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Trade journal

Definition

A structured record of every trade with the metrics that reveal your edge.

Why it matters

A journal turns memory into data: win rate, expectancy, profit factor, drawdown and P&L per session all come from the same log.

Example

A logged trade contains entry and exit time, size, stop, result, the setup tag and one sentence on why it was taken - enough to filter later by setup, time of day or emotion.

How to track it in a journal

TradeStack calculates the core performance numbers — win rate, average win and loss, profit factor, expectancy, drawdown and consistency — automatically from imported trades, so trade journal stops being something you estimate and becomes something you read.

Related terms

Expectancy
The average profit or loss you can expect from each trade over a large sample.
Profit factor
Gross profit divided by gross loss.
Win rate
The share of your trades that close in profit.
Average win
Total profit from winning trades divided by the number of winning trades.

Questions that use this term

Keep reading

Trading journal guides
Expectancy, profit factor, drawdown, backtesting and the PDT rule.
Free trading calculators
Position size, risk-reward, expectancy and options profit.
Expectancy calculator
Expected profit per trade from your own numbers.
Broker CSV export guides
Step-by-step exports for Tradovate, NinjaTrader, IBKR and more.
Stop estimating your numbers

TradeStack is a free trading journal that calculates them from your own trades.

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