€)IMPORTANT NOTICE: READ BEFORE BEGINNING Attention fellow traders, I'm thrilled to introduce you to my Trading Journal Spreadsheet and provide you with the necessary instructions to get started. Once you've downloaded the Excel file (XLSM), there's a crucial step you need to take to ensure full functionality. Follow these simple steps: 1.Locate the downloaded file on your computer. 2. Right-click on the file and select "Properties" from the dropdown menu. 3.In the "General" tab of the Properties window, scroll down to find the "Security" section. 4.Ensure that the "Unblock" field is checked, as the journal contains macros that require this permission. By checking the "Unblock" field, you allow Microsoft Excel to run the macros seamlessly, unlocking the full potential of the journal's features. Without unblocking, the journal cannot be fully utilized. Now that you've completed this essential step, let's delve into the comprehensive guide on how to make the most of my Trading Journal Spreadsheet Please refer to the image example on the following page!Follow these simple steps: 1.Locate the downloaded file on your computer. 2. Right-click on the file and select "Properties" from the dropdown menu. 3.In the "General" tab of the Properties window, scroll down to find the "Security" section. 4,Ensure that the "Unblock’ field is checked, as the journal contains macros that require this permission. » S: Za [esau eaves vena Ea,; —_COTREPORTS TRADING JOURNAL Type offle: MicrosoRtExcel Macro Enabled Workshest (atom) Opens wit — i Exes! change Location’ —_C\Usors\dmwatDowmioads Siew 17 KB (1750658 bytes) Size ondisie 175KB(180224 bytoe) Created Friday. 26May 2023, 1829.19, Modiiec: Friday. 26May 023, 182919 Accesset: Today. 26May 2023, 162943 Atibutes — ()Reaceny Caden Aovanced, Secirty _ This le came fiom another compat ‘and mightbe blocked o help prot tis computor t 0K cance! Apely DONINTRODUCTION "Dear valued customer, Thank you for choosing my Trading Journal Excel Spreadsheet to help you track your trades and improve your trading performance. appreciate your trust in my tools, and I'm confident that you'll find the journal helpful in your trading journey. As part of my commitment to providing the best user experience, I've included an Assistant Feature in the journal to help you fill in your trades quickly and efficiently. The Assistant Feature is designed to guide you through the journal's interface, making it easy to use, even for beginners.” + Valentin D. from COT-Reports.com INTRODUCING THE ASSISTANT FEATURE Every cell in the journal that needs to be filled in by the user is color- coded with green lines where the Assistant Feature is enabled. You will easily notice it when starting to set and customize the journal (details at the next step). Furthermore, the first 5 trades in the "Trading Journal’ sheet also have the Assistant Feature turned on, allowing you to familiarize yourself with the journal's interface. In conclusion: When you click on a cell with the Assistant Feature ON, a pop-up box appears, guiding you through the information that needs to be entered in that cell. Err ty cru)GETTING STARTED WITH YOUR TRADING JOURNAL STEP 1: SETTING UP YOUR TRADING JOURNAL First, please click on the 'Trading Journal’ sheet in the Excel document, at the bottom of the screen. SETINGS 1. ‘ACCOUNT & RISK MANAGEMENT' TAB Under the 'Account & Risk Management tab, enter the following information: ACCOUNT TYPE * Please select either ‘Funded Account’ or ‘Personal Account’ from the dropdown list. For personal accounts the starting balance is considered as deposit and it will appear in deposit history.STARTING BALANCE * Enter your starting account balance (e.g., 100000). It will automatically be displayed as $100,000.00. You can use decimals if necessary (e.g, 100000.01), and it will appear as $100,000.01. RISK PER TRADE % + Enter the percentage of your account that you are willing to risk per trade (e.g., 0.25, 0.5 or 2). It will automatically be displayed as a percentage (e.g., 0.25%, 0.50% or 2.00%). RISK EXPOSURE * Enter the maximum risk you're willing to expose your account to (eg. 1.5). It will automatically display as 1.5%. MAXIMUM TRADES PER DAY + Enter the maximum number of trades you want to take per day (eg. 3). “It is important to set up your trading journal correctly and in accordance with your risk management rules. The journal is designed to adapt and send signals if you are risking too much on a trade or if your overall risk exposure is too high. Additionally, make sure to monitor the ‘risk per trade' fields located in the Dashboard at the top of the Journal. This feature allows you to adjust your risk after each trade, so you can compound profits and minimize losses without involving any technical analysis — just by playing with numbers. By using these risk management tools in your trading journal, you can better manage your trades and improve your overall trading performance." + Valentin D. from COT-Reports.com2. ‘TRADING STRATEGIES’ TAB Under the 'Trading Strategies’ tab, enter the following information: STRATEGY NAME + Enter the name of your strategy (e.g., Moving Average Crossover, Breakout, etc). This column is wide, so feel free to write the full name of your strategy. ABBREVIATION + Enter an abbreviation for your strategy (e.g., MAC, BO, etc.). This will be used in the ‘Trading Journal’ sheet when you note your trades (*see column 'Strategy’ in ‘Trading Journal’ sheet). The abbreviation should be a maximum of one word. “In this tab, you can define and organize the different trading strategies you use. By organizing your trading strategies in this tab, you can easily keep track of which strategies are performing well and which should be improved or eliminated." + Valenti D, from COT-Reports.com3. ‘SESSIONS’ TAB 3. Under the 