How It Works
A winning trade can still be a C.
Some trade grades focus on P&L or setup quality. FaceTheTrade helps you grade something else: whether you did what you said you’d do. Here’s how process grading works.
Trade grading can mean different things: scoring setup quality, calculating R-multiples, or tracking win rate. Those measures can be useful, but they answer different questions from whether you followed your own plan.
FaceTheTrade gives you the tape and transcript to review what you actually did against what you said you’d do.
FaceTheTrade grades process, not outcome — and it's stricter than it sounds.
What actually gets graded
Before or as you enter a trade, you say your setup, entry criteria, and stop out loud — FaceTheTrade is recording video and audio for the length of the trade, so this isn't a journal entry you write later with the benefit of hindsight. It's the actual tape.
After the trade closes, compare your transcript and tape with that statement. You choose the A, B, or C grade. The optional AI coach can suggest one, but you confirm it. Your own stated rule is the standard, rather than a generic strategy template.
How to grade your trade:
- You state (or the app captures) your setup, entry, and stop before you're in the trade.
- The trade plays out on video and audio — the real moment, not a recap.
- Afterward, review the transcript and tape against what you said you’d do. Choose a grade yourself, or consider the optional coach’s suggestion.
- A — you followed your own setup exactly, regardless of outcome.
- B — you followed most of it, with a minor deviation (size, timing, a slightly early exit).
- C — you broke your own rule, even if the trade happened to work out.
Why a loss can outgrade a win
This is the part that trips people up the first time they see it. A trade that hit your stop exactly where you planned it, on a setup you followed to the letter, grades an A — you did your job, the market did what markets sometimes do. A trade that broke your stop, moved size mid-trade, or entered a setup you'd normally reject, but happened to close green, grades below it.
That's the premise: profit is noisy in the short run, while following your plan is something you can review and improve trade by trade.
Built for people who already know their setup
This isn't a strategy-teaching tool, and it doesn't tell you what your rules should be. It assumes you already know your setup cold — most traders past their first few months do — and it's built for the specific gap between knowing a rule and executing it under pressure. If you're still developing a strategy, the grading system has nothing to measure yet. If you already have rules you keep breaking anyway, this is what it's for.
What does it mean for a trade to be graded A, B, or C?
It measures whether you followed the setup, stop, and rules you defined for yourself before entering — not whether the trade made money. A trade that hit your stop but followed your plan exactly can still grade an A. A trade that won but broke your rule to get there grades below it.
Does it grade based on profit and loss?
No. FaceTheTrade doesn’t track P&L or broker fills. You choose a process grade based on whether you followed your own setup, entry, and stop. The optional AI coach can suggest one, which you can accept or change.
How does the app know what my rules are?
You state your setup, entry criteria, and stop out loud before or as you enter — captured on video and audio for the length of the trade. That statement becomes the standard the trade is graded against, using the actual tape instead of a memory of what you meant to do.