Trading journal: what to record and how to learn from it

A trading journal is the difference between remembering your trades and actually knowing your results. This guide covers what to log for each trade, how to review the record so it changes your decisions, and which numbers are worth watching. Haunted is a free online journal built around exactly this process.

What a trading journal is and why it matters

A trading journal is a structured log of every trade you take: what you traded, why you entered, how much you risked, how you managed the position and how it ended. Memory is a poor record keeper. It inflates the winners, explains away the losers and forgets the trades you took out of boredom. A journal replaces impressions with data. After fifty or a hundred entries you can see which sessions pay you, which instruments drain the account, whether you cut winners early and how often you break your own rules. Without that record every losing streak feels like bad luck and every good month feels like skill, and neither conclusion helps you trade better next week.

What to record for every trade

Keep the core fields the same for every entry so the data stays comparable. At minimum log the date and time, instrument, direction, session, the model or idea behind the entry, the risk in percent or money, the planned risk-to-reward, the result in R and the net profit or loss after commissions. Add the account the trade was taken on, a few tags for context such as news, counter-trend or rule broken, and a screenshot of the chart at entry and at exit. Finish with two or three sentences of notes: why you took it, what you saw, and what you would do differently. Short, consistent entries beat long essays you only write on good days.

How to review your journal each week and month

Logging without reviewing is just bookkeeping. Set a fixed weekly slot, ideally on the weekend, and go through every trade with its screenshot. Mark which trades followed your plan and which did not, then compare the results of the two groups. Look for repeats: the same mistake at the same time of day, the same pair that never works, the same urge to re-enter after a loss. Once a month zoom out to the aggregate numbers by session, instrument and model, and decide on one concrete change for the next month. One rule you actually apply is worth more than ten observations you forget by Monday.

Metrics that actually tell you something

Win rate on its own is misleading: a 35 percent win rate can be very profitable with a 3R average winner, and a 70 percent win rate can lose money if the losers are large. Look at expectancy, the average result per trade in R, because it combines win rate and payoff in one number. Track maximum drawdown to understand how deep the bad stretches get, and the equity curve to see whether results are steady or carried by a few outliers. Then break everything down by session, instrument, model and account. The most useful discoveries usually come from these breakdowns, for example that the London session carries all the profit while New York gives it back.

Common trading journal mistakes

The most common mistake is logging only some trades. If impulsive entries and revenge trades are missing, the statistics describe a trader who does not exist. The second is changing the format every few weeks, which makes old and new data impossible to compare. The third is recording money but not risk, so a lucky oversized trade looks like a great decision. Others include writing notes days later from memory, skipping screenshots, and never reviewing at all. Keep the journal boring and complete: every trade, same fields, logged the same day. Analysis only works when the input is honest.

Keeping a trading journal in Haunted

Haunted is a free trading journal that runs in the browser on desktop and phone. You enter each trade manually with its outcome, net P/L, R:R, risk, session, model, tags, notes and a screenshot pasted straight from the clipboard, and one trade can be split across several accounts if you copy positions. Existing history comes in through CSV or Notion import. The analytics side gives you a scorecard across six dimensions, breakdowns by session, pair, model and account, an equity curve, drawdown, expectancy and a calendar heatmap. Prop and personal accounts are tracked with their drawdown limits, targets, challenge stages and payout history. There is no automatic broker sync, so the journal relies on you logging trades yourself, which is also what keeps the reasoning in the record.

FAQ

What is a trading journal?

It is a record of every trade you take: instrument, direction, entry reason, risk, management, result and notes, ideally with a chart screenshot. Its purpose is not to archive trades but to review them, find repeating mistakes and see which conditions actually produce your profit.

Do I need a trading journal if I am already profitable?

Yes. A journal shows why you are profitable, which lets you protect that edge when conditions change. It also reveals the leaks inside a winning record, such as a session or instrument that consistently loses and quietly reduces your returns.

How many trades do I need before drawing conclusions?

Treat anything under 30 trades in a category as an early signal, not a conclusion. Around 50 to 100 trades per model or session gives a more reliable picture. Until then, focus on rule adherence and complete records rather than on the statistics.

Is a spreadsheet good enough for a trading journal?

A spreadsheet works for the first few dozen trades. It becomes awkward with screenshots, several accounts and breakdowns by many dimensions, because every chart and formula has to be maintained by hand. A dedicated journal such as Haunted has these fields and reports built in and can import your existing CSV.

Does Haunted connect to my broker automatically?

No. Haunted has no broker auto-sync and no MT4, MT5 or cTrader import. Trades are entered manually, and existing history can be brought in from a CSV file or from Notion. Manual entry takes under a minute per trade once you are used to it.

How much does Haunted cost?

The journal is free. There is no paid tier for journaling, no trial period and no card required at registration. You sign up with email or Google and start logging trades in the browser on your computer or phone.