Trading Journal Examples: What to Record, 3 Sample Entries and a Weekly Review
See real trading journal examples: the fields worth recording, three sample entries (win, planned loss, rule break), the key statistics and a weekly review template.
By Nirosh Ranathunga · · 5 min read
Every serious trader eventually discovers the same truth: you cannot improve what you do not measure. A trading journal is where your trades become data. It shows which setups make money, which habits cost money, and whether your strategy really has an edge. Yet most traders either never start one or give up after a week because they do not know what to write. This guide gives you the exact fields, three complete example entries and a simple weekly review.
Why a trading journal matters
- It reveals your real edge. Your memory remembers big wins and painful losses. A journal remembers everything.
- It exposes repeated mistakes. Moving stops, trading news, overtrading on Fridays: patterns become obvious on paper.
- It builds discipline. Knowing you must write down why you took a trade makes you think twice before taking a bad one.
- It calms you during losing streaks. When you can see that your strategy has been profitable over 100 trades, three losses in a row stop feeling like a disaster.
What to record for every trade
Before the trade
- Date, time and trading session.
- Instrument and direction (buy or sell).
- Setup name (for example "15M pullback after 1H BOS" or "Asian low sweep").
- Higher timeframe bias and why.
- Entry, stop loss and target prices, and the planned reward-to-risk.
- Risk as a percentage of the account and in money.
- Checklist score or grade, and any items that only partly passed.
- Emotional state: calm, rushed, frustrated, overconfident.
After the trade
- Exit price and reason (target, stop, manual exit, time).
- Result in money and in R (multiples of the amount you risked).
- Did you follow your plan? Yes or no, and what you changed.
- A screenshot of the chart at entry and at exit.
- One lesson in a single sentence.
Why record results in R? If you risked $100 and made $250, that is +2.5R. Measuring in R lets you compare trades of different sizes and accounts of different balances, and it shows whether your strategy works independently of position size.
Example entry 1: A planned winning trade
| Date / session | Tuesday, London session |
|---|---|
| Instrument / direction | XAUUSD, buy |
| Setup | 15M pullback to previous breakout level, 3M bullish CHoCH |
| HTF bias | 1H uptrend, bullish BOS yesterday |
| Entry / stop / target | Entry 4,121.50 / stop 4,117.50 ($4.00) / target 4,131.50 ($10.00) = 1:2.5 |
| Risk | 1% of $5,000 = $50 max, 0.12 lots = $48 real risk |
| Checklist | A+ (92%) |
| Emotion before | Calm, waited 40 minutes for the setup |
| Result | Target hit. +$120 = +2.5R |
| Followed plan? | Yes |
| Lesson | Waiting for the 3M CHoCH instead of buying the level directly gave a much tighter stop. |
Example entry 2: A planned losing trade
| Date / session | Wednesday, New York session |
|---|---|
| Instrument / direction | EURUSD, sell |
| Setup | Sweep of the London high, 15M bearish CHoCH |
| HTF bias | 4H downtrend, 1H lower highs |
| Entry / stop / target | Entry 1.0862 / stop 1.0880 (18 pips) / target 1.0817 (45 pips) = 1:2.5 |
| Risk | 1% = $100, 0.55 lots |
| Checklist | B (78%), session item only partly passed (late New York) |
| Emotion before | Neutral |
| Result | Stopped out. −$99 = −1R |
| Followed plan? | Yes |
| Lesson | Valid trade, normal loss. Note: third late-session B-grade loss this month, check in weekly review. |
This is a good trade even though it lost. It followed the rules and risked exactly what was planned. The useful part is the note: if late-session trades keep losing, that is a pattern worth acting on.
Example entry 3: A rule-breaking trade
| Date / session | Friday, New York session |
|---|---|
| Instrument / direction | GBPUSD, buy |
| Setup | None. Bought a strong green candle after missing the move |
| HTF bias | 1H downtrend (trade was counter-trend) |
| Entry / stop / target | Entry 1.2745 / stop moved from 1.2725 to 1.2700 during the trade / no target |
| Risk | Planned 1%, real loss 2.25% after moving the stop |
| Checklist | Not completed |
| Emotion before | Frustrated after two earlier losses. FOMO. |
| Result | Stopped out. −$225 = −2.25R |
| Followed plan? | No: no setup, counter-trend, third trade after two losses, stop moved |
| Lesson | The two-loss daily stop rule exists for exactly this situation. One emotional trade cost more than the two valid losses combined. |
Honest entries like this are the most valuable part of a journal. Read about the emotions behind them in our trading psychology guide.
The statistics that matter
After 20 to 30 trades, calculate a few numbers:
- Win rate: winning trades ÷ total trades.
- Average win and average loss in R.
- Expectancy: the average R you earn per trade.
Expectancy = (Win rate × Average win) − (Loss rate × Average loss)
Example: you win 45% of trades with an average of +2R, and lose 55% with an average of −1R. Expectancy = (0.45 × 2) − (0.55 × 1) = 0.90 − 0.55 = +0.35R per trade. Risking $100 per trade, 100 trades would be expected to earn about $3,500 before costs. A negative expectancy means the strategy, or the way you execute it, needs to change.
Also split your statistics by setup, session, checklist grade and "followed plan: yes/no". The last split is often the most eye-opening: many traders are profitable on rule-following trades and lose everything on the rest.
A simple weekly review template
- Number of trades, win rate, total R and expectancy this week.
- Best trade and why it worked.
- Worst trade and whether it followed the plan.
- How many trades broke a rule, and which rule.
- Which setup, session or grade performed best and worst.
- One thing to keep, one thing to stop, one thing to try next week.
Paper, spreadsheet or app?
The best journal is the one you will actually use. A notebook works but makes statistics slow. A spreadsheet is flexible and free. A dedicated tool saves time by recording the pre-trade details for you.
The free trading checklist can act as the first half of your journal: when you create a free account, every checklist you save stores the instrument, direction, timeframes, checklist score and grade, entry, stop, target and position size. After the trade, record the result on the My Evaluations page in money and in R, and the P&L summary shows your win rate and totals. Combine that with screenshots and a one-line lesson, and you have a complete journal in a few minutes a day.
Whatever tool you choose, start today with your next trade. Thirty honest entries will teach you more about your trading than any course. And if your journal shows losses from oversizing, revisit our risk management guide.
Risk warning: This article is for education only and is not financial advice. Trading Forex, Gold and Cryptocurrency involves high risk and you can lose more than you expect. Test any idea on a demo account first.