'Sessions' tab, enter the following information: SESSION NAME + Enter your trading sessions. You can use standard sessions like ‘London’, ‘New York’, etc., or you can create custom sessions by entering your own intervals. You can later use this data to measure your performance based on the different trading sessions. "By tracking your trading sessions in this tab, you can analyze your performance based on different times of day. This information can help you optimize your trading and find the hours that best fit your strategy, ultimately leading to improved trading results." + Valentin D. from COT-Reports.com4. "CUSTOM CRITERIA’ TAB Under the ‘Custom Criteria’ tab, enter the following information: CUSTOM CRITERIA * Enter any custom criteria you want to use for tracking your trades (e.g., Account 1, Account 2, Demo, Live, Indicator On, Indicator Off). “This tab allows you to enter any custom criteria you want to use for tracking your trades. For example, you might want to label your trades as "Account 1" or "Account 2" if you have multiple accounts, or "Demo" and "Live" if you trade both on demo and live accounts. You can also use this field to track other information that is relevant to your trading style, such as whether an indicator was on or off during the trade, By using the Custom Criteria tab effectively, you can gain a better understanding of which trades are performing well and which are not. This field is flexible and you can use it however you wish to organize your trades." + Valentin D. from COT-Reports.com5. ‘'TIMEFRAMES' TAB Under the 'Timeframes' tab, enter the following information: TIME FRAMES * Enter up to 10 different timeframes that you are going to use for entries (e.g., ‘Im’, '4h’, 'D', 'W)). Congratulations! You have successfully completed the setup of your Trading Journal. You are now ready to start journaling your trades and tracking your progress towards your trading goals. Next...STEP 2: RECORD YOUR FIRST TRADE First, please click on the 'Trading Journal’ sheet in the Excel document, at the bottom of the screen. TRADING JOURNAL, To get started, please take a look at the top of the journal where you will see a green line and a blue line above the columns. The green line indicates the columns that need to be filled in with information, while the blue line indicates columns that will be automatically calculated by the journal. * The green columns are for entering information such as the trade date, currency pair, and entry/exit prices. * The blue column will automatically calculate data such as the profit/loss of the trade. Please see the example below: GREEN SHOULD BE FILLED BY THE USER BLUE COLUMNS ARE AUTOMATICALLY CALCULATEDLet's get started with entering your first trade! Here's what you need to do: Please fill in the following columns, marked by the green line above: + auDUSO SET opfan/es ois alinvas an PAIR * Please enter the currency pair you are trading in the following format: BaseQuote. For example, if you are trading Euro against US dollar, enter EURUSD. Do not include any additional spaces or characters. POSITION TYPE + Please select the transaction type from the drop-down list. To access the drop-down list, click on the arrow button next to the cell. Alternatively, you can also type in the position type manually if it matches the words "BUY" or "SELL". ENTRY DATE + To enter today’s date, use the key combination 'CTRL + ;'. This will automatically populate the current date according to your regional settings. The file is configured to enter dates in the format: DD/MM/YY. If you receive a notification saying that the format is incorrect, it means your system is using the format MM/DD/YY, and you should enter the date accordingly. ENTRY TIME + Please enter the time in 24-hour format in the following format: HH:MM. For example, if the time is 7:40 pm, enter 19:40. Do not include any additional spaces or characters.EXIT DATE* *Please fill in this column after exiting the trade * To enter today's date, use the key combination 'CTRL + ;'. This will automatically populate the current date according to your regional settings. The file is configured to enter dates in the format: DD/MM/YY. If you receive a notification saying that the format is incorrect, it means your system is using the format MM/DD/YY, and you should enter the date accordingly. EXIT TIME* *Please fill in this column after exiting the trade * Please enter the time in 24-hour format in the following format: HH:MM. For example, if the time is 7:40 pm, enter 19:40. Do not include any additional spaces or characters. STATUS + The default status is set automatically to "PENDING". You should change the status to "RUNNING" after the order is activated. Update the status to "CLOSED" after exiting the trade. Update the status with "LOW-RISK" or "RISK-FREE" depending on the situation. Alternatively, you can also type in the status manually if it matches one of the available statuses. The Journal makes calculations after a status is changed, so don't forget to update the status accordingly RISK $ * Please enter the amount of money you risked on this trade, as a positive number. For example, if you risked $100 on this trade, enter 100. Do not include any additional spaces or characters. FEES + Represents any fees or commissions that you paid to execute this trade. For example, if you paid $30 in fees, enter 30. Do not use negative numbers!STOP LOSS * Please enter the stop-loss in ticks/pips as a positive number. For example, if the pip size is 0.0001 for the currency pair you are trading, and you want to set a stop-loss at 10 pips below your entry, enter 10. TAKE PROFIT* *Please fill in this column after exiting the trade + Enter the number of ticks/pips gained or lost from the closed trade as a positive or negative number. If you gained 20 pips please enter 