A gold news journal measures execution rather than analysis: event type, minutes waited after the release, spread at fill, entry and exit slippage in dollars, surprise direction against price direction, post-release ATR, and planned versus realised R.
After around twelve news trades, comparing total realised R against total planned R delivers a verdict — a shortfall beyond roughly 30% means execution costs are consuming the strategy.
Automatic MT5 capture of fill prices and spreads makes the comparison arithmetic rather than memory, and sat-out events belong in the record with realistic rather than theoretical outcomes.