Trading Journal Features Checklist: What to Look For

Choose a trading journal by what it does with your own trades, not by its feature list. A journal is where a trader's record lives for years, so the questions that matter are the dull ones: how trades get in, what a limit counts, whether you can get your data out, what the price will be next year. This checklist has eleven checks. Each gives the question, why it matters, where on a vendor's page to look, and a test you can run on a free plan or trial. Examples are quoted from vendors' own pages; none is a recommendation.

The dated matrix is trading journals compared; this page is the method for reading it, and for reading any vendor that is not in it.

1. What does the free plan or trial count?

Ask. Is the limit in trades, executions, accounts or days? Why it matters. A trade closed in stages is several executions, so two numbers that look alike are not. Where to look. The pricing page, then the vendor's help centre. Example. Free plan: TradesViz, Yes: 3000 executions a month, 1 account, stocks; Tradervue, Yes: 30 trades a month. The conversion between the two units is worked on the Tradervue alternatives page. Test. Import one month of your history and see where the limit bites.

2. How do trades get in?

Ask. A live connection, a file import, manual entry, or a mix? Why it matters.“Automated” on a pricing page can mean any of them. Where to look. The pricing page, the supported-brokers page, the help centre. Example. “Automated Trade Imports”, with no broker named. “Import your trades automatically” and “Over 200 brokers are supported in Edgewonk”. File upload and manual entry are not mentioned. Test. Connect or import one account and compare the trade count with your platform's own statement. The wording of eight vendors is side by side on the Edgewonk alternatives page.

3. Does it name your platform and your market?

Ask. Is MT4, MT5 or cTrader named, for your broker, on your plan? Why it matters. A list of “500+ brokers” tells you nothing until your own is on it, and the same product may import some platforms free and others only on a paid plan. Example. Free: statement import for MT4 and MT5, and any CSV. Premium: auto-sync, MT4 “from the first payment”, MT5 (“unlimited MetaTrader 5 accounts”), cTrader and some other platforms. Test. Look up your broker by name on the supported list before you pay, not after.

4. How does it turn fills into a trade?

Ask. When you scale out, does the journal show one trade or three? On a netting account, what happens when you add to a position? Why it matters. Trade count, win rate and average win all depend on how fills are grouped, and the platforms disagree about what a trade is. The difference between MT4 and MT5 is on the MT4 and MT5 journal fields page. Test. Put one trade with a partial close through it and read the row it creates.

5. What can you add to a trade, and what is capped?

Ask. Notes, tags, a grade, screenshots: are there limits per trade? Why it matters. The record you write yourself is what a journal is for, and a cap decides how much of it fits. Example. “Unlimited” journals, broker accounts, prop firm accounts, trades, imports and strategies; 6 screenshots per trade and 20 custom tag categories. Test. Add the most you would write for a trade you would really review, and see what it refuses.

6. How many accounts, and can you see them together?

Ask. Is the limit on accounts, connections or something else, and is there a combined view? Why it matters. Plans that look the same price differ by how accounts are counted. Example. Starter 1, Professional up to 5, Advanced up to 50 accounts. Accounts per price across vendors are on the TradeZella alternatives page. Test. Add the number of accounts you really have, not the number on the card.

7. Which numbers does it calculate, and can you see how?

Ask. Win rate, expectancy, profit factor, drawdown: which, on which trades, and over which period? Is a number defined anywhere you can read? Why it matters. Two journals give a different “profit factor” for the same trades if one includes costs and the other does not. Where to look. The help centre's definitions, not the feature list. Test. Work one figure out by hand from your export and compare.

8. Can you get your data out?

Ask. Which export, on which plan, in which format? Why it matters. A record you cannot leave with is a lock-in you agreed to without reading. Example. One vendor (TraderWaves) lists .csv export among the features it holds back for its paid plan. Test. Export before you have a year in it.

9. What happens to your records if you stop paying?

Ask. Does the account become read-only, drop to a free plan, or close? Why it matters. It decides whether a missed renewal is an inconvenience. Example. “Your data stays accessible until your paid period ends.” “Yes, you can cancel your subscription at the end of your subscription period.” After that, “you will no longer be able to log into your Edgewonk trading journal”. Test. Read the cancellation page before you subscribe.

10. What does the year cost, and what did it cost last month?

Ask. Monthly or yearly, tax in or out, any first-month price? Why it matters. Yearly prices are quoted per month, so they look closer to monthly ones than they are. Example. One plan costs $35 a month on monthly billing and $315 for a year; twelve monthly payments are $420. The sums for every vendor are on the pricing page. Test. Keep a screenshot of the page on the day you pay.

11. Is it really free, and for how long?

Ask. A free plan carries on within limits; a trial ends. Is a card needed? Why it matters. The two read alike on a pricing page. Example. Premium: “Try Premium free for 7 days.” None stated for Free. The free plans are compared on the free-plan page. Test. Note the date a trial ends the day you start it.

What this checklist leaves out

• Which journal is best. That depends on your platform, your markets and how you review, and a pricing page cannot tell you.
• How a journal looks and feels. Only your own trial can answer that.
• Whether the journal changes how you trade. That is outside what software can promise, and this page makes no claim about it.

Where Trepeat is

Trepeat is not in any table on these pages, because its free journal does not exist yet.

We're working on a free journal and a backtester, with no date yet. Today Trepeat is a trade copier for MT4, MT5 and cTrader, currently on demo accounts, and you can add notes, a grade and screenshots to any copied trade once it closes, with a calendar of your results.

Its journal of copied trades holds your own notes, grade, emotional state and screenshots on each closed trade, with a calendar view and an Excel (.xlsx) export.

Written by the Trepeat team.