An Excel template with automatic R-multiple and equity-curve math, plus a printable PDF for paper journalers. Built around the nine essential fields from article 4.2 of the Trading Psychology Series.
Both files are free. There is no email gate, no signup, no affiliate link inside. If this template helps you, the most useful thing you can do is read the Trading Psychology Series — the writing is what funds the work.
Most traders quit journaling within a month. The common reasons are predictable:
This template solves those problems by design: nine fields, an explicit process grade, pre-trade state as a drop-down, and a three-cadence review built into the structure.
These are the fields that article 4.2 argues every honest journal needs. The Excel template enforces them; the PDF prints space for them.
Basic identifier.
Which of YOUR defined setups was this? If you can’t name it, the trade was discretionary — flag it.
What you decided BEFORE entry. Filled at execution, not reconstructed.
What really happened. Any deviation from the plan is a data point.
Did you follow your plan? A = textbook execution. D = you broke your own rules. Outcome does NOT enter this grade.
One word: Calm, Focused, Confident, Bored, Anxious, Chasing, Tilted, Tired, FOMO, Revenge.
If actual differed from planned, why? Honesty here is the whole game.
Not cash. R-multiples are neutral; cash recruits loss aversion. Track in R.
The point is not to be profound. The point is to force a moment of reflection while the trade is fresh.
A journal works because of what you do AFTER you fill it in. Three review windows, each with a specific job:
At exit: fill the row, write the one-sentence lesson, move on. No long write-ups. The discipline is doing it every time, not doing it beautifully.
End of session: read the day’s rows back. Note grade trend, common mistakes, what state you were in. The PDF’s daily page is designed for this.
Sunday evening: open the Stats tab. Pick ONE leak. Fix that one thing next week. Do not try to fix five things at once.
R is the universal unit of trading. It strips out the noise that cash introduces (loss aversion, anchoring on round numbers, comparing today’s P&L to last week’s) and forces you to evaluate trades on their actual edge math.
One R = the cash you risked on that trade (planned entry minus planned stop, times your position size). If you risked £50 and made £100, that’s +2R. If you risked £50 and lost £75 because you let it run past your stop, that’s −1.5R — and that 0.5R extra is a process problem you can fix.
The Excel template computes this automatically from your planned and actual fields. The PDF has a write-in space so you can do the math by hand and feel each one.
A pre-trade checklist gates entries. A trade journal records what those entries became. Together they form the full discipline loop — decision in, data out, lesson back into the next decision. The Psychology Series covers everything that turns this loop from a theatre into a feedback mechanism.
Read the Trading Psychology Series →