Trade Journal — Complete Guide
PropTraderz Community Tool
PTZ Trade Journal FREE
The only trade journal built specifically for prop traders. Track every trade, analyze your behavior, and manage all your prop accounts — all in one place.
Open Trade Journal →Overview
What is the PTZ Trade Journal?
The PTZ Trade Journal is a free tool built exclusively for PropTraderz members. Unlike generic trading journals, it was designed specifically for futures prop traders using platforms like Tradovate and NinjaTrader.
Every user has their own private journal — your data is stored securely in our database and is never visible to other members. You can have multiple prop accounts, import trades automatically, and track your financials all in one place.
💡 100% Free. No subscription, no trial, no credit card. Just create a free account on PropTraderz and start using it immediately.
Structure
6 Tabs — Everything You Need
The journal is organized into 6 tabs, each covering a different aspect of your trading.
Calendar
Monthly calendar showing daily P&L at a glance. Green days, red days, weekly totals. Click any day to see all trades with entry/exit prices, duration and P&L.
Stats
Equity curve, win rate by instrument, session breakdown (AM/PM/Overnight), best and worst day/week, current streak.
All Trades
Complete list of all trades with every detail — date, instrument, direction, entry/exit price, P&L, session, setup, emotion, rules, screenshot link.
Accounting
Track evaluation fees, activation fees, resets and withdrawals per account. See your real net cash — how much you paid vs how much you actually received in your bank.
Analytics
Advanced metrics: payoff ratio, profit factor, expected value, median trade, standard deviation, max consecutive wins/losses, best hour and best weekday.
Behaviour
Auto-detects revenge trading, overtrading days and oversize events from your data. Shows win rate when you follow your rules vs when you don’t, and performance by emotion.
Getting Started
How to Start in 3 Minutes
1
Create a free account
Go to proptraderz.com/register and create your free PropTraderz account. If you already have one, just log in.
2
Open the Trade Journal
Go to proptraderz.com/trade-journal. Your personal journal is ready immediately — no setup required.
3
Import your trades or add manually
Click Import to automatically load your trades from Tradovate or NinjaTrader, or click + Add Trade to add trades manually one by one.
4
Add your prop accounts in Accounting
Go to the Accounting tab and click + Add Account. Add your prop firm accounts and start tracking fees and withdrawals.
Importing Trades
Automatic Import — No Manual Entry
The journal supports automatic import from the most popular prop trading platforms. Your account number is detected automatically from the file.
📊 Tradovate Account auto-detected
1. Go to
2. Click the
3. Set your date range
4. Click
5. In the journal: Import → Tradovate → upload the file
✅ Account number, P&L and all trades detected automatically
Reports in Tradovate2. Click the
Fills tab (not Orders or Performance)3. Set your date range
4. Click
Download CSV5. In the journal: Import → Tradovate → upload the file
✅ Account number, P&L and all trades detected automatically
🥷 NinjaTrader Account auto-detected
Use this if your broker is Rithmic or other non-Tradovate.
If NT8 is connected to Tradovate → use Tradovate Fills instead!
1. Control Center →
2. Display:
3. Right click on table →
4. In journal: Import → NinjaTrader → upload
✅ Account number detected automatically
If NT8 is connected to Tradovate → use Tradovate Fills instead!
1. Control Center →
New → Trade Performance2. Display:
Trades → set date range → Generate3. Right click on table →
Export → CSV4. In journal: Import → NinjaTrader → upload
✅ Account number detected automatically
📋 Manual / Other Manual
For Rithmic R Trader, MotiveWave, Quantower or any other platform not listed above.
Option 1: Use + Add Trade to add each trade manually
Option 2: Import a Generic CSV with columns:
⚠️ Add entry/exit time for Behaviour analysis
Option 1: Use + Add Trade to add each trade manually
Option 2: Import a Generic CSV with columns:
date, instrument, direction, contracts, entry_price, exit_price, pnl, session⚠️ Add entry/exit time for Behaviour analysis
⚠️ Important for NinjaTrader + Tradovate users: If you use NinjaTrader connected to Tradovate broker, always import from Tradovate Fills — not from NinjaTrader. Both record the same trades and importing from both will create duplicates.
Account Management
Managing Multiple Prop Accounts
Prop traders often have multiple accounts simultaneously — evaluations, funded accounts, resets. The journal handles all of them.
Filter by Account
Use the Account dropdown in the header to filter the entire journal — calendar, stats, analytics — to show only one account at a time. Select “All Accounts” to see everything combined.
Mark Account as Blown
In the Accounting tab, click 💥 Blown on any account when you lose it. The account stays permanently in your history with all transactions — this is your real financial record. The trades from that account remain in your journal too unless you delete them.
Delete Account Trades
Click 🗑 Delete Account in the header to remove all trades from a specific account from your journal. This only removes trades — the account history in Accounting is kept separately and is never deleted.
Reset Imported / Reset Manual
Use Reset Imported to delete all auto-imported trades, or Reset Manual to delete all manually added trades. Useful when re-importing with updated data.
Accounting Tab
Track Your Real Money — Not Just P&L
Trading P&L in the journal shows what you made in your account. But your real net cash is different — it’s what you actually have in your bank after paying for evaluations and receiving withdrawals.
