Free trading journal templates
Five prompt-driven templates for the moments traders actually need to journal — a normal day, after a loss, after a win, after a gap-and-go session, end of week. Steal them. Use them in any tool. Or use them right here, free.
General end-of-day review
Market context today: - SPY direction: - VIX level: - Sector leaders: What I was watching: What I traded: How I felt vs the plan:
Top 1-3 lessons from today's tape: 1. 2. 3.
Specific mistakes (not P&L, behavior): - -
One thing to do differently tomorrow:
Walking through a losing day without flinching
Top losing trade today: - Symbol: - Loss size: - What was my thesis going in? - What invalidated it? - Did I respect my stop? Was this a bad trade or just a bad outcome? What was my emotional state when I entered? When I exited? Did I revenge-trade after this loss? If yes, count the chasers:
What this loss is teaching me (be specific — not "be more careful"): - -
Rule violations today: - Sizing: - Stop placement: - Setup quality: - Time-of-day:
One concrete rule to add to tomorrow's checklist:
Distill what worked so you can repeat it
Top winning trade: - Symbol: - Gain size: - Setup: - What was the catalyst? - Entry trigger: - How did I size? - Exit logic — discretionary or rules-based? What was different about today's market that made this setup work? Did I scale out or all-in-all-out? Would the other choice have been better?
Repeatable elements of today's wins: 1. 2.
Were there leftover-on-the-table trades I missed? -
What pattern from today belongs in my pre-market checklist?
Specific review for gap-and-go trading day
Gap-and-go candidates I watched: 1. SYM — gap %, float, catalyst: 2. 3. Of those, which did I trade? Why those and not the others? Pre-market plan vs execution: - Target entry: - Actual entry: - Stop: - Profit-take levels: How did the broader market (SPY) interact with my trades today? Float spin / news catalyst quality (1-5):
Best gap-and-go pattern I saw today:
Chase entries (no patience for pullback): -
Refinement to gap-and-go entry criteria:
Step back from the day-to-day and look at the week
Week-at-a-glance: - Net P&L: - Best day / worst day: - Win rate: - Biggest position size: Which setups worked this week? Which setups didn't, and why? Was my emotional state stable Mon → Fri or volatile? Compared to last week — what's better, what's worse?
One pattern from this week that's becoming a habit:
One recurring mistake I haven't fixed yet:
One specific change for next week (not a vague intention):