Trading Journal Free

Free Trading Journals, Compared

Trading Journal Free

Compare the free ways to journal your trades, and see where each free tier stops before you pick one.

  • Excel and Google Sheets templates
  • Notion journal workspaces
  • Apps with a real free plan
  • Where each free tier stops

No sign up, no trial, no card. Every option here is one you can start using today, with the catch written down beside it.

Your Trading Journal Doesn’t Need to Cost a Fortune

A trading journal should help you understand your trading, not create another unnecessary expense.

You need somewhere to record your trades, analyse the numbers and document what happened.

That doesn’t necessarily require a complicated platform or a monthly subscription.

A free trading journal can give you a practical starting point for tracking your results and developing a consistent review routine.

Start with the information that matters.

Build your trading history.

Discover what you need from a journal as your requirements develop.

Explore Free Trading Journal Options

Find the Right Way to Track Your Trades

  1. Free Excel Trading Journal

    Use a spreadsheet to record entries, exits, position sizes and trading results.

    Explore downloadable templates you can adapt to your own trading process.

    Explore Excel Journals

  2. Free Google Sheets Trading Journal

    Organise your trading data in a familiar spreadsheet format.

    Explore templates with trade logs, formulas and performance summaries.

    Explore Google Sheets Journals

  3. Free Notion Trading Journal

    Combine your trading records, strategy notes and personal reviews in a flexible digital workspace.

    Explore Notion Journals

  4. Free Trading Journal Software

    Discover trading journal platforms offering free plans and compare their features, account limits and available analytics.

    Explore Free Journal Software

What Should a Free Trading Journal Include?

A useful trading journal should make it straightforward to understand what happened and why.

Five things worth recording for every trade
Trade HistoryRecord each trade’s date, market, instrument, direction, entry and exit.
Profit & Loss TrackingReview your results, including commissions and other relevant trading costs.
Performance MetricsExamine your win rate, average wins and losses, and performance across different setups.
Risk Management RecordsDocument your planned risk, stop losses and realised outcomes.
Trading NotesRecord the reasoning behind your decisions, mistakes and lessons from each session.

Find a Free Journal for Your Trading Style

Free Options Trading Journal

Organise options positions, premiums, expiration dates and strategy results.

Explore Options Journals

Free Stock Trading Journal

Record stock trades, review performance and document your trading process.

Explore Stock Journals

A plain notebook beside a laptop showing a simple trade log

Build Your Trading History One Trade at a Time

You don’t need hundreds of trades to start journaling.

You just need a repeatable way to record your decisions.

Start by documenting your trades consistently. As your history grows, review the results and look for patterns worth investigating.

The goal isn’t to create the most complicated spreadsheet imaginable.

It’s to build a record that helps you understand your trading process.

Questions about free trading journals

What is a free trading journal?
Any record of your trades that costs nothing to keep. That can be a spreadsheet, a Notion page, or the free plan of a journaling app.
Is a spreadsheet good enough for a trading journal?
For most traders starting out, yes. A spreadsheet records entries, exits, size and result, and it never expires or limits how many trades you log.
What do free journal apps limit?
Usually the number of trades you can log, how far back your history goes, and whether you can import from your broker. Check those three lines before you commit.
Should I pay for a trading journal instead?
Only once a free option stops fitting. If you are still filling in rows by hand and nothing is missing, paying adds nothing you do not already have.
What should I record for every trade?
Date, market, direction, entry, exit, size, result, and one line on why you took it. The last one is the part most traders skip and later wish they had.

Start Tracking Your Trades for Free

Your Trading Journal Starts Here.

No expensive software required to begin.

Explore free trading journals, compare your options and start recording the information that matters to you.