Journal; Need help

Hi traders! New member here.

I was browsing through these forums and it seems like everyone here have it's own thread as personal journal. I would like to keep my journal more private but need help with starting it. After 2 years of trading i realized how much more information about myself i could have if i just had a journal from start.

Will start with pen and paper but i would like to make it digital. Does anyone have an Excell spreadsheet willing to share? I could probably do it myself but i am not so good with formulas and calculations. If someone can share some kind of template for me i would really appreciate it.

Another good alternative would be to start doing private tradingview ideas but that would be very limiting on tracking my stats and doing calculations. Tradingview is great for visual representation but nothing more.

Thanks in advance!

Sounds like its a bit too complicated if you're going to have to spreadsheet it.

Look at it from the other end - What do you want out of your journal? - A super-accurate forensic record or an answer to trading problems that stop you making money?

In any data-collecting or research project, start from what you want the outcome to be, not from what you could input. What is the No.1 problem you face in trading? What information do you need to resolve it? For this first effort, make a table with 6 columns: now you can only collect 6 items of data on each trade relevant to this issue If you can't solve it with 6 items of data, go to the No.2 problem and solve that.

Thanks! Good point. Beside solving problems i would really like to see some statistics also. What i need from journal is to have some kind of track record but also have a place to analyze myself, my thought process and compare that to my trading stats over longer period of time.

I use a journal called edgewonk.. the best journal IMO.. What markets are you trading and are you swing trading or day trading?

I have also just purchased Edgewonk, am learning how to use to use it with paper trading (so I'm not any expert by any stretch of imagination), however am really impressed with Edgewonk's it's capabilities.

I was thinking of going the Excel way myself, but I've found it too cumbersome and I've realised that my time is better spend on backtesting rather than on messing around with spreadsheets.