Trade Journal Template

Appendix · 2 min read

Appendix A: Trade Journal Template

"The wolf who does not write forgets."

Copy this template into whichever tool you use — paper, Notion, Obsidian, a spreadsheet. Keep it consistent. The medium does not matter; the consistency does.

Page 1 — Monthly Cover

Month: _
Account starting balance: $_
Monthly risk budget (5% suggested): $_

Open positions at month start:

| Strategy | Underlying | Open Date | Premium | Expiry | |----------|------------|-----------|---------|--------| | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ |

Page 2 — Trade Opening Note (One Per Trade)

TRADE OPEN — #_

Date/time: _
Underlying: _
Current stock price: $_
Strategy: _
Legs: _
Expiration: _
Net debit/credit: $_
Number of contracts: _
Total risk: $_
Risk as % of account: _%

THESIS (2 sentences):
_

SETUP CRITERIA:

[ ] Direction/range thesis written

[ ] IV environment appropriate (IV rank: _)

[ ] Liquidity OK (OI: , spread: )

[ ] Risk:Reward acceptable (_ : _)

[ ] Position size within rules (_% ≤ 2%)

[ ] No earnings inside expiry / YES (_)

[ ] No ex-dividend inside expiry / YES (_)

EXIT PLAN:

Profit-take level: _
Stop-loss level: _
Management trigger: _

I AM WRONG IF:
_

EMOTIONAL STATE: calm / excited / fearful / vengeful / FOMO

Page 3 — Trade Closing Note (One Per Trade)

TRADE CLOSE — #_

Close date: _
Stock price at close: $_
Net P&L: $_
Total commissions: $_
Net P&L (after commissions): $_

Close reason:

[ ] Profit target hit (_)

[ ] Stop loss hit

[ ] Management trigger fired

[ ] Expiration

[ ] Panic / out of plan

PROCESS REVIEW:

[ ] Stayed on plan? (Y/N)

[ ] Opening thesis was correct? (Y/N — independent of P&L)

[ ] Managed well? (Y/N)

[ ] Anything to do differently?

ONE THING LEARNED:
_

REPEAT NEXT TIME:
_

DO NOT REPEAT:
_

Page 4 — Weekly Review

Week: _ – _
Total trades: _
Winners / Losers: _ / _
Net P&L: $_
Account balance: $_ ( _% )

By strategy:

| Strategy | Count | P&L | |----------|-------|-----| | Long Call/Put | _ | $_ | | CC / CSP | _ | $_ | | Vertical Spreads | _ | $_ | | Iron Condor/Butterfly | _ | $_ | | Straddle/Strangle | _ | $_ | | LEAPS / Diagonal | _ | $_ | | Other | _ | $_ |

Biggest *process error this week*:
_

Best *decision this week*:
_

Next week’s calendar:

[ ] Earnings: _

[ ] FOMC/CPI/Jobs: _

[ ] Ex-div: _

Commitment for next week:
_

Page 5 — Monthly Review

Month: _
Monthly net P&L: $_ ( % account return)
Monthly risk budget used: $ ( _% of budget)

Strategy performance:

| Strategy | Count | Win Rate | Net P&L | |----------|-------|----------|---------| | _ | _ | % | $ |

Best trade by decision quality (not P&L):
_

Worst trade by decision quality:
_

Process error to retire:
_

Process strength to repeat:
_

Next month focus:
_

Page 6 — Yearly Self-Contract

Year: _
Annual net P&L: $_
Comparison to S&P 500 benchmark: % vs S&P 500 %
Times I broke the 1-2% rule: _
Times I traded into a major event without a plan: _
Total friction cost (commissions + spread + slippage): $_

Best lesson of the year:
_

Trade I would *not take again, knowing what I know now*:
_

Next year’s *one concrete change* (not five):
_

Signed: _