A crypto trade log is a record of every trade you make: what you bought, why, how much you risked and how it turned out. What to record is covered in how to journal crypto trades. This post goes a step further: it shows a filled-in example and works through what you can read from it.
The example log
The trader in the example has 10,000 USDT and risks 1% on each trade, which is 100 USDT. They took five USDT-margined perpetual trades in one week. Net PnL includes fees and funding; R is the net PnL divided by the planned risk.
| # | Pair | Side | Setup | Planned risk | Net PnL | R | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BTCUSDT | Long | Breakout | 100 USDT | +212 USDT | +2.12 | Followed the plan |
| 2 | ETHUSDT | Short | Resistance rejection | 100 USDT | −98 USDT | −0.98 | Stopped out |
| 3 | SOLUSDT | Long | Pullback | 100 USDT | −187 USDT | −1.87 | Moved the stop |
| 4 | BTCUSDT | Long | Breakout | 100 USDT | +146 USDT | +1.46 | Followed the plan |
| 5 | ETHUSDT | Long | Breakout | 100 USDT | −104 USDT | −1.04 | Stopped out |
The numbers are made up for the example, not taken from a real account. The shape of the table is what you would see in a real log: a setup, a planned risk and a result on every row.
The week in totals
| Measure | How it is worked out | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Net PnL | 212 − 98 − 187 + 146 − 104 | −31 USDT |
| Win rate | 2 winners ÷ 5 trades | 40% |
| Profit factor | 358 ÷ 389 | 0.92 |
| Total R | 2.12 − 0.98 − 1.87 + 1.46 − 1.04 | −0.31R |
Profit factor is the sum of winning trades divided by the sum of losing ones; below 1 means you lost more than you made. How to read it is in the profit factor post.
What the log tells you
Someone who only looks at the balance at the end of the week says "I lost 31 USDT, bad week" and moves on. The log says more.
One trade made the loss
Trade 3 had a planned risk of 100 USDT but lost 187, because the stop was moved lower as the price came near it. With the stop left in place, that trade would have lost about 100 USDT. The week would then have ended at +56 USDT with a profit factor of 1.19. The market did not turn the week into a loss; one decision did.
The breakout trades made money
The three breakout trades add up to +254 USDT. The other two setups both lost. Five trades prove nothing, but if you read a few weeks of the log the same way, you can see which setup actually makes you money.
The win rate is misleading
A 40% win rate looks bad. But the winners averaged 1.79R and the losers 1.3R, and without the moved stop the losers would have averaged just over 1R. You can make money at 40%, as long as losses stay the size you planned.
How to keep this table
You can keep this log in a spreadsheet; for the columns and formulas, see the crypto trading journal spreadsheet post. The hard part is the net PnL column. You have to find the fees and funding in the exchange's separate lists and assign them to each trade by hand, and when that step gets skipped, the R values come out wrong too.
Connect your exchange to a free Viktury journal and the PnL side of the table fills itself in.
What Viktury does with it
Viktury pulls your trades from your exchange and works out each one's PnL with the fees actually paid, and with funding on exchanges that charge it. You add the setup, the planned stop and the risk; Viktury shows the result in R and works out your win rate and profit factor for you. The supported exchanges are listed on the exchanges page.
Open a free Viktury account and import your first trades.