Understanding the Risk Column

What the dot's colour reports, what its word names, and how row 2 judges your sizing against your own plan

The Risk column in the journal table is one of the most powerful features in TradeLog. It visually indicates the risk status of each trade based on where your stop loss is positioned relative to your entry price and current position.

The dot and the risk amount -- what the colour means

Row 1 of the cell is a small dot and the money you committed when you entered. The dot has only THREE colours, plus a hollow outline, and every trade in your journal wears one of them.

The risk state colors shown in the journal Risk column

Grey (filled) -- Nothing to flag. You sized this trade inside your plan, or it is a state TradeLog does not judge. This is the commonest colour in a healthy journal, and it is deliberately quiet.
Red -- One of three things: you sized the trade over your plan, the trade ran with no stop loss at all, or you lost more than your planned 1R because the stop was moved further out (the Risk-Increased tag).
White -- Your stop loss already secures breakeven or better on price. That covers Risk Free, Locking Profits and Covering Fees. In light mode this reads as a dark slate dot rather than white, so it stays visible on a pale page.
Hollow (an outline, no fill) -- TradeLog could NOT judge this trade, because no risk plan is set on the account. An absence is drawn as an absence: a filled grey dot would look like an approval nobody gave. Set your plan in Account settings and the dot fills in.
Never green -- a risk figure is never shown in green, on any row. Green belongs to the outcome, and the outcome lives on row 2 and in the P/L column.

The dot's WORD and the dot's COLOUR answer different questions

Hover the dot and you get a word -- Stop-Loss Hit, SL Extended, Locking Profits, Stop not reported, and so on. That word describes what your STOP did. The colour describes your RISK. They are two different measurements and they often disagree: a Take-Profit Hit that you sized three times over your plan is a winning word on a red dot, and both halves are correct.

Row 2 -- the verdict, in words

Expand a row and row 2 states how the trade was sized against your own plan:

On Plan -- you risked what you planned to risk, within 20% either way. Marked with a green check.
Below Plan -- you risked more than 20% LESS than planned. An arrow pointing down. This is not a warning: sizing small is the calm side, and it is shown so you can see the size you left on the table, not to alarm you.
Over Plan -- you risked more than 20% MORE than planned. A red arrow pointing UP. This is the one the verdict exists to catch.
Nothing at all -- no risk plan is set, so there is nothing to compare against and row 2 stays blank. TradeLog will not guess a default, and it will not print a dash either: the hollow dot on row 1 is what tells you the sizing could not be judged.
Stop not reported -- the broker never sent the stop level, so there is nothing to compare against. It is drawn grey and never red: it is TradeLog admitting a gap in its own data, not an accusation about your trading. How a trade ENDED (Stop-Loss Hit, Take-Profit Hit, Closed Manually) is NOT shown here -- that is the dot's word on row 1. Row 2 keeps the sizing verdict on closed trades too, which is the only place that verdict is stated.

Amber used to be this verdict's colour and no longer is. It once meant three different things at once -- sized small, sized right, and could-not-tell -- so it was the journal's commonest colour and its commonest meaning was "we do not know". Under-sizing is safe, so it lost the warning colour; only going OVER your plan is red. Amber has not left the cell, only the verdict: it still marks a currency mismatch between a fixed-amount risk profile and the account it is linked to, and it still colours the at-risk steps inside the stop-loss journey tooltip.

How Risk Is Calculated

The risk amount shown in the column is calculated using your account's risk settings:

Fixed mode: Risk = (risk_per_trade / 100) x starting_balance
Dynamic (compounding) mode: Risk = (risk_per_trade / 100) x current_balance
Fixed Amount mode: 1R = the configured currency amount, regardless of balance
Drawdown (DD) overlay: during significant drawdown, risk is temporarily reduced -- see the Risk Calculation Modes article

For example, if you risk 1% on a $100,000 account in Fixed mode, each trade's risk is $1,000 (1R). A trade that gains $2,000 would be +2R.

Hover the risk amount for the initial, current and locked figures plus a note about fees; hover the DOT for the stop's own story, including how many times you moved it during the trade. That move count appears nowhere else in the table.

Even without account risk settings, the risk amounts still show -- they are derived from your stop-loss distance. What TradeLog then cannot judge is sizing discipline, so row 2 stays blank and the dot is drawn hollow. Without a stop loss at all, the cell shows 100%, running or closed, because the whole position is exposed, and a red No Stop-Loss flag sits on row 2 from the moment the position is live -- not only once it closes. It is one of only two badges a collapsed row may never hide. If the broker simply never reported the level you get "Stop not reported" in grey instead, which is TradeLog admitting it could not read the data rather than accusing you of trading unprotected.

Was this helpful?

Trade Fields Explained

Risk Management Badges