Writing down why you decided
- Author
- CRYPTO PORT Editorial
- Published
- Updated
- Reading time
- 5 min
In short
Jotting down the reason whenever you buy, sell or deliberately do nothing lets you look back at how you were thinking. A record prevents no losses; it makes your reasoning reviewable afterwards. No particular decision is recommended here.
Key points
- Memory rewrites itself to match outcomes; only what you wrote at the time survives intact
- Recording decisions to do nothing makes later comparison possible
- Transaction and cost-basis records are also needed for tax calculations
- A record prevents no losses — it only makes reasoning checkable
Definition
Noting the reasoning, assumptions and circumstances at the moment you make a decision about trading or holding.
Looking back, recalling how you were actually thinking is difficult. Memory is known to reorganise itself around the outcome: decisions that worked are remembered as having been foreseen, decisions that did not are explained as the only reasonable call at the time. Neither is the original decision. Only what you wrote in the moment preserves it.
There is no need to write much. The date, what you did, why, what you were assuming and what worried you — a few lines is plenty. What matters is not detail but that it was written at the time of the decision. Anything added later has already been shaped by the result.
Decisions to do nothing are worth recording too. Considering a purchase and passing on it, or thinking about selling and holding instead, leaves no trace and cannot be recalled. These are decisions all the same, and keeping the reasoning shows you over time where you tend to act and where you tend not to.
As a practical side benefit, transaction records are needed for tax as well: when you acquired what, at what cost, and when you disposed of it. Without that, filing season becomes an exercise in reassembling history from exchanges, some of which retain it only for a limited period. Keeping it as you go is more reliable. None of this prevents losses; what a record gives you is material for reviewing your own judgement later.
Watch out for
- · This is not investment advice and recommends no decision or record-keeping product
- · Keeping records does not prevent losses
- · For what records tax requires, consult NTA materials and a tax professional
Frequently asked questions
Where should I keep these notes?
The format does not matter, but keep secrets such as recovery phrases and exchange passwords out of these notes. Mixing credentials into a decision log makes it far harder to store or share the log safely.