Best Free Trading Journal Templates 2026 (Download & Get Results)
Looking for a trading journal template to take your trading to the next level? You’re in luck! Here, you can download two great free trading journal templates. And we’ll walk through how to use the simple but detailed trading journals.
Table of Contents
1. Trading Journal Template for Excel or Google Sheets
Click here to get the templateThen view it in Excel, WPS spreadsheets, etc. or import to Google Sheets. Need help? See these instructions
2. PDF Trading Journal Template (Printable)
For you analog-journal lovers, this trading journal template pdf can be printed out so you can write your trades on it.
Download the PDF trading template here
Need help? See trading journal instructions
An easier alternative to Excel trading journals
If you love saving time, you can import, track and analyze trades using one of these top trading journals.
Now that you have your journals downloaded, let’s go over what you got and how to use it.
Trading Journal Template Excel / Google Sheets
This trading template uses copy-paste or manual trade entry to track your trades. It has several powerful formulas to then give you basic analysis. For each trade it calculates:
- Profit or loss
- R:R
- Position MFE
- Position MAE
- Position Efficiency to MFE
- Trade duration
On the analysis tab, you can see these calculations for every strategy and every tag:
- Win rate %
- Loss rate %
- Breakeven %
- Total commission
- Total profit or loss
- Total risk
- R:R
- Average winning trade
- Average losing trade
- Average hold time for winning trades
- Average hold time for losing trades
- Efficiency to MFE
- Average efficiency to MFE
- Average position MFE
- Average position MAE
You get to choose your own strategies to track, with whatever labels you want. For tags, you get four columns, each with a set of tags. You can use the pre-filled ones and/or customize your own.
Full Instructions for Journal Use
Important Note
Although it’s now your file, you still need to be careful not to edit parts that should stay untouched (mainly formulas). If you try, you’ll get a warning and be asked for a password – just hit cancel. That way you don’t accidentally break any of the formulas in the template. Breaking those would have a domino effect and be hard to troubleshoot.
PDF Trading Journal Template
The physical printout trading journal lets you quickly jot down trade details during the session.
You can track:
- Entry date/time
- Exit date/time
- Setup
- Symbol
- Units
- Short/long
- Entry price
- Exit price
- Initial Risk
- R:R
- Target Profit Amount
- Maximum Adverse Excursion (MAE)
- Maximum Favorable Excursion (MFE)
- Fees & Commissions
- Closed profit/loss
- New balance
This is nice if you prefer to keep a simple journal offline. It’s also great for people who simply like to write things down, especially for the mental benefits that come with writing something out by hand.
Alternatively, you might choose a multi-step process:
- Print and use these sheets to jot down your trades during the day.
- Enter them into the excel journal or an online trading journal for tracking trade stats and performing analysis.
- Add important notes from your handwritten notes to that journal so you can search for them later.
I like that method for myself, for a few reasons:
- I don’t have to click away from my trading software
- I can jot a time and a quick shorthand note without entering trade info if I want.
- Handwriting activates a different part of the brain and helps me stay focused.
Your mileage may vary, but that’s what works for me.
Benefits of Using The Excel Journal Template
- The heavy work of creating a trading journal template is done for you. The complex formulas do the work to make your trade data useful, all you need is to plug in your trades.
- Trade analysis is as automated and user-friendly as it can get with Excel or Google sheets
- More powerful analysis than other available spreadsheets. Built by a professional trader for traders who want to make a living at it.
- It’s free and saves you the headache of making your own. The formulas can take a lot of time, and that’s already done.
Drawbacks of Spreadsheet Trading Journal Templates
- Manual trade entry takes more time than autosync or auto-export/import. You also have to be careful not to make typos and errors. All Excel trading journals have the same limitation.
- Spreasheets lack some of the analytical benefits of a robust online trading journal platform:
- Analyzing trades that meet a combination of criteria as one set of trades. i.e: Analyze all trades that meet these criteria: Account 1, setup B, Tags A, D, F
- Automatic charting of trades using market data
- More extensive sets of graphs and charts for each variable
Take Journaling a Step Further
Note: I now recommend using TraderZones and/or one of these other top online trading journals.
Those include some multi-variable tracking and reporting tools that can help you find ways to trade more profitably, in a way a spreadsheet can’t.
How do you maintain a trading journal in excel?
Using the template from this page, you can follow these instructions to maintain your journal in Excel, Google, sheets, WPS Spreadsheet, or another sheet software of your choice.
How do you write a trading journal?
Use whatever template or online journal works for you, and use it every day to keep track of your trades.
Decide what’s important to track and improve on, and get in the habit of recording and reviewing it daily.
Why use a trading journal template?
It will save you time and money over creating your own or subscribing to trading journal software.
Why should I spend time on a trading journal
The time you spend journaling your trades has a high ROI. It may not seem that way starting out, but the benefits compound over time like earned interest.
What should a trading journal consist of?
Your trade journal should include two kinds of info:
Qualitative info: observations about the market, your trading, and yourself.
Quantitative info: trade data, market data.