I’ve always had a general interest in the financial markets and recently got into forex (foreign exchange) trading. In this post, I won’t go into why you should get a forex trading journal. I’m assuming if you’ve stumbled across this page, then you’re already convinced that you need to keep a trading journal.
I’m a firm believer in keeping things simple. If you’re just starting out, there’s no need to track the 101 metrics of a trade. There are plenty of online tools that can automatically track that for you.
I’ve created a simple Notion and Excel template that tracks the key data of each trade and allows you to review each trade in a simple manner.
Sounds good? Then keep on reading!
FX Trading Journal Template
I find the combination of Excel and Notion gives you the best of both worlds for an FX journal. You could just use Notion, however, I like the additional spreadsheet flexibility Excel provides. On the same strand, you could just use Excel, but you’ll need to create a folder structure to store your trade screenshots somewhere.
Excel Trading Template
When it comes to tracking trades, I’ve gone with the rule, less is more. I’ve only included the following metrics:
- Market trade – which FX pair you have traded
- Date opened – helps to identify and review specific trades
- Trading setup – you should have a strategy before going into a trade!
- P/L – did you make money or not?
- Opening / Closing – helps with reviewing trades
- Rules followed – similar to trading setup, did I follow my strategy and risk management or was it a YOLO trade?
- Profit / Loss – formula to display if it was a winning trade or not. The percentage in the bottom right reflects the current win rate on trades
The blue cells are where your inputs are needed. I suggest inserting extra rows just before the solid blue row. This will help keep the cell formatting and summary formulas intact.
Interesting read – Why You Should Be Tracking Monthly Metrics
Notion Component
In terms of templates, Excel and Notion more or less mirror each other. The reason I use Notion is for the page template functionality which helps me keep trade screenshots in one place.
Database Properties
These are in line with the Excel trading metrics so it’s a simple copy-paste from Excel to Notion. The only extra property is the Analysis checkbox – this is just to confirm you’ve reviewed all the trade details!
If you trade other markets like stocks or cryptocurrencies, you can add or tweak any of the columns in the templates.
I have tried to make logging trades take less than 30 seconds. I know if it was too complicated or sucked up too much time, I wouldn’t be consistent with logging trades.
Trade Template Page
In terms of trade screenshots – I keep two per trade:
- A screenshot of when I took the trade
- A screenshot of when I exited the trade
Here’s an example of a trade screenshot that I would take – I’m still in this trade!
This is then pasted into the trade template page:
Along with the trade screenshots, I also look at a few questions and ideas during each trade. I’ve picked this up from various places as I continue on my trading journey. I do not doubt this template page will continue evolving as I trade.
Related article – How To Save A Page As A Template In Notion
Download The FX Trading Journal Pack
Like all of my Excel and Notion templates, this FX Trading journal template is 100% free, and I don’t require your email for it.
However, if you want to improve your Notion and Excel skills, I highly recommend joining my Excel Me newsletter by entering your email below. You’ll only be emailed from time to time when I release new tutorials and templates.
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You can access the Notion template here and click here to download the Excel template.
Final Thoughts
I consider myself a swing trader and only take a handful of trades per week so this system isn’t too hard to maintain. If you’re a day trader you might want to look at a more automated system. The important thing is that you do your trade reviews!
Thanks for reading and I hope you find these templates helpful. Good luck on your trading journey!
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