Trading Journal Excel Template | Free Download & Guide

Turn fills into a reviewable practice record

Learning how to keep a trading journal with Investfly means practicing in a virtual portfolio, confirming every fill in Trade History, exporting the CSV when you want an offline copy, and writing a short post-trade note for each closed idea. The platform stores the trade facts; you record the reason, setup, and next adjustment.

This tutorial is for active no-code traders who want a durable practice habit before they automate more. Prefer an Investfly virtual portfolio so fills, CSV export, and performance analytics stay in one place. The worked example uses fictional numbers labeled as a simulation.

Trade History is the factual log, not free-text notes. Columns cover symbol, trade type, quantity, date, and price. Capture intent and lessons in your own notes or spreadsheet beside the CSV—Investfly does not store a separate narrative journal field on each fill.

1. Open a virtual portfolio dedicated to journaling

Sign in, open Portfolios, and select an Investfly virtual account—or create one with New Portfolio if you want a clean practice book. Name it something recognizable such as “Journal practice.” See how to create a virtual portfolio for setup details.

Write one sentence of intent before the first trade: “Close one stock round-trip, export Trade History, and write a five-line review.” Keeping the first session small makes each fill easy to reconcile.

2. Place and close a practice trade so the log has a fill

Submit a supported manual order, wait for the simulated fill, then close the position so Trade History shows a complete round-trip. Confirm the close in Open Positions and Trade History before you write the review.

The paper trading simulator guide and manual trades guide cover order entry. Treat every fill as journalable—wins, losses, and break-evens alike.

3. Read Trade History and download the CSV

Open the portfolio workspace and select the Trade History tab. The grid shows completed activity. Use Download CSV when you want an offline copy for notes or a spreadsheet template.

Surface	What it gives you
Trade History grid	Symbol, Type, Qty, Date, and Price for completed trades.
Download CSV	Date, Symbol, Security Type, Trade Type, Price, and Quantity for the same completed set.
Your written notes	Setup name, entry reason, emotion tags, rule followed/broken, and one next action—stored outside the fill row.

For the wider tab map, see how to use the portfolio dashboard. When you later want aggregate trade analytics, pair the journal with how to track investment performance.

4. Worked fictional journal entry (simulation only)

These fills and notes are illustrative. They are not current quotes, not a strategy recommendation, and not a forecast:

CSV fact	Example value
Date	2026-09-18 10:15 ET (buy); 2026-09-18 14:40 ET (sell)
Symbol / type	XYZ / Stock
Trade type / qty / price	Buy 20 @ $50.00; Sell 20 @ $51.25

Sample written review next to those facts:

Setup: “Dip-buy after a 2-day pullback” (fictional label only).
Plan: Enter near $50; exit +2.5% or end of day.
What happened: Filled and closed per plan; no size change.
Lesson: Premarket notes matched the exit rule—keep sizing fixed on the next three practice trades.
Next action: Journal the next trade before opening a new idea.

5. Weekly journal checklist

Completeness: Every closed practice trade appears in Trade History for the session you are reviewing.
Export: Download CSV once if you annotate offline; do not treat the file as live after later fills.
One idea per note: Separate mixed setups so lessons stay specific.
Rule score: Mark whether entry, size, and exit followed the written plan.
Cash flows: Note deposits, withdrawals, or portfolio resets separately—they are not trade lessons.
Analytics vs narrative: Use Performance for Net Trading Return; use your notes for why the trades happened.

Limitations to keep visible

Simulation is not live trading. Paper fills and simulated fees cannot reproduce every spread, rejection, liquidity constraint, or broker decision. A tidy journal does not establish that a strategy will work with real capital.

Connected-broker history is limited. When available, Trade History depends on trades Investfly can retrieve and may omit older activity or provider details. Prefer the Investfly virtual portfolio when you need a complete practice explanation.

Download the trading journal spreadsheet

Download the Excel Trading Journal Template

The workbook includes 100 prepared rows and three fictional stock/ETF examples. Replace the examples with your own closed-trade inputs: date, symbol, Long/Short, quantity, entry, exit and total fees. Net P/L and return calculate from those inputs; the summary counts completed calculations and reports total P/L and win rate. Enter zero fees explicitly when appropriate.

Workbook area	How to use it
Blue input cells	Enter trade facts, setup, review note and next action.
Calculated cells	Long: (exit − entry) × quantity − fees. Short: (entry − exit) × quantity − fees.
Return	Net P/L divided by entry price × quantity; not account-level or cash-flow-adjusted return.
Calculation status	Incomplete or invalid inputs stay visible; they are not treated as a zero-P/L trade.
Scope	Single closed stock/ETF trades in USD; not multi-leg options, leveraged futures, tax accounting or FX conversion.

Reconcile each row to matched entry/exit facts. The workbook is not an automatic broker importer: pasted Trade History fills may need matching and partial-close reconciliation first. Narrative notes remain in the workbook, outside Investfly. For options/forex/crypto, use an appropriate asset-specific journal rather than assuming the stock worksheet’s units apply unchanged.

Read closed-trade performance and virtual practice balances. Keep losing, winning and break-even trades in the same review process.

Trading Journal Guide and Excel Template