How to Keep a Trading Journal for Futures: What to Record and How to Review It

Memory edits trading results. Winners get replayed and the sloppy exits get quietly dropped, so a trader's sense of how they're doing and the actual numbers drift apart. A journal is how you close that gap, but only if it's filled in at the time and read on a schedule.

Before comparing win rates or average results, keep a consistent trade record. The free journal template has the fields to get started. This guide explains how to review the numbers without treating a small sample as proof.

The minimum entry

Record these at the time of the trade, not at the end of the day:

• Date, time and time zone of entry
• Symbol and direction
• Entry, stop, target and exit prices
• Contracts traded
• Dollar result after commissions and fees
• Setup name and why you took it
• How it ended: target, stop, or manual exit

That takes about two minutes per trade if you do it right after closing. Reconstructed from memory at night, it takes the same time and carries more errors.

Fields that make the review useful

• Planned risk and reward versus what actually happened, in R. If you planned 2R and exited at 0.8R, the journal should show it.
• A trade grade from A to D for execution quality, set before you look at the P&L. A sloppy winner should still grade low.
• Which reference level the trade relied on, if any. If you use the daily KPL map, note the level and the time you recorded it. Those levels are fixed reference prices anchored to the regular session open print, so a plan written before 9:30am ET can't include them.
• Day type as you saw it afterward, such as range, trend, news-driven.
• Screenshots of the chart at entry and exit.
• A short emotion note. A one to five scale works, but a sentence is better.

Spreadsheet or software

A spreadsheet is free, flexible and easy to export, but entry is manual and you build the calculations yourself. Dedicated journaling platforms import broker data and store screenshots, and they charge a price that changes over time, so check current pricing and what they import before you commit. In NinjaTrader 8, the Trade Performance report gives you trade by trade results to work from; see the official NinjaTrader 8 help guide for generating the report and checking the available displays. Don't rely on the old Account Performance tab.

A workable column set: Date, Time (ET), Symbol, Side, Entry, Stop, Target, Exit, Contracts, Net dollars, Planned R, Actual R, Setup, Grade, Notes.

Prop account column

If you trade an evaluation or funded account, add a running column showing distance to the daily loss limit and the drawdown limit. Your firm's rule document defines both, including whether open profit counts and whether the drawdown trails. If you're at $800 of a hypothetical $1,500 daily limit, the next trade's size should reflect that, and the journal should show it during the session.

Weekly review

Pick a fixed time, such as thirty minutes before the week starts, and go through the same questions every time:

1. What was my net result and my average win and loss in R?
2. Where did actual R differ from planned R, and why?
3. Which setups did I take, and did I take any I'd graded C or D?
4. Did the same mistake appear on more than one day?
5. Did my notes on emotion line up with the trades I'd rather not repeat?

Monthly review

Once a month, plot the equity curve and split results by setup, time of day, day of week and day type. Then check how many trades sit in each bucket. Here's a hypothetical split: Setup A shows 14 trades totaling +6.5R, an average of +0.46R, and Setup B shows 9 trades totaling -3R, an average of -0.33R. Those look different, but with samples that size, one or two trades can flip either number. Treat them as questions to keep tracking, not conclusions.

Turn findings into one rule at a time

A finding should become a specific, testable rule. If you keep cutting winners before the target, you might use a fixed target on SIM for the next group of trades. If your low-grade trades lose repeatedly, you might require an A or B grade before entry. Date each rule and log what changed. Then judge the result over a sample large enough to mean something. Thirty days is a review cycle, not proof, and changing three things at once makes the result unreadable.

Why screenshots help

Screenshots are the cheapest honest feedback you can get. Seeing the chart as it looked at entry shows you whether you chased, entered early or ignored context you'd already noted. They also settle arguments with yourself about whether the stop was really where you planned.

For the ratio metrics your journal should track, see the risk-reward guide. If you want the daily ES/NQ KPL sheets and course material to build a review habit around, start the 7-day Intro trial, then $97 per month.