Transaction Types
Evaluation Cost — fee paid to start an evaluation challenge
Activation Fee — one-time fee when a funded account is activated
Reset Fee — fee to reset a failed evaluation
Withdrawal — money received in your bank from the prop firm
Other Cost / Income — any other payment or income
Activation Fee — one-time fee when a funded account is activated
Reset Fee — fee to reset a failed evaluation
Withdrawal — money received in your bank from the prop firm
Other Cost / Income — any other payment or income
Net Cash Calculation
Net Cash = Total Withdrawals − Total Fees. If you paid $100 for an evaluation, received $900 in withdrawals, and then lost the account — your net cash is +$800. You were profitable even though the account is blown.
💡 Example workflow: Pay $150 evaluation → pass → activation fee $0 → trade for 2 months → withdraw $600 → account blown → Net Cash = +$450. The account is blown but you made money.
Behaviour Tab
Auto-Detected Behavioural Patterns
The Behaviour tab analyzes your actual trade data and detects patterns that are costing you money — without you having to tag anything manually.
😤 Revenge Trading
Detected when you enter a new trade within 10 minutes after a losing trade. This is one of the most costly emotional patterns in trading.
⚡ Requires entry/exit timestamps
📈 Oversize After Loss
Detected when you use more than 1.5x your average contract size immediately after a losing trade — a sign of trying to recover losses faster.
⚡ Requires entry timestamps
🔁 Overtrading Days
Days where you traded more than 2x your daily average. More trades doesn’t mean more profit — these days are often your worst P&L days.
⚡ Calculated from trade count per day
📉 Post-Loss Win Rate
Your win rate on the first trade after a losing day. If this is significantly lower than your overall win rate, you may be affected by the previous day’s results.
⚡ Calculated from daily P&L sequences
✅ Rules Adherence Impact
Compares your win rate and P&L when you tagged “Followed Rules: Yes” vs “No”. Shows exactly how much following your rules is worth in dollars.
⚡ Requires manual rules tagging
😌 Emotion Performance
Shows your win rate and total P&L grouped by emotion — Calm, FOMO, Revenge, Overconfident, Anxious, Euphoric. Discover which emotional state is most profitable for you.
⚡ Requires emotion tagging per trade
💡 Better data = better insights. When importing trades, add Entry Time and Exit Time for auto-detection. Tag emotions and rules in the Annotate button on each trade for even deeper analysis.
Analytics Tab
Advanced Performance Metrics
The Analytics tab goes beyond basic win rate and shows you the math behind your edge.
Payoff Ratio
Average winning trade divided by average losing trade. A ratio above 1.0 means your winners are larger than your losers. Combined with win rate, this tells you if your edge is real.
Profit Factor
Total gross profit divided by total gross loss. Above 1.0 = profitable system. Above 2.0 = excellent. This is one of the most important metrics for evaluating a trading strategy.
Expected Value per Trade
The average amount you can expect to make per trade based on your historical win rate and average win/loss. Positive EV = you have an edge. Negative EV = you are losing money long-term.
Best Hour & Best Weekday
Which hour of the day and which day of the week has the highest cumulative P&L. Requires entry time to be set on trades. Use this to schedule your trading sessions strategically.
Max Consecutive Wins / Losses
The longest winning and losing streaks in your history, with the total P&L for each. Use this to set rational rules about when to stop trading after extended losing streaks.
Calendar Detail
Click Any Day to See Everything
When you click a day in the Calendar tab, a detailed panel opens below showing:
Day Statistics
Day P&L, total trades, win rate, best trade, worst trade, total contracts traded.
Individual Trades List
Every trade with: instrument, direction (LONG/SHORT), contracts, entry → exit price, duration, P&L, source platform badge (TV/NT/Manual), account badge, emotion emoji, rules tag and screenshot link.
Annotate Any Trade
Click Annotate on any imported trade to add: setup/strategy, session (AM/PM/Overnight), emotion, followed rules, screenshot link and notes. This works for both imported and manually added trades.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my data private?
Yes. Your trades and accounts are stored in our database linked to your user ID. No other member can see your data. The journal is only accessible when logged in.
Is it really free?
Yes, completely free for all PropTraderz members. No subscription, no premium tier, no credit card required.
Can I use it on mobile?
Yes, it works in any mobile browser. For the best experience on phone, use landscape mode when viewing the calendar.
What if I import the same CSV twice?
The journal automatically replaces existing trades for the same dates and source — it never duplicates. You can safely re-import an updated CSV without creating duplicates.
I use NinjaTrader with Tradovate — which do I import from?
Always import from Tradovate Fills. NinjaTrader and Tradovate record the same trades (same account), so importing from both creates duplicates. The rule is simple: the broker determines the source, not the frontend platform.
Can I export my data?
Yes. Click Export CSV at any time to download all your trades as a CSV file. You own your data and can export it whenever you want.
Which prop firms are supported?
Any firm that uses Tradovate or NinjaTrader for execution is supported automatically. This includes Apex, Topstep, FFF, Tradeday, Earn2Trade, Bulenox, and many others. If your firm uses a different platform, you can always add trades manually.
Ready to Track Your Trading?
Join the PropTraderz community and start using the free Trade Journal today.