses.

• The behavior behind your success or struggle.

When you combine:

• Solid understanding of forex terminology.

• Thoughtful logging of indicators like RSI and MACD.

• Structural awareness via reversal patterns and Fibonacci levels.

• Sentiment readings and platform exports.

you’re not just trading anymore—you’re running a data-backed trading operation.

Your future self—the more experienced trader who looks back at their journey—will thank you for every line you log today.

Because while most of the crowd trades off impulses and screenshots, you’ll be trading off evidence, structure, and a forex sheet that tells you the truth.

Double Top and Double Bottom: Why Your Forex Sheet Should Track Them

Some of the most powerful reversal patterns you can log in your forex sheet are the classic double top and double bottom formations.

Double Top

A double top typically forms after an extended uptrend:

• Price rallies into a resistance zone and pulls back.

• It then retests that zone and stalls again.

• The failure to break higher suggests buying momentum is weakening.

What to log in your forex sheet:

• Location: Was it at a major resistance or random mid-range zone?

• Confirmation: Did you get:

• Bearish candlestick patterns (engulfing, pin bar)?

• RSI divergence (price making equal highs, RSI making lower highs)?

• MACD momentum fading or crossing bearish?

These details help you validate whether double tops at key levels deliver better trades than those that appear randomly in the middle of a trend.

Double Bottom

A double bottom is the mirror version—often a sign of exhaustion in downtrends:

• Price hits a support level and bounces.

• It retests that level and holds again.

• The repeated failure to break lower implies sellers are running out of steam.

What to log:

• Whether the pattern formed at a strong support or just an arbitrary level.

• Whether volume, momentum, and sentiment supported the potential reversal.

• Whether higher timeframe direction aligned with a true shift in structure (e.g., break above previous lower high).

Why These Patterns Belong in Your Forex Sheet

Over time, your forex sheet might show:

• Double tops at weekly resistance combined with RSI divergence produce high-quality short setups.

• Double bottoms at daily demand zones combined with bullish engulfing candles often precede strong rallies.

Some traders discover that double tops and bottoms:

• Work best when confirmed by:

• Break of neckline.

• Momentum shifts in MACD.

• Volume spikes or volatility increases.

Others find that trading them without confirmation leads to too many fakeouts.

Your forex sheet is where those truths show up clearly.

Price Structure: The Skeleton of Your Forex Sheet Data

Under every candle pattern is a basic skeleton: price structure.

Structure terms to log:

• Higher high (HH) – price breaks above previous high; bullish sign.

• Higher low (HL) – pullbacks hold at higher levels; trend support.

• Lower high (LH) – rallies fail to reach prior highs; bearish sign.

• Lower low (LL) – price prints new lows; bearish continuation.

By logging HH/HL/LH/LL tags into your forex sheet for each entry:

• You can see whether you’re trading with or against structure.

• You’ll identify if most of your losing trades come from fading strong trends at the wrong time.

For example:

• Shorting in a market making HHs and HLs repeatedly?

• Your forex sheet will quickly call that out.

• Going long in a sequence of LHs and LLs?

• The sheet will expose your habit of catching falling knives.

Putting Pattern & Structure Tracking Into Action

Here’s how a full log line might look for a high-quality reversal:

• Pair: EUR/USD

• Setup: Double top at weekly resistance.

• Structure: LH after failed breakout.

• Indicators:

• RSI divergence (price flat, RSI lower high).

• MACD turning bearish.

• Sentiment: Retail heavily long near the highs.

• Entry: Break below neckline level.

• Risk: 1% of account, stop above second top.

• Outcome: +2.7R (reward to risk).

• Notes: “Strong structure confluence; next time watch for earlier partial profit.”

Or for a failed reversal:

• Pair: GBP/JPY

• Setup: Double top, but at mid-range—not a key level.

• Structure: Still printing higher highs on higher timeframe.

• Indicators: RSI high but no divergence, MACD still bullish.

• Sentiment: Mixed.

• Outcome: -1R (stopped out).

• Lesson noted: “Avoid shorting double tops that form mid-trend with no higher timeframe resistance.”

The more detail you add (without overcomplicating), the more your forex sheet stops being a simple record and becomes a playbook.

Why These Patterns Matter for Every Trader Using a Forex Sheet

Even if you’re trading systematically or algorithmically, tracking things like double tops, double bottoms, and structure tags in your forex sheet gives you:

• Better insight into what your system is actually exploiting.

• A way to validate whether your human interpretation of patterns matches reality.

• Psychological confidence—because you know patterns you’re trading have been tested and logged.

For discretionary traders, it’s even more critical:

• Without logs, patterns are just stories you tell yourself.

• With a proper forex sheet, patterns become statistics—you either have an edge, or you don’t.

Next time you see a double top or double bottom forming on your chart, don’t just treat it as a visual cue. Treat it as an opportunity:

• To add another datapoint to your pattern database.

• To refine your rules for confirmation, invalidation, and trade management.

Both these setups are classic parts of any solid technical analysis toolkit—and your forex sheet should reflect exactly how you’re trading them, whether you’re clicking buy/sell on your favorite platform or calmly reading their charts on their favorite spreadsheet or online tool.

Don’t just eyeball these patterns on your forex sheet templates—draw lines, mark zones, confirm volume shifts… then decide if it's worth pulling the trigger.

References

• CME Group – Analytics and Data Tools for Traders - https://www.cmegroup.com/

• BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey – OTC foreign exchange turnover in April 2022 - https://www.bis.org/statistics/rpfx22.htm

• Commitments of Traders – CFTC Official Reports - https://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/index.htm

• Relative Strength Index (RSI) – Investopedia - https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rsi.asp

• Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) – Investopedia - https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/macd.asp

• Fibonacci Retracement – Investopedia - https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fibonacciretracement.asp

• Trading Journal Spreadsheet – StockBrokers.com - https://www.stockbrokers.com/education/trading-journal-excel-spreadsheet

• Currencies Market Overview – TradingView - https://www.tradingview.com/markets/currencies/