Trading Journal Template: The Columns That Matter

A trading journal template is a table with one row per trade and a fixed set of columns. Most journals fail for one reason: they ask for too much, so you stop filling them in. This one has twelve columns, and each earns its place by answering a question you will ask in a weekly review.

Below you get the columns, a ten-trade sample on a $2,400 account, and the formulas to build a free trading journal in Google Sheets or Notion in about twenty minutes. There is no file to download here. Copy the layout and the formulas into your own sheet. This is education, not a signal to place any trade.

What a trading journal is for

A trading journal is a written record of every trade you take, with enough detail to review it later. Your account statement shows what happened. A journal also shows why you did it, and that is the part you cannot rebuild from memory a month later.

A good journal answers three questions. Which setups make money for you? Do you follow your own rules? And when do your worst trades happen? You cannot answer any of them from the profit and loss line alone.

The common mistake is building a journal that records everything. Twenty columns, a screenshot for every trade and a paragraph of reflection look thorough on day one. By week three the habit is gone. The lesson on keeping a journal worth reading makes the same point: a short journal you use beats a perfect one you abandon.

The 12 columns that matter

The columns below fall into four groups. Two groups are filled in before you enter, one when you close, and one in the review. Keeping them in this order also keeps the sheet honest, because the plan is written down before the result is known.

The two columns people skip

Two columns do most of the work and are the first to be dropped. Setup lets you group trades later, and without it you only have one long list. Followed plan is a plain Yes or No, and it is the column that tells a losing trade done right from a losing trade done badly.

A trade can follow every rule and still lose. Another can break three rules and win. If you only look at the outcome, you will start repeating the second kind. The Yes or No column stops that.

Why R beats dollars

R is the money you risk on a trade. If you risk $24 and make $43.20, that is 1.8R. If you lose the full $24, that is -1R. Because every trade is measured against its own risk, a win on a small position and a win on a large one can be added up fairly.

It also keeps the journal useful if your account grows. Dollar results change as your size changes, but R stays comparable. The article on the risk-reward ratio covers R in more depth.

A filled-in example

Here is what ten entries look like on the site's shared example: a $2,400 account risking 1% per trade, so Risk ($) is $24 on every row. A gold trade with a $3.00 stop, for example, sizes to 0.07 lots (a lot is a standard trade size; 1 standard lot is 100,000 units of a currency or 100 troy ounces of gold). The table shows four of the twelve columns to stay readable.

Trade 5 lost only 0.6R because the trader closed before the stop was hit. That is a note worth writing, since leaving early is a pattern you want to catch. Trades 6 and 8 are marked No: both were taken late in the day, right after a loss.

What the numbers tell you

Once the rows exist, a few summary figures do the reviewing for you. In the sample, five of ten trades won, so the win rate is 50%. The average win was 1.76R and the average loss 0.92R. That gives an expectancy (the average result per trade) of +0.42R, or $10.08 per trade at $24 risk.

That looks healthy, but do not trust it yet. Ten trades is a tiny sample, and a different ten could easily average zero. The point of the example is to show how the figures are built, not to suggest a strategy works. You need many more trades before the average means much.

The more useful cut is the Followed plan column. The eight trades that followed the plan summed to +6.2R, an average of 0.78R. The two that broke it summed to -2.0R. Without those two, the sample would have been nearly 50% better.

Drawdown (the fall from a peak to a later low) is worth reading from the same column. Running the R values in order, the balance peaks at +1.8R after trade 1 and drops to -0.2R after trade 3, a 2.0R dip or $48. That is 2.0% of the account. See what drawdown is for how it compounds.

Build it in Google Sheets or Notion

Search for a trading journal template Google Sheets users share and you will find dozens, most with far too many columns. Building your own takes less time than learning someone else's. Use the same twelve headers in either tool.

Google Sheets

Put the headers in row 1, in the order of the table above, so Risk ($) is column G, Result ($) is column I, R is column J and Followed plan is column K. Then add these formulas.

• R, in J2: =I2/G2, then fill down. In the sample, trade 1 gives 43.20 divided by 24, which is 1.8.
• Win rate: =COUNTIF(J2:J,">0")/COUNT(J2:J)
• Expectancy in R: =AVERAGE(J2:J)
• Average R when you followed the plan: =AVERAGEIF(K2:K,"Yes",J2:J)
• Average R by setup: =AVERAGEIF(D2:D,"Pullback",J2:J)

Turn on data validation for the Direction, Setup and Followed plan columns so each is a drop-down. That one step keeps the labels consistent, which is what makes the averages work.

Notion

A Notion trading journal template is a database in table view. Match each column to a property type, then group and filter instead of writing formulas for every summary.

• Date as a Date property, Risk and Result as Number properties.
• Instrument, Direction and Setup as Select properties, so you pick from a list.
• R as a Formula property: prop("Result") / prop("Risk").
• Followed plan as a Checkbox, and Note as Text.
• Add a second view grouped by Setup to see how many trades each setup has, and a third filtered to unchecked Followed plan.

Notion is better if you want to attach a chart screenshot to each trade. Sheets is better if you want fast averages and a running total. Either works, so pick the one you already open every day.

Make it a habit you keep

A journal helps only if the rows exist. The way to keep it going is to make each entry small and tie it to something you already do, such as closing a position.

1. Fill the first seven columns before you enter. Date, instrument, direction, setup, entry, stop and risk take a minute, and they force you to have a plan.
2. Fill the result columns when you close. Enter exit and result, and the R formula does the rest.
3. Write one line in Note straight away. Mention how you felt and one thing you would change. A vague note like "bad trade" teaches nothing.
4. Mark Followed plan honestly. The column is only worth having if you are willing to write No.
5. Review once a week. Check the win rate, the average R by setup and the Followed plan split. The weekly review loop lesson shows a simple routine.

Use the Note column to catch emotional patterns early. If three notes in a row say "angry" or "had to get it back", read the guide to revenge trading and set a daily loss limit. The journal is where you see the pattern first.

Frequently asked questions

What should a trading journal include?

At minimum: the date, instrument, direction, setup, entry, stop, risk in money, exit, result, the result in R, a Yes or No for whether you followed your plan, and a one-line note. Those twelve columns cover what you need to review.

Is there a free trading journal I can download?

PipsMorrow does not offer a file yet. You can build a free trading journal in Google Sheets or Notion in about twenty minutes using the columns and formulas on this page. Both tools have free plans.

How many trades do I need before the journal means anything?

For rule-following, a few weeks of entries is enough to see patterns. For judging whether a strategy has an edge, you need far more trades, often well over a hundred. Treat early averages as a rough guide only.

Should I use a spreadsheet, Notion or a journaling app?

Use whichever you will open every trading day. Spreadsheets give quick math, Notion gives flexible views and apps can import trades automatically. The columns matter more than the tool you pick.