From Beginner to Pro: Trading Journals for Every Level

If you’re a beginner or managing multiple accounts, the right trading journal will turn your random results into a repeatable edge

To do this, you should find a journal that allows for easy logging of both trades and setups/mistakes to review your performance and improve over time.

1. Tradervue: Perfect Overall for Professional Analytics

Tradervue is a professional trading journal built for serious traders who want accurate imports, detailed tagging, and deep performance breakdowns across stocks, options, futures, and forex.

Reports surface what actually drives results — by setup, instrument, and time of day — so you can scale winners and eliminate weak strategies.

Strengths

  • Reliable broker imports and verified data accuracy
  • Advanced tagging, filtering, and equity curve visualization
  • Detailed analytics for win rate, profit factor, and session performance

Weaknesses

  • Interface favors data over design polish
  • Advanced analytics require a paid plan
  • Updates arrive less frequently than newer journals

Best for: Traders who prioritize precision, reliability, and long-term performance review.

2. RizeTrade: Perfect Trading Journal for Day Traders

RizeTrade acts as a day trading journal, helping you examine your intraday performance as you score your day by pre-market, open, midday, and close, and figure out when you trade best.

The interface is clean, fast, and built for momentum, perfect for traders who want results after every one of these sessions.

Strengths

  • Session-based tracking is designed for intraday review
  • Fast journaling workflow and smart tagging
  • Clear visuals that show time-of-day profitability

Weaknesses

  • Smaller integration list than legacy platforms
  • Advanced analytics and mobile features are still expanding

Best for: Active day traders who want structured, real-time feedback to refine execution and discipline.

3. Trademetria: Perfect for Beginners on a Budget

Trademetria allows you to start a journal early and for free. 

The plan contains trade imports, simple tagging, and dashboards that are easy to navigate.

Its focus on simplicity and the ability to build trading habits make it ideal for new traders to track and analyze performance.

Strengths

  • Free plan for new traders
  • Clean, beginner-friendly interface
  • Supports multiple accounts and asset classes

Weaknesses

  • Limited customization and advanced metrics
  • Lacks depth for professional analytics

Best for: Beginners who want a simple, no-cost way to start tracking trades and developing discipline.

4. Edgewonk: Perfect for Psychology and Process Discipline

Edgewonk combines trading analytics with mindset tracking, linking every trade to the discipline, mindset, and decision-making of the trader in the moment and how each contributed to their performance.

You can grade your trades, track your emotional state, and analyze the impact of your behavior within a structured framework.

Strengths

  • Tracks mindset, discipline, and confidence for each trade
  • Encourages reflective review to identify behavioral leaks
  • One-time payment model (no recurring fees)

Weaknesses

  • The desktop interface feels dated
  • Manual data entry required
  • No mobile version

Best for: Traders working on discipline, consistency, and emotional control.

5. TradesViz: Perfect for Custom Analytics and Power Users

TradesViz is a trading analytics platform that allows users to evaluate their trading performance by accessing hundreds of metrics, customizable dashboards, and AI-assisted queries.

You can separate the results by time, by instrument, by setup, or by anything else that is psychological, so you can build your own reporting system that suits your needs.

Strengths

  • Extremely deep analytics and visualization tools
  • Customizable dashboards and filters
  • Broad broker integration and AI query support

Weaknesses

  • Steeper learning curve for beginners
  • Setup requires time and attention

Best for: Quantitative and analytical traders who thrive on deep, customizable performance analysis.

How to Choose the Right Journal for Your Level

  • Beginners: Start simple with Trademetria. Focus on logging every trade and understanding basic patterns.
  • Intermediate Traders: Add process tracking with Edgewonk or structure your sessions using RizeTrade.
  • Advanced Traders: Upgrade to Tradervue for professional analytics or TradesViz for total customization.

The key isn’t which journal you pick — it’s that you use it consistently.

Final Thoughts

The important thing is to be consistent in relation to whatever tool you decide to use.

Review your trades weekly. 

Label your setups. 

Tag your mistakes mercilessly. Let the data make the decisions. 

That’s how traders go from novice to professional: by measuring what matters.