The best way to identify the most profitable strategies, strengths and weaknesses in your trading style is by using a trading journal for detailed trade analysis. Analyzing past performance can help in understanding the effectiveness of different trading strategies. What strategy works best, and what type of trading setup should I focus on? Let’s go through the list of the best trading journals, their features, pricing, and their pros and cons.
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Best Trading Journals
Below I’ve added my five favorite trading journal apps that help you with detailed analysis, and also included comparison tables and a starter guide.
1. EdgeWonk
EdgeWonk is a feature-rich online trading journal with in-depth trade analytics tools and features. It is the best choice if you want to get as many features as possible for the lowest possible price. EdgeWonk can be a critical component of a trader’s trading system, helping them track performance and refine strategies.
The newest version, Egewonk 3.0, works on any device and is especially an excellent choice for forex traders due to the auto sync feature for MT4 and MT5.
In addition, you can easily import trades from brokers like Fidelity, Interactive Brokers, Saxobank, and IG, and platforms like DAS Trader, NinjaTrader, Optimus Flow, and Quantower via CSV file upload or input your trades manually.
You can take advantage of entry/exit optimization tools, a trade simulator, advanced trade classifiers, trade management evaluation, holding time analysis, and more. You can also backtest strategies and use a future simulator with growth scenarios.
Edgewonk also allows you to customize the input information, including adding notes and tags for each trade. But the most exciting feature is the psychological classifiers. You can add information about your mood, reasons for entering/exiting a trade, and more. That way, you can spot patterns related to the success of your trades and their reliance on your emotions and psychological states.
You can also expect one of the highest data security standards, since the company’s headquarter is in Germany, within the EU. The EU is known for being one of the strictest with its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Price: One of the most significant advantages is the price, which is $169 per year. The $10 coupon “DT10” reduces the costs to $159, which equals $13.25 per month and reflects the lowest costs across all trading journals in the list.
Asset classes supported: Forex, stocks, futures, crypto, CFDs
See Also: Edgewonk Review
2. TradeZella
TradeZella is an impressive all-in-one trading tool that focuses on trade journaling and adds a lot of helpful features and analysis capabilities that other trading journals don’t have.
The autosync feature is an exceptionally convenient way to import your trades to TradeZella. Autosync is available for MetaTrader 4+5, Charles Schwab, cTrader, DXtrade, Interactive Brokers, NinjaTrader, Robinhood, Think or Swim, TradeStation, TradeLocker, and Tradovate. For 25 other brokers, you can use the file upload to import your trades.
Once uploaded, you can analyze your Net P&L, Win/Loss Ratio, Profit Factor, and more, use the calendar view to analyze your daily performance, use advanced filtering, profitability charts, comment on your trades, create reports, and evaluate and track important KPI’s.
The newly implemented Backtesting feature lets you travel back in time by going through historical data and simulate trades, which then can also be analyzed with the trading journal in separate reports and analyses.
You can also use the integrated notebook to store all your notes in one place, so that you can refer to them anytime. And finally, there is a trade replay feature that lets you replay Level 2 and times and sales data tick by tick, with visualization of trades on the chart, which is great to recap trading strategies.
Price: TradeZella offers a Basic and Premium subscription. The Basic plan ($29/month or $288/year) is great for beginners who want to integrate one account and don’t need the trade replay feature. The Premium plan ($49/month or $399/year) lets you connect up to 20 accounts and provides you with access to all features.
Asset classes supported: Stocks, options, futures, forex, crypto
See Also: TradeZella Review
3. Trademetria
Trademetria is an reliable trading journal with remarkable functionalities. You can track up to 50 trading accounts with unlimited order imports by using the Pro-version for $39.95 per month. Unlimited delayed quotes for equities and forex, key metrics, a trade history calendar, buys and sells visualized on a chart, a PnL simulator.
More than 100 different online brokers are already supported, and the list is growing further.
An auto-sync API is available to import trading data from leading brokers to journal trades of the trading day. All your trades of the trading session can then be analyzed to identify trading mistakes and become a better trader.
Price: Basic plan ($29.95 per month, or $215 per year), Pro plan ($39.95 per month, or $279 per year). Users who sign up for a free trial first, receive a 25% discount offer.
Asset classes supported: Stocks, options, futures, forex, cryptos, CFDs
See Also: Trademetria Review
4. TraderSync
Tradersync is a flexible and good trading journal app and over 100,000 traders use it via their web platform and mobile apps for iOS and Android. With TraderSync, you can see your trades on a chart, including entries, profit targets, and stop-loss level visualization.
Trades can be analyzed with interactive TradingView charts using various time frames, which is especially helpful for day traders.
TraderSync also supports options trades, helping traders analyze their options trading activities to understand historical performance and improve future strategies.
TraderSync is especially an excellent choice for retail traders. That’s because the auto-sync feature is available for Interactive Brokers, Robinhood, TastyWorks, TD Ameritrade, CenterPoint Securities, and CMEG. In addition, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, Binance, ByBit, Kucoin and PropReports are also supported for autosync.
Key figures like overall return, risk, return per share and options contract are supported, notes can be made for each trade, and you can tag trades and track commissions. In total, over 100 insightful stats are available. Those who want can set up a public profile and share their trades with others.
