---
title: "Trade Journal Excel Template & Spreadsheet Guide"
description: "Build a trade journal in Excel: columns, formulas, and review workflow. When to upgrade from spreadsheets to journaling software."
canonical: https://www.tradelogger.dev/guides/trade-journal-excel
---

# Trade Journal Excel Template & Spreadsheet Guide

Many traders start with a trade journal in Excel. It is free, customizable, and strong for win-rate and expectancy formulas. The trap is friction—screenshots, chart markup, and psychology notes do not fit cells, so the spreadsheet gets abandoned after a few weeks.

## What Excel is good for

- Win rate, average R, expectancy
- Pivot tables by setup or session
- Custom metrics you invent yourself

## When to upgrade

When attaching charts and emotion notes becomes more work than reviewing the trades, move to trade journaling software that can read screenshots and surface reports automatically.

Full guide: https://www.tradelogger.dev/guides/trade-journal-excel
Features: https://www.tradelogger.dev/features