20. If you lost 20 pips please enter -20. Do not include any additional spaces or characters. GAIN / Loss* *Please fill in this column after exiting the trade + Please enter the outcome of this trade in US dollars. Enter a positive number for profits, and a negative number for losses * For example, if you gained $800, enter 800. If you lost $400, enter -400. Do not include any additional spaces or characters. STRATEGY * Please select the strategy that you used for this trade from the drop-down list. This list contains the strategies that you previously entered in the 'SETTINGS' sheet. To access the drop- down list, click on the arrow button next to the cell. TIMEFRAME + Select the timeframe that you used to enter the trade from the drop-down list. This list contains the timeframes that you previously entered in the 'SETTINGS' sheet. To access the drop- down list, click on the arrow button next to the cell. SESSION + Select the session in which the trade developed from the drop- down list. The drop-down list contains the sessions that you previously entered in the sheet settings. To access the drop- down list, click on the arrow button next to the cell.CUSTOM * Select one of the criteria from the drop-down list. Custom criteria can be added/removed from sheet ‘Settings’. Later, you can easily filter trades based on these criteria and gain insights into your trading patterns. NOTES + Use this column to add short and visible notes for the trade (e.g., 'news'). + For longer notes please use the right-click and select "Insert Comment". Now you can write many character notes without affecting the spreadsheet format. "Keeping a detailed journal of your trades is crucial for improving your trading performance. By recording every detail of your trades, you can gather valuable information that you can use later to improve your performance." + Valentin D. from COT-Reports.com That's all. Please go to next page to learn how to add images, when recording a trade, for later analysis.This is optional and can be used for later analysis. Here's what you need to do: Navigate to the right side of the journal and find columns "Image 1", "Image 2", "Image 3", "Image 4", and "Image 5". Then, right-click on the "go to link" cell and then click to ‘Link’ as shown in the example. »> gotoling | search themenus gotolink ” gotolink 2” gotolink yc, ” gotolink " gotolink 3” gotolink copy ” gotolink ” gotolink GR _ Paste options: & D smart joo Dau Right click in cell > Click link >wea ole a 5 Pertoos Progam Fler cea ae roam let (86) reer | Us a [2 Windows Semel acer | sacra (hipiiannadngren connate, a fi) > Insert address > Click Ok You can use your own custom links to your image files. It can be links to pictures saved on local drive, cloud drive or any other sources. Later on you can access the image just by one click. DEPOSITS & WITHDRAWALS DEPOSITS & WITHDRAWALS * Use this field to record deposits and withdrawals to / from your trading account. Enter the amount without symbols or punctuation. For example, if you deposited $1000, enter 1000. If you withdrew $500, enter -500. "Use this column to track your deposits and withdrawals. Every time you deposit or withdraw funds, record the amount and date in this column. The journal will automatically calculate your balance and update all relevant fields. If you make a deposit, the journal will mark the date in green. If you make a withdrawal, the journal will mark the date in red. This information can be useful for tracking your overall trading performance and managing your finances." + Valentin D. from COT-Reports.comPLEASE READ MISSING INFORMATION IN TRADING JOURNAL? If you find that certain trades are missing from the trading journal sheet, it is likely because you have applied a filter to display only specific trades at the top of the journal. To identify if a filter is active, please refer to the following example for an easy way to spot it: NO. OF 27/Mar/23 In Excel, when the filter is applied to the 'PAIR' column, you will notice a visual indicator, such as an arrow with a filter icon, which confirms that the filter is active for that column. In contrast, the other columns will display only an arrow, indicating that no filter is applied. If you utilize the ‘click to refresh’ button to view the count of consecutive winning or losing trades, an automatic filter is applied to the ‘Outcome’ column. Therefore, after using the button, you can turn off the filter on the 'Outcome' column by selecting all in order to view the complete data set. That's it! Don't forget, consistency is the key to success! HAPPY TRADINGBUY THE TRADING JOURNAL SPREADSHEET LUNA Te) A Copyright © 2023 | COT-Reports.com All rights reserved, No part of this PDF file may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. ‘A product developed and created from scratch with a passion for trading, by Valentin Dima & Madalina Dima. CONTACT EMAIL Tih contact@cot-reports.com ofeyy REPORTS RISK WARNING & DISCLAIMER Please note that trading involves a significant level of risk and may not be suitable for everyone. Before deciding to trade, you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. The information contained in this trading journal is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those discussed in this journal. You should be aware of the risks involved in trading and should seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts. Past performance is not indicative of future results By using this trading journal, you acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for any investment decisions you make. The author of this journal and any related materials shall not be held liable for any losses, damages, or expenses arising from the use of this journal or any related materials. All rights reserved Not for public distribution