Free download

A trading journal you can actually use

Download the free trading journal template as XLSX or CSV. Track every trade, review your performance and keep your rules visible. No email address, account or card required. Click the download and the file is yours.

This trading journal template is a free spreadsheet for traders who want to start recording what they trade, why they traded it and what happened afterwards. It works in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice, with no account or specialist journalling software required. The workbook gives you a structured Trades sheet, a formula-driven Dashboard and a Rules sheet for writing down your trading plan. There is also a CSV version of the Trades sheet if you want to move the data elsewhere. It is deliberately practical: enter each trade consistently and the workbook turns those individual records into something you can review rather than a folder full of trading memories.

The Trades sheet records the details that help explain both performance and behaviour: date, session, instrument, direction, setup, entry, exit, stop, target, size, risk, R multiple and P&L. It also asks whether you followed your rules, lets you tag mistakes and gives you space for notes. Those last fields matter because two trades with identical P&L can tell very different stories. A valid setup that lost is not necessarily a bad trade. A profitable trade that ignored your plan is not necessarily a good one.

Download the trading journal template

No email required. Take it, use it, change it — it's yours.

What's inside the trading journal

Trades sheet — log date, session, instrument, direction, setup, prices, position size, risk, R multiple, P&L, mistakes and notes.
Dashboard — automatically calculates total trades, win rate, average win, average loss, profit factor, expectancy in R and net P&L.
Performance tracking — see your largest win, largest loss, longest losing streak and a cumulative equity column you can chart in one click.
Rules sheet — write down your trading plan, then compare your actual decisions with the rules you said you would follow.
CSV version — use the same Trades structure when you need a simpler file for importing or analysing somewhere else.

How to use the template

1Download the XLSX file and open it in Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice.
2Write your trading plan in the Rules sheet before reviewing individual trades against it.
3Add every trade to the Trades sheet using consistent setup, session and mistake tags.
4Review the Dashboard regularly for expectancy, profit factor, losing streaks, net P&L and changes in your equity curve.
5Compare rule-following trades with mistakes before changing your strategy based purely on wins and losses.

Three metrics worth understanding

R multiple tells you each trade's result relative to the amount you risked. If you risk £100 and make £200, that is +2R; losing the £100 is -1R. Expectancy tells you what your average trade produces over a sample, expressed here in R. Positive expectancy means the recorded trades have produced more R than they lost on average, although it does not guarantee future results. Profit factor compares gross profits with gross losses. A profit factor above 1 means total recorded profits exceed total recorded losses. Together, these metrics help separate strategy performance from account size and individual unusually large wins or losses.

When spreadsheets start getting awkward

A spreadsheet is a genuinely good trading journal, particularly when you are starting out. It is transparent, flexible and forces you to look at what you actually did. Plenty of profitable traders have never needed anything else. The friction appears as the journal grows: manually entering hundreds of trades gets tedious, chart context sits somewhere other than the row you are reviewing, and formulas can quietly stop behaving when ranges or rows change. If that starts costing you more time than it saves, Traders Casa automates the same general job with a free plan. There is no need to move until the spreadsheet becomes the problem.

Frequently asked questions

Is this trading journal template really free?

Yes. The trading journal template is free to download, with no email capture, account or card required. You get the XLSX workbook containing the Trades, Dashboard and Rules sheets, plus a CSV version of the Trades sheet. You can start with the spreadsheet and keep using it for as long as it suits your trading workflow.

Does the trading journal template work in Google Sheets?

Yes. The XLSX workbook works in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice. That means you can keep it as a conventional Excel workbook or use Google Sheets if you prefer working in the browser. The Dashboard contains live formulas, so take care when changing the structure, inserting rows or moving columns to avoid accidentally breaking formula ranges.

What should I record in a trading journal template?

Record enough information to reconstruct both the trade and your decision. This template includes date, session, instrument, direction, setup, entry, exit, stop, target, size, risk, R multiple and P&L. It also records whether you followed your rules, any mistake tag and your notes. That lets you analyse execution and discipline rather than judging every decision solely by whether it made money.

Why use a trading journal template instead of software?

A spreadsheet is free, flexible and easy to understand, which makes it a sensible starting point. Dedicated software becomes useful when manual entry, maintaining formulas and reviewing trades across hundreds of records starts taking too much time. Traders Casa can automate journalling and analytics on its free plan, but there is little reason to complicate your setup while the spreadsheet still does the job comfortably.

Or let something else do the typing

Traders Casa journals your backtests automatically and keeps the chart next to the trade. The free plan includes unlimited backtest sessions with no card required — use it alongside the spreadsheet, or instead of it.