Crypto Trading Journal 2025: How to Track Every Trade (+ Free Template)

The traders who survive every cycle all share one “boring” habit: they track everything.

If you’re not journaling your trades, you’re guessing. You remember the wins, blur the losses, and call bad habits “bad luck.” A proper trading journal cuts through the noise and shows you what’s actually working.

You don’t need a fancy app, analytics dashboard, or paid SaaS. Just a simple spreadsheet, a repeatable structure, and enough discipline to fill it in.

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In this guide, we’ll break down exactly what to track, how to review it, and how to turn that data into real improvements — plus you get a free trading journal template you can start using today.

🧾 What to Track (And Why It Matters)

You can’t fix what you don’t track. Here’s what should be in every serious trading journal:

Date / Time (entry & exit): See when you actually trade well. If all your 2am BTC trades are trash, that’s a signal.
Pair / Asset: BTC/USDT, ETH/USDT, SOL/USDT, etc. Track across assets to spot what you handle best. Are you consistently red on alts? Maybe stick to majors.
Direction: Long / Short. Some traders excel on long setups but flail when shorting. This reveals the bias.
Entry / Exit Price: Basic but non-negotiable. You need this to calculate PnL and check if you followed your plan.
Position Size / Capital Used: Crucial for risk management. Shows if you’re randomly yolo-sizing or staying inside your risk rules.
Stop-Loss / Target: Did you even have one? If not, that’s the first problem. Note your planned risk/reward going in.
Fees / Slippage: Track hidden costs. More on that here. These matter, especially for scalpers and small accounts.
Profit/Loss (Net): After all costs. Don’t inflate your results.
Holding Time: Minutes, hours, days. Helps spot if you’re cutting winners too fast or letting losers linger.
Setup / Rationale: Breakout, retest, range play, news catalyst, whatever. This shows whether your setups are actually profitable.
Emotional State: Were you hyped, bored, revenge trading? The pattern here can be more important than the PnL.
Mistakes or Deviations: Entered early, moved stop, chased entry, added to a loser. Name it so you can stop repeating it.
Lessons / Adjustments: What will you change next time? Tighten stops? Wait for confirmation? This is your feedback loop.

🙌 Bonus: Add tags like “scalp” / “swing” / “news” / “range” and use filters. In two weeks you’ll know exactly which style should get more of your capital — and which one needs to die.

🔍 How to Review Your Journal Like a Pro

Logging is step one. Reviewing is where your edge comes from.

1. Weekly or Biweekly Review

Look at your best trades. What setup, time, and conditions led to them?
Flag your worst trades. Were they impulsive? Late entries? News chasing?
Tally up mistakes: breaking rules, overleveraging, chasing trends.
Check your mental notes: Are emotions tied to outcomes? Are FOMO trades consistently red?

2. Monthly Metrics Summary

Win rate: Are you winning enough, or relying on big wins to float small losses?
Average win vs. loss: Is your win size justifying your risk?
Reward:Risk ratio: Should you tighten stops or let profits run?
Max drawdown: When things go wrong, how bad does it get?
Setup-based stats: Which strategy is actually printing? Are your retest entries better than breakout chases?

2. Portfolio Alignment Check

Do your trades reflect your stated goals? If you call yourself “low-risk” but you’re swinging 5x leverage on altcoins, something’s off.
Reference your broader plan. Use this guide to realign.

4. Emotional Pattern Triggers

Do losses early in the day lead to overtrading?
Are you more profitable on trades taken after a break or journal review?

5. Strategic Tweaks

Set 2–3 weekly goals: no trades during high-volatility events, reduce size, skip revenge setups.
Add new filters: Only take breakout trades if volume confirms. Only trade BTC/ETH during main session hours (e.g. US or EU). No new trades after 3 losers in a row.

6. Quarterly Deep Dive

Compile your best/worst trades of the quarter. Study them.
Build a “Best Trade Playbook” with screenshots, notes, execution timing.
Archive junk trades. You’ll stop repeating mistakes once you stare at them long enough.

This is how a journal stops being homework and becomes a weapon.

🎁Bonus: Free Downloadable Trading Journal (Template)

No excuses — we built the thing for you. Our free trading journal template (Google Sheets + Excel) comes with:

Pre-built columns & dropdowns
Automatic PnL calculations
Color-coded winners vs losers
A simple dashboard for win rate, profit curve, and strategy performance

Grab it here (free for DayTrading.co readers).

Want a simpler version? A stripped-down, 5-column journal is coming too. Tell us what you’d prefer on Instagram.

🧩 Record-Keeping is Your Best Buddy

Most traders obsess over entries. The pros obsess over what happens after. If you want to scale up, you need to study yourself like you study the charts.

Start journaling. Review weekly. Spot your patterns. Then sharpen your playbook.

🔥 Next move:
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