Key Takeaways
A trading journal is a helpful tool that many successful traders use to improve their performance.
It helps you organize your trading plans, keep track of your trades, and notice how your feelings affect your decisions.
In the world of cryptocurrency trading, knowing how to make and use a trading journal can make a big difference in becoming a better trader.
Without a trading journal, it’s easy to forget details about your trades or repeat the same mistakes.
What Is a Trading Journal?
A trading journal is a place where you write down everything about your trades and your thinking behind them. This includes your trading strategy, how you handle risks, and how you feel while trading. Beyond just tracking entries and exits, a trading journal serves as a comprehensive tool for self-analysis and continuous improvement.
Effective journaling emphasizes quality over quantity: recording key information that directly impacts your trading results and mindset. When trading cryptocurrencies, you should also keep track of things like gas fees, slippage, and transaction types.
Reasons to Use a Trading Journal
Here are some good reasons to keep a trading journal:
It holds you accountable and encourages discipline.
It helps manage emotions and cognitive biases that influence trading decisions.
It shows which strategies work best and where you need to improve.
It lets you notice how your emotions, like FOMO or FUD, affect your trading.
It helps you follow your own rules for managing risk, like using stop losses.
It records your progress and helps you find patterns in the market and your own behavior.
Traders who do well, whether they trade often or HODL for a long time, usually keep detailed notes about their trades. A good trading journal is a big part of that success.
How to Create a Trading Journal
There are many ways to create a trading journal, and it should be customized to fit your trading style and needs. The goal is to have a reliable system to plan, record, and reflect on your trading activity.
1. Choose your format
Many traders use spreadsheet software (e.g., Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel) combined with a written notes document (e.g., Google Docs, Notepad). Alternatively, you can use specialized crypto trading journal apps that allow API integration for automated data import (e.g., CoinTracking or Edgewonk). Binance also offers portfolio and trading tools that can assist in this process.
2. Decide what to record
Your spreadsheet should have important details about each trade. Here are some suggestions:
Entry date and time
Exit date and time
Trading pair or symbol
Trade type (spot, margin, futures, options, DeFi activity)
Direction (long/short)
Entry and exit price
Position size and notional value
Stop loss and take profit levels
Profit/Loss amount and percentage
Notes for trade rationale or special considerations
3. Keep a section for your thoughts
This can be a separate document or a different tab in your spreadsheet. Here you write what you think or feel about your trades, the market, and any lessons you learn. You can also write about feelings like fear or excitement, and how news or social media affected your choices.
This combination of numbers and notes will help you understand your trading better and make smarter decisions.
How to Use Your Trading Journal Well
Creating a journal is just the first step. The real power comes from consistently using and reviewing it to improve your trading.
Before trading: Write down your trade idea and reasons for it. Think carefully about why it might work and what risks are involved. Try to be honest and question your own biases.
After trading: Record all details about the trade right away, while it’s fresh in your mind. Write about any feelings you had and if you changed your plan during the trade.
Review regularly: Depending on how you trade, set a review schedule. If you trade many times a day, review your journal daily. Swing traders might review weekly. Investors with longer time frames can review monthly. Look for patterns in your wins and losses, and see if emotions or market changes affected your trades.
Watch your risk: Check if you followed your stop loss rules and didn’t risk more than planned.
Monitor crypto markets: Given the 24/7 nature and high volatility of crypto markets, track how unexpected news, social media sentiment, or changing liquidity affected your trades.
If you make journaling a habit, it will help you improve your strategy and control your emotions better.
Binance Academy’s Trading Journal Template
To help you get started, Binance Academy created a free trading journal template. All you need to do is click [File] and [Make a copy] to start using it right away!
➟ Binance Academy Trading Journal Template (it's free!)
Note that, in this example, we’ve added a second tab that works like the written document we discussed above. There you can add all sorts of thoughts and comments to track your decision-making process and the results of the previous trades.
Closing Thoughts
Whether you trade every day or hold your coins for longer, keeping a trading journal is one of the best ways to improve. It stops you from trading without a plan and helps you learn from your successes and mistakes.
By writing down your trades, your ideas, and your feelings, you can spot patterns and improve step by step. Spending a little time on journaling can pay off with better results and stronger trading confidence.
Start today and see how it changes your trading experience!
Further Reading
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