Users of the Elite Plan can use the stock market replay feature, review the tape, level 2 data, and price action, and evaluate trading performance in detail, which are excellent additions to the basic functionalities.
Price: Pro plan ($29.95 per month, or $312.60 per year), Premium plan ($49.95 per month, or $521.40 per year), Elite plan ($79.95 per month, or $834.60 per year).
Asset classes supported: Stocks, options, futures, forex, crypto, CFDs
See Also: TraderSync Review
5. Tradervue
Tradervue was one of the first trading journals, and works well for journaling stock, forex and futures trades, helps analyze the profitability scores, and you can also share your expertise with other traders in the community. Currently, 82 different trading platforms are supported.
The most popular ones are TD Ameritrade, Robinhood and MetaTrader, but also less-known platforms like cTrader and CQG Trader are supported. However, the upload process only works with a CSV file. An integrated auto-sync feature is currently not available. Still, you can use the Tradervue API to code automated imports on your own. Note: On their website, they note an auto-import feature, but the link with “here’s the list” has no target right now. That might mean that an auto-import feature is on its way.
You can use Tradervue for free with some limitations. For example, you won’t have access to the advanced charting and analytics features, and you will have a cap of 30 trade imports per month. If you want to unlock the full potential of the platform, you should choose between the Silver or the Gold plans, depending on your needs.
Price: Free plan, Silver plan ($29.95 per month), Gold plan ($49.95 per month). Annual plans are not available.
Asset classes supported: Stocks, options, futures and forex
See Also: Tradervue Review
Bottom Line
EdgeWonk is the best choice for traders who want powerful trade analytics features at their fingertips. TradeZella has more features, but is more expensive. Trademetria has a robust user interface but only comes with delayed quotes.
Detailed trading journal data analyzed with the best trading journals is at least as important as having a good trading platform because it gives traders and investors a trading edge. Trading journal software does not have to be expensive. It’s more important that the chosen trading journals provide the data insights you need to become a profitable trader.
Keep in mind that you need a trading plan before getting started. Only with a trading plan and data driven decisions, you’ll be able to identify the best-performing trading strategies, adjust trade rules, and compare and replay trades with the best possible outcome.
Trading Journal Comparisons
Monthly and Annual Costs
Edgewonk is the clear winner in the annual costs comparison. With the promo code DT10, you can reduce the costs further from $169 to $159. Edgewonk works for forex, futures, stocks, CFDs and even crypto & options.
| Trading Journal | Monthly Subscription | Annual Subscription | Coupon Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edgewonk | – | $169 🥇 | DT10 (10% Off) |
| TradeZella | $29 – $49 | $288 – $399 | DAYTRADING (20% Off) |
| Trademetria | $29.95 – $39.95 | $215 – $279 | DAYTRADEZ (15% per month or 50% per year) |
| TraderSync | $29.95 – $79.95 | $312.60 – $834.60 | – |
| Tradervue | $29.95 – $49.95 | – | – |
Founding Date & Headquarters
| Trading Journal | Founded | HQ |
|---|---|---|
| EdgeWonk | 2014 by Moritz Czubatinski | Germany |
| TraderSync | 2021 by Umar Ashraf | USA |
| Trademetria | 2016 by Thiago Ghilardi | USA |
| TradeZella | 2014 by David Olivares | Canada |
| Tradervue | 2011 by Greg Reinacker | USA |
FAQs
What Is a Trading Journal, and How Important Is It?
A trading journal is a record of your trading activity. Keeping track of your history will make you more prepared for the future and will give you a competitive advantage. We can go as far as saying that it often differentiates professionals from amateurs. How so? Let’s take a look at a few examples.
The truth is that what you can’t track, you can’t improve, and what you don’t track, you won’t improve. Think of sports, for example. Boxers, footballers, basketball players – all of them watch recordings of their matches to analyze their weak points and improve their future results. Even poker players take notes during tournaments.
Trading journal software is essential as it builds habits for self-improvement. Think about this – you generate lots of data while you trade. Why don’t you capitalize on that and extract some useful patterns for analysis?
These tools also help you keep track of your market moves, measure your progress, and serve as a benchmark for trading performance. Journals can be beneficial to both beginners and professionals. It helps beginners build habits and achieve higher success. For professionals, it will fine-tune their strategies and make it easier to deep-dive in detail and analyze.
How to Start a Trading Journal?
The hardest thing with trading journals is deciding to start and building the habit of maintaining consistency. Afterward, everything comes into place. If you struggle to start your trade journal, picture your end goal, which will probably be becoming a better trader. Try to paint that in numbers – for example, increasing your profitability by X%. It is proven that having a measurable goal boosts motivation and helps you remain focused.
You can start keeping records of your trade history in several ways. A text document, an Excel worksheet, a free or a paid third-party service – you have a wide range of options. Last but not least, a trade journal should not come at an exorbitant price. In the end, it is just a tool that is intended to help you become better, not lay fundamentals.
Alexander Voigt • Senior Editor & Founder of DAYTRADINGz
Alexander is a day trader and investor with over 20 years of experience analyzing and trading the financial markets. He wrote for Benzinga and Equities.com and has been quoted on leading financial websites such as Business Insider, Investors.com and Forbes.