Trading journal template: track every trade like a professional
A journal is the difference between guessing and knowing. Use the structure below in a spreadsheet or notebook, review it weekly, and upgrade to the automated TMA journal when manual logging starts slowing you down.
The 9 columns every journal needs
Copy these as column headers into Google Sheets or Excel. Fill one row per trade, immediately after closing it.
| Column | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Date & session | London, New York or Asia — performance often differs by session. |
| Instrument | The pair or asset you traded, e.g. EURUSD or XAUUSD. |
| Direction | Long or short. Patterns in one direction reveal bias. |
| Setup / strategy | Name the setup so you can compare strategies later. |
| Entry, stop, target | Planned prices before entry — never edited afterwards. |
| Position size & risk % | Lots or units, and the percentage of the account risked. |
| Result (R or P/L) | Record in R-multiples so results are comparable across sizes. |
| Screenshot | Chart at entry and at exit. A picture catches what numbers miss. |
| Mistakes & lessons | One honest sentence: what you did well, what you would change. |
Worked example: 2026-10-05 · New York · EURUSD · Long · Breakout retest · 1.0850 / 1.0830 / 1.0890 · 0.5 lots · 1% risk · +2R · screenshots saved · “Waited for the retest instead of chasing — keep doing this.”
The weekly review routine
1. Collect the week
Gather every trade from the template. No cherry-picking — losing trades teach the most.
2. Find the pattern
Group by setup, session and direction. Which combination actually makes money for you?
3. Write one rule
Turn the biggest mistake of the week into a single rule for next week. One rule, not ten.
Outgrowing the spreadsheet?
The TMA journal logs trades for you, builds your P/L calendar automatically and turns your history into performance analytics — no formulas to maintain. One payment, a yearly plan.
More free tools: position size calculator · pip calculator · compounding calculator
TMA Workspace provides educational content and software for informational purposes only. Nothing on this page is financial, investment or trading advice. Trading involves substantial risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results.