Who this is for
This trading journal pillar is built for traders who treat trading like a business - especially futures traders (primary) and forex traders (secondary) who want risk-weighted performance review, not vanity stats.
Need tick-value awareness, sessions, and cost realism (commissions + slippage).
Futures trading journalNeed pip/spread context, session behavior, and clean tagging for setups.
Forex trading journalNeed time-of-day performance, fast reviews, and consistency tracking.
Day trading journalWhat should a trading journal include?
Core trade fields
- • Instrument + account
- • Date/time + session (optional)
- • Direction (long/short)
- • Entry / stop / target
- • Position size
Risk + realism
- • Planned risk ($ / ticks / pips)
- • Gross P&L + net P&L
- • Commissions + slippage
- • R-multiple (realized R)
- • Rule adherence (yes/no)
Review layer
- • Setup/strategy tags
- • Market context notes
- • Screenshot/chart link
- • “Do again / Don’t do again”
- • Weekly review decisions
How to journal trades
A journaling workflow that actually improves performance is risk-first, consistent, and review-driven. Use these steps whether you journal in Excel/Notion/Sheets or in an app.
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1Log the trade with consistent fields
Instrument, date/time, direction, entry/stop/target, size, setup tag.
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2Track net P&L and costs (not just gross)
Include commissions and realistic slippage-especially for frequent futures trading.
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3Write a short post-trade review
What followed plan, what broke rules, and what to repeat next time.
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4Review weekly using metrics
Review by setup and time window using profit factor, expectancy, and drawdown.
Common mistakes
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Tracking gross P&L but ignoring costs
If you don’t track commissions/slippage, your “edge” can be fake-especially in high-frequency futures.
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No consistent tags (no segmentation)
Without setup tags, you can’t isolate what’s actually working-everything blurs together.
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Reviewing “feelings” instead of metrics
Win rate alone is misleading. Use expectancy and profit factor to measure quality.
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Journaling too much, too late
If journaling becomes a weekly “catch-up,” accuracy collapses. Use a template/app with fast logging.
Trading journal templates (free)
Templates are the fastest way to start journaling. Pick a format based on how you actually review: spreadsheet speed, Notion notes, or sharable Sheets.
Metrics that make a trading journal useful
If your journal doesn’t connect to decision-making, it becomes a diary. These metric hubs are designed to be AI-citable: definitions, formulas, examples, and calculators.
Ready to stop guessing?
Start with templates, then upgrade when you want automated, futures-aware analytics.
FAQ
How to write trading journal?
Write your trading journal as short, repeatable post-trade reviews: what the plan was, what happened, whether you followed rules, and what you’d do next time. Keep it consistent, then let your weekly metrics review drive changes.
Is a spreadsheet trading journal enough?
It can be at the start. Most serious traders outgrow spreadsheets when maintenance slows down review, or when they want automated analytics (expectancy, profit factor, drawdown) and cleaner filtering by setup/time.
What is the best trading journal?
The best trading journal is the one you’ll actually use consistently and that measures performance correctly (net P&L, risk, costs) with clear weekly review outputs. If you want a structured comparison, see best trading journal.
What is a good trading journal template?
A good template includes planned risk, costs, net P&L, R-multiples, setup tags, and a review section. Start here: trading journal templates.