Free Crypto Trading Journal Template
A CSV with the 17 columns a trade journal actually needs, three worked example trades, and no sign-up. Opens in Google Sheets, Excel and Numbers, and imports straight into the Trnd Tools journal.
Plain CSV, about 1 KB. No macros, no email required.
Why keep a trading journal at all
Memory is biased
Large wins are remembered in detail. Small, repeated losses blur together. Ask most traders which setup makes them money and they will answer confidently; ask for the numbers and very few can produce them.
Patterns need about 30 trades
Win rate, profit factor, average win versus average loss and performance by setup only mean something once there are enough rows. A journal is how those rows accumulate without effort on review day.
Plan adherence is the real metric
Grading execution separately from outcome shows whether a loss was a good trade that did not work or a bad decision that happened to lose. The trades taken outside the plan are usually heavily negative as a group.
The columns a good trading journal needs
Every column below is in the template. Record the first seven before you enter the trade; they define your risk. The rest are filled in at exit and on review.
| Column | What to record | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Open Time | Date and time you entered, e.g. 2026-09-14 09:30. | Lets you group results by session, weekday and hold time. |
| Symbol | The base asset: BTC, ETH, SOL. | Performance per market is one of the first splits worth looking at. |
| Direction | Long or Short. | Most traders have a clear edge on one side and not the other. |
| Entry Price | Your average fill price. | Every other number on the row is calculated from it. |
| Stop Loss | The price at which the trade idea is wrong. | Defines your risk in dollars and therefore the size. |
| Take Profit | Your planned target before entering. | Compare planned reward with what you actually took. |
| Position Size | Units of the asset, e.g. 0.064 BTC. | Size is an output of risk and stop distance, not a guess. |
| Risk % | Share of the account at risk if the stop is hit. | Shows whether you kept sizing consistent across trades. |
| Fees | Trading fees for entry and exit combined, plus funding if any. | Fees are the difference between a slightly profitable and a losing system. |
| Exit Time | Date and time the position was fully closed. | Hold time by outcome reveals whether you cut winners early. |
| Exit Price | Your average exit price. | Needed for P&L and to compare against the target. |
| Net P&L | Profit or loss after fees, in your account currency. | The headline figure, but only useful next to the risk taken. |
| R-Multiple | Net P&L divided by the dollars risked at the stop. | Normalises every trade so a 2R win on BTC equals a 2R win on SOL. |
| Setup | The category of trade: breakout retest, range rejection, trend pullback. | The single most useful split - a few setups usually make most of the money. |
| Execution Grade | A to D for how well you followed the plan, independent of the result. | Separates good decisions from good luck. |
| Notes | One or two sentences on the reason for entry and what you would change. | Patterns in your own words show up on review. |
| Screenshot | A link to the chart at entry and at exit. | Memory rewrites the chart. A screenshot does not. |
What the example rows look like
Three trades from a $10,000 account risking 1% each: a breakout that paid, a short that was stopped out, and a pullback closed early. Notes and screenshot links are in the file.
| Open | Symbol | Dir | Entry | Stop | TP | Size | Risk | Fees | Exit | Net P&L | R | Setup | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-14 09:30 | BTC | Long | 112,450 | 110,900 | 116,000 | 0.064 | 1.0% | $7.31 | 115,820 | $208.37 | +2.10R | Breakout retest | A |
| 2026-09-16 21:00 | ETH | Short | 4,120 | 4,210 | 3,900 | 1.1 | 1.0% | $4.59 | 4,210 | -$103.59 | -1.05R | Range rejection | C |
| 2026-09-18 08:15 | SOL | Long | 198.4 | 189.5 | 216 | 11 | 1.0% | $2.27 | 214.7 | $177.03 | +1.81R | Trend pullback | B |
Open it in Google Sheets
- Download the CSV above.
- In a new Google Sheet choose File → Import, then Upload and pick the file.
- Leave the separator on Detect automatically and import as a new sheet or replace the current one.
- Freeze the header row (View → Freeze → 1 row) and add a row per trade.
Excel and Numbers open the CSV directly with File → Open.
Formulas worth adding
With the columns in the template order (entry in D, stop in E, size in G, fees in I, exit in K), row 2:
Net P&L (long) =(K2-D2)*G2-I2 Net P&L (short) =(D2-K2)*G2-I2 Risk in $ =ABS(D2-E2)*G2 R-Multiple =L2/(ABS(D2-E2)*G2) Risk % =ABS(D2-E2)*G2/<account balance>
Wrap the P&L formula in an IF on the Direction column (C) so one formula handles both sides.
Import the same CSV into Trnd Tools
The template uses the header names the Trnd Tools CSV importer recognises, so when your spreadsheet outgrows formulas you can move the history over without retyping it. CSV import is a Pro feature; new accounts get 30 days of Pro on signup.
Mapped automatically
Symbol, Direction, Open Time, Exit Time, Entry Price, Exit Price, Position Size (as Quantity), Stop Loss, Take Profit, Fees (as Trading Fee) and Notes.
Recalculated on import
Net P&L, return % and R-multiple are recalculated by the importer from entry, exit, size, stop and fees, so the values in your sheet are not read.
Stays in your sheet
Risk %, Setup, Execution Grade and Screenshot are not imported yet. Setup and execution can be set on each trade inside the journal after import.
How the import runs
- Open the journal, choose CSV import and upload the file. The first row must be the header row.
- Keep the mode on Trades - each row is a finished round trip. Executions mode is for exchange fill exports where one row is one fill.
- Click Suggest All. Check the mapping table, then confirm any symbol the importer does not recognise - use base tickers such as BTC rather than BTCUSDT.
- Preview, then import. Re-uploading the same file later is detected as duplicates rather than doubling your history.
Trading journal template FAQ
What should a crypto trading journal template include?
At minimum: date, symbol, direction, entry, stop-loss, take-profit, position size, fees, exit price and net P&L. Add risk % and R-multiple so trades of different sizes are comparable, and a setup name, execution grade and notes so you can review why you took each trade, not just what it made.
How do I calculate the R-multiple in a spreadsheet?
Risk per trade is the distance from entry to stop multiplied by the position size. R-multiple is net P&L divided by that risk. In Sheets or Excel, with entry in D, stop in E, size in G and net P&L in L: =L2/(ABS(D2-E2)*G2). A trade that makes twice what it risked is +2R; a full stop-out is -1R.
Is a spreadsheet enough, or do I need a journaling app?
A spreadsheet is enough to start and has the advantage of being fully yours. It stops being enough when you want live P&L on open positions, statistics by setup and timeframe without maintaining formulas, or your exchange history pulled in automatically. That is what the Trnd Tools journal adds - and the free plan covers up to 10 trades a month.
Can I import this CSV into Trnd Tools?
Yes. The CSV trade importer is a Pro feature (new accounts get 30 days of Pro on signup). Upload the file, choose Trades mode, click Suggest All and the symbol, direction, times, prices, size, stop, target, fees and notes columns map automatically. P&L and R-multiple are recalculated from those inputs.
Is the template free?
Yes. It is a plain CSV file with no macros, no sign-up and no tracking. Open it in Google Sheets, Excel, Numbers or any text editor and change the columns however you like.
Skip the formulas
The Trnd Tools journal calculates P&L, R-multiple, win rate and profit factor for you, tracks open positions against live prices and breaks results down by setup. Free for up to 10 trades a month, with 30 days of Pro on signup.
Start journaling freeSee the trade journal tour, the position size calculator or pricing.