Trading Journal: What to Track and How to Review
What to record in a trading journal, a free template to copy, the numbers that matter, and a 20 minute weekly review that turns your trades into fixes.
A trading journal is a record of every trade and the decisions behind it. It is the difference between having traded for a year and having learned for a year: without one, you remember your best trades and repeat your worst habits.
What to record for every trade
| Field | Example | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Date and time | Tue 9:47 | Patterns by time of day and weekday |
| Market and direction | MNQ, long | Results by market and side |
| Setup | Opening range break | Results by setup |
| Entry, stop, target | 18,240 / 18,225 / 18,270 | Planned risk and reward |
| Exit and size | 18,262, 4 contracts | What actually happened |
| Result | +$176, +1.5R | R makes trades comparable |
| Rules followed? | Yes or no, which one broke | Discipline is measurable |
| Note | Entered late, chased | The lesson in one line |
Copy this table into a spreadsheet and you have a free journal template.
The numbers that matter
- Win rate and average win and loss in R, per setup. See risk reward and win rate.
- Expectancy per setup: the average R per trade. Positive setups stay, negative ones go.
- Results by time of day and weekday. Many traders find one hour that pays for everything and another that gives it back.
- Rule breaks and what they cost. Add up the R lost on trades where a rule was broken. That number is usually the cheapest improvement available.
- Trades after a loss. Compare trades opened within minutes of a loss with the rest. If they are worse, read revenge trading.
A 20 minute weekly review
- Totals: trades, net result in R, win rate, biggest win and loss.
- By setup: which setups made money and which lost.
- Mistakes: the three most expensive rule breaks of the week.
- One change: pick one thing to do differently next week. One, not five.
- Check last week's change: did it happen, and did it help?
Common journaling mistakes
- Only logging winners or "good" trades. The losing trades hold most of the lessons.
- Results without plans. Without the planned stop and target, you can't tell a good loss from a bad one.
- Long essays. A one line note you write every time beats a page you write once.
- Never reviewing. A journal nobody reads is just a diary.
A journal that fills itself
In ChartTrainer every practice trade lands in your journal automatically with entry, exit and result. You add a grade, setups, mistakes and notes, see it all on a calendar, and Progress shows results in R, an hour by weekday heatmap, a discipline score and what to work on next. You can also open any past trade and step through it again with your entries and exits on the chart. It is free with the Free plan; start from the futures simulator.
Questions
- What should a trading journal include?
- For every trade: date and time, market, direction, setup, entry, stop, target, exit, size, result in dollars and in R, whether you followed your rules, and a one line note on what you did well or badly.
- Is there a free trading journal?
- Yes. A spreadsheet with the template on this page works, and ChartTrainer's journal is free: every practice trade is recorded automatically with entry, exit and result, and you can add grades, setups, mistakes and notes.
- How often should I review my trading journal?
- A short note after every session and a deeper review once a week. The weekly review is where patterns show up: the setups that pay, the times of day that cost you, the rules you keep breaking.
- What is the most useful number in a trading journal?
- Expectancy in R by setup: the average result per trade for each setup you trade. It tells you what to keep, what to drop and where to focus.