In short. A trading journal is a table where every trade has numbers (entry, stop, exit, result) and a review (setup, followed the plan or not, execution score, mistake, emotions). The numbers show how much you make; the review shows why. Below is an Excel template with ready formulas and an example filled in with five trades.
Download the trading journal template (Excel, .xlsx) · Russian version
What to record
Trade numbers
- date, symbol, side and size;
- entry, stop loss, take profit and the actual exit;
- result in money;
- R — the result in units of risk: (exit − entry) / (entry − stop). A +2R trade made two risks, −1R lost one. R compares trades of different sizes.
Review
- Setup and session — which entry model and when. After a month you will see what works and what does not.
- Followed the plan? — yes or no. The most important column: it separates a bad trade from a bad decision.
- Execution from 1 to 5 — how cleanly you did what you intended.
- Mistake — from a short list: early entry, late entry, no stop loss, moved the stop, early exit, held a loser, risk exceeded, off-plan, FOMO, revenge trade.
- Emotions before and after — calm, confident, impatient, fear, greed… Recurring «emotion — mistake» pairs show up within a couple of weeks.
- Comment and screenshot — one sentence on the key point and a chart link.
Example
| Trade | Result | R | On plan | Execution | Mistake |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EURUSD Buy 0.5: 1.0850 → 1.0890, stop 1.0830 | +$200 | +2.0 | yes | 5 | — |
| XAUUSD Sell 0.2: 2650 → 2655, stop 2655 | −$100 | −1.0 | yes | 4 | — |
| GBPUSD Buy 0.4: 1.2700 → 1.2720, stop 1.2675, target 1.2750 | +$80 | +0.8 | no | 2 | early exit |
| USDJPY Sell 0.3: 149.80 → 150.40, stop 150.20 | −$120 | −1.5 | no | 1 | moved the stop |
| EURUSD Sell 0.5: 1.0920 → 1.0880, stop 1.0940 | +$200 | +2.0 | yes | 5 | — |
The template's «Summary» sheet shows: 5 trades, 60% win rate, +$260 total, profit factor 2.18, average R 0.46, three on-plan trades, −$40 from off-plan trades, average execution score 3.4.
The real value is in the two off-plan trades. The early exit on GBPUSD left 30 pips to the target on the table — about $120. The moved stop on USDJPY turned a planned loss of about $80 (−1R) into $120 (−1.5R). Without those two mistakes the total would have been about +$420 instead of +$260. That is the cost of breaking the plan — the number that makes a journal worth keeping.
How to review the journal
- Every day — fill in the review right after the close, while you remember why you entered and exited.
- Every week — the totals, off-plan trades and the most frequent mistake. One mistake — one rule for next week.
- Every month — results by setup and session: what to keep and what to drop. You need at least 30–50 trades, otherwise the conclusions are random.
How to read the profit factor on the «Summary» sheet is covered in «Profit factor in trading: formula and example».
How the template works
- The «Trades» sheet has 19 columns; side, setup, session, «followed plan», mistake and emotions are drop-down lists, and R is a formula.
- The «Summary» sheet: trades, win rate, total, profit factor, average win and loss, expectancy, average and total R, on-plan trades, the result of off-plan trades, average execution score.
- Edit the setup and mistake lists to fit your trading. In Google Sheets open the template via «File → Import».
When a spreadsheet is not enough: the Davinchu journal
A spreadsheet works fine while trades are few. Then the routine starts: copying prices by hand, hunting typos, rebuilding formulas for breakdowns by hour and day. In Davinchu the trading journal fills itself — trades arrive from MetaTrader 4 and 5, Bybit and HTX futures and Bybit spot, and the server calculates R from the stop loss. The review fields are the same as in the template: setup, session, «Followed the plan?», execution from 1 to 5, mistake, emotions before and after, comment and screenshot. The «Review» tab calculates the cost of violations and recurring mistakes, and the statistics break down by symbol, time, day, session and setup. The Free plan connects two accounts at no cost. Which metrics to watch is covered in «How to keep a trading journal in MT5».