What to Track in a Crypto Trading Journal (Essential Fields)

If you are setting up a sheet or judging journal software, start with fields, not features. The right columns make a weekly review honest. The wrong ones become busywork you quit by Thursday.

Quick answer

On every trade: time and timezone, exchange and account, pair, side, size, entry and exit, fees, fee adjusted result, a one line thesis, a setup tag, and a mistake tag.

On perps, add leverage, margin mode, funding for the hold, liquidation distance, and hold time.

Everything else waits until that row is automatic.

Why crypto needs more than a stock row

Symbol, side, size, entry, exit, and commission do not describe a crypto book.

• Venue matters. The same pair on two exchanges is a different fee and liquidity regime.
• Funding is cash flow. Ignoring it invents an edge.
• Leverage and margin mode change ruin risk without changing the chart.
• Sessions are assigned. A 24 hour market needs an Asia, London, New York, or weekend tag.
• Transfers look like trades in sloppy exports. You need a way to keep them out of expectancy.

Keep the schema small. Tier the columns so you do not drown in week one.

The field table

Must have columns earn their width every week. Perps columns turn on when you use leverage. Later columns wait until the first tier is automatic.

Store one timezone, or store UTC and display local. Mixed zones break session results. Prefer fee adjusted realized result as the main column. A raw gross column is optional, and only if you reconcile it.

Funding without double counting

Pick one method for at least a month.

• On the trade: sum funding while the position was open and store it on the closed row. Clean expectancy. Awkward if the export is messy.
• As its own rows: each funding event tagged funding. Precise, but noisy. Exclude those rows from trade count.
• Weekly only: net funding by coin and venue. Fast, and weak for setup stats.

If the exchange result already includes funding, do not subtract it again. Read the venue definition once and write it on a notes tab.

A sheet that stays fillable

One row is one closed trade, or one open trade with status open. A practical header:

trade id, opened, closed, timezone, exchange, account, pair, product, side, size, size unit, entry, exit, fees, funding, leverage, margin mode, liq distance, realized result, status, session, setup, mistake, market, thesis, notes link

Put closed lists on a lists tab and use dropdowns.

• Setup: breakout, mean reversion, range scalp, news fade, funding arb, other.
• Mistake: none, FOMO, revenge, overleverage, moved stop, no plan, size too big, chased late.
• Session: Asia, London, New York, weekend.
• Market: trend, chop, high funding, event volatility, low liquidity.

Keep deposits and withdrawals on a transfers tab so they never sit in the result column. Spot only books can delete the perps columns. Do not delete mistake.

Psychology columns fail when they become essays. One line beats three paragraphs you will not write after a loss.

What software should take over

Sheets teach you which fields matter. Software should then:

• Ingest fills by CSV or read only API, only where you trust the key scope.
• Map fees and, for perps, funding, without double counting.
• Keep your tags and notes.
• Separate transfers from trades.
• Filter fast by setup, session, leverage, and venue.

You still write the thesis, the mistake, and the one change for the week. No serious journal automates judgment.

Hyerlo is a live crypto trading journal built around that loop. Ingest with read only API sync for Phemex, Bybit, and Binance Futures, CSV for Hyperliquid, Bybit, Binance USDM, and a generic template, or manual entry. Review with tags and notes, a trades dock and charts, a calendar, and dashboard widgets for results, drawdown, hit rate, fees split between trading and funding, streaks, and overtrading. Try it at hyerlo.com. Docs: hyerlo.com/docs. Hyerlo does not include AI insights. It does not auto fill judgment fields. This sheet stands alone if you want it to.

When you look at TradeStream, CoinMarketMan, TradesViz, TraderSync, TradeZella, or Hyerlo, test which of the must have and perps columns are automatic. Read the docs before you connect a key.

Skip these at first

If a field did not change a decision in the last four reviews, demote it.

• Every order modification, unless you study execution.
• Every indicator value at entry. Use a setup tag.
• Multi paragraph emotion diaries.
• Influencer names.
• Three result columns you do not reconcile.
• Full macro headlines. Link out.

Frequently asked questions

What should every entry include?

Time and timezone, exchange and account, pair, side, size, entry and exit, fees, a fee aware result, a one line thesis, and setup plus mistake tags. Perps also need leverage, margin mode, funding, and liquidation proximity.

Do leverage and margin mode need separate fields?

Yes if you trade perps. The same notional at low isolated leverage and at high cross leverage is a different risk process. A winner that broke your cap still gets a mistake tag.

Should transfers be trades?

No. Log them on a transfers sheet, or as rows tagged transfer, and exclude them from trade count and expectancy. Only fees and funding on positions belong in trade results.

Not financial advice. Example structure is illustrative. Check other products on their own sites before you rely on them.