Free Trade Journal

A free tool · Trading From Scratch

This is the trade journal from the Trading From Scratch course. It does one quietly powerful thing: it scores your discipline, not just your profit. Most beginners only track whether a trade won. This tracks whether you followed your own rules, which is the thing that actually decides whether you last.

It is free, there is no email wall, and it is yours to keep.

Download the trade journal

Works in Excel, Google Sheets (File > Import), or the free LibreOffice.

What is inside

The file has three tabs:

• How to use: a one-page guide, so you are never guessing.
• Trade Journal: where you log each trade. You fill the blue columns, and the grey ones calculate themselves.
• Dashboard: your scoreboard. It updates as you go, led by one number: your rules-followed rate.

How to use it, step by step

You only ever type into the blue columns. The grey columns do their own math, so leave them alone.

Before you enter a trade, fill in:

• Date opened, What you traded, Long or short. Choose Long if you are betting the price goes up.
• Trend when you entered: is the market up, down, or sideways? (Module 8.)
• Account size: your total pot right now, so the 1 percent rule can be checked.
• Entry price, How many units, Stop-loss price, Target price. The stop-loss is the price where you admit you were wrong.

The moment you place the trade, the journal works out the most you could lose and your risk as a percent of the account, so you can see instantly whether you are still inside your 1 percent rule.

When you close the trade, fill in:

• Date closed and Exit price. Your profit or loss, in dollars and percent, fills in automatically.
• Followed your rules? Answer Yes only if you obeyed your own plan, win or lose. This is the honest one, and the most important column in the whole sheet.
• Why I entered, Why I exited, How I felt, Lesson or notes. Short notes. This is where the real learning hides.

Then glance at the Dashboard. The big number is your rules-followed rate. Keep it high, and keep the count of trades that broke the 1 percent rule at zero. Once a week, sit with it for fifteen minutes and run the weekly review from your first 90 days.

The vocabulary

Every word you will meet in the journal and the course, in plain language:

• Long: betting a price goes up. This is normal buying.
• Short: betting a price goes down. More advanced and riskier, so leave it for later.
• Position: something you currently hold or have a bet on.
• Entry and Exit: the price where you got in, and the price where you got out.
• Stop-Loss: an order that automatically sells you out at a price you choose, capping your loss. Your seatbelt.
• Target: the price where you plan to take your profit and leave.
• Quantity: how many units, for example shares, you bought.
• Market order: buy or sell right now, at whatever the current price is.
• Limit order: buy or sell only if the price reaches a level you set.
• Account, or pot: the total pool of money you are trading with.
• Most you could lose (planned risk): how much you would lose if your stop-loss is hit.
• The 1 percent rule: never risk more than about 1 percent of your pot on a single trade.
• Trend: the direction a price is walking, either up, down, or sideways.
• Support: a price floor that buyers keep stepping in to defend.
• Resistance: a price ceiling that sellers keep stepping in to defend.
• Volatility: how wildly a price swings around. More movement means more risk.
• Leverage: borrowing to trade bigger than your money allows. It multiplies losses just as much as gains, so beginners should avoid it.
• P/L, or profit and loss: how much money a trade made or lost.
• Win rate: the share of your trades that made money. A good strategy can still win less than half the time.
• Profit factor: money won divided by money lost. Above 1.0 means you came out ahead overall.
• Paper trading, or a demo account: practising with fake money at real live prices. Where every beginner should start.

That is the whole tool. Download it, keep it honest, and let the Dashboard tell you the truth your memory would rather hide.

New here? Start with the 12 lessons, then follow your first 90 days.