A trading journal is essential to becoming a successful trader.
It shows you how you're performing and helps you see what you're done wrong. And more importantly, it can show you how to improve.
If you want to take your trading to the next level, you need to have a journal.
So here are the top solutions that I've used, along with the pros and cons of each.
TraderSync – The Fully Automated Solution
This is the ultimate trading journal.
If you want to log in to a website and see all of your stats without doing anything after the initial setup, then this is the best solution.
I started Trading Heroes in 2007 and a solid trading journal is the one piece of software that has always been missing in the trading world. There were no complete solutions available to independent traders.
We were stuck with using complex Excel sheets and Word documents for screenshots. A few decent software solutions came out over the years, but they were always missing a few key features. In addition, most of the software was specialized and only worked in 1 or 2 markets.
Tradersync changes all that.
It's a complete solution for stock, futures, options, crypto and forex traders.
Here are the pros and cons…
Pros
- Automatic broker sync
- AI based trading feedback
- Almost every useful metric that traders use
- Customizable dashboard
- Market replay simulator
- Journal all major markets
- Upload screenshots
- Take notes on every trade
- Track commissions and fees
- Tags for filtering trades
- Mobile app available for both iOS and Android
- And more!
Cons
- Monthly fee
So if you don't mind the monthly fee, Tradersync is a fantastic solution for all the markets you trade.
Try it for free here.
NakedMarkets – The Partially Automated Solution
Yes, NakedMarkets is primarily made for backtesting.
But stick with me because I'll show you why it's also a great trading journal solution.
When you break it down, there are basically 2 parts to a trading journal:
- Statistics
- Analysis of those statistics
The statistics are obvious, it's the win rate, average profit per trade, etc.
If you want to improve your performance, then you're going to have analyze those statistics to see if there are any behaviors that you can change to improve your results.
This includes analyzing your screenshots, looking for ways to eliminate large losers and finding ways to optimize your entries and exits.
NakedMarkets will help you with the statistics part.
It gives you a complete suite of statistics to help you understand how well you're trading. I've been looking for this level of statistics for a long time and nothing out there even came close.
Here's a screenshot from their website…
The biggest downside is that you'll have to track your notes and screenshots in a separate program.
Luckily, that's pretty simple.
You can use a Word document or a note taking app like Joplin.
But NakedMarkets takes care of the time consuming part, compiling the statistics.
That's always hard when it comes to keeping a trading journal. Manual entry into an Excel sheet or online form takes forever.
If those benefits interest you, here's a quick rundown of the pros and cons of using NakedMarkets as part of your trading journal solution.
Pros
- Syncs with Oanda to download your live trading results
- Can analyze MetaTrader reports
- Track commissions and fees
- Complete suite of statistics
- Risk analysis
- One-time fee
Cons
- Have to track screenshots and notes separately
- Cannot use the software for journaling if you don't use Oanda or a MetaTrader broker
- Can only analyze stocks, forex, futures and crypto markets
Again, this solution isn't as comprehensive as TraderSync. But it's perfect if you just want to save time compiling your stats.
You'll also save money because you don't have to pay a monthly fee.
Try it for free here.
Joplin – The Free, Fully Manual Solution
Joplin is basically a free and open source version of Evernote.
I've written some tutorials on how to use Evernote as a manual trading journal and I still think that the format that Evernote uses is perfect for a trading journal.
However, what I don't like about Evernote is that I have to subscribe to their service and my data is sitting on someone else's server. If they go out of business, or their servers get hacked, then I lose all of my records.
So as I was searching the internet for an Evernote alternative, I stumbled upon Joplin and I knew that it was what I've been looking for. Since it's free, it doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of Evernote.
But I feel that it has all of the basic features that I need to use it as a trading journal.
I highly recommend it.
Pros
- Free and open source
- All data is stored locally on your computer for privacy
- There are syncing capabilities if you want to use it between multiple devices
- The way that the notes are organized is perfect for trading
- Mobile apps available
- Save web pages as notes
- Super simple interface
Cons
- Have to backup your computer in case of a hard drive crash.
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