What is in the trading journal template?
The template uses eleven columns that cover the trade itself plus the behavioral context Kyra tracks. The fields also line up with Kyra's CSV import format, so a spreadsheet can become an on-ramp rather than a dead end.
| Column | Required? | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
Date | Required | YYYY-MM-DD | 2026-05-15 |
Ticker | Required | Symbol | AAPL |
Direction | Required | Long / Short | Long |
Entry Price | Optional | Number | 187.45 |
Exit Price | Optional | Number | 192.30 |
Position Size | Optional | Shares / contracts | 100 |
P&L | Required | Dollar amount | 485.00 |
Emotion | Required | Category | Calm |
Setup | Required | Tag | Breakout |
Execution Rating | Required | Category | Disciplined |
Reflection | Optional | Free text | Followed the plan |
Why each column exists
A useful trading journal field should earn its place. Each column below has a specific job: preserve a fact, capture a decision or context, and make a later review question answerable. If you cannot name the review question a field enables, it is probably clutter.
| Field | Why it exists | What it captures | Review question it enables |
|---|---|---|---|
Date | Anchors the trade in time. | The trading day for the result and decision record. | Do outcomes or behaviors change by day, streak, or market period? |
Ticker | Identifies the instrument being reviewed. | The symbol or market you chose to trade. | Which instruments repeatedly help or hurt results? |
Direction | Separates long and short decisions. | The directional thesis you acted on. | Does performance differ between long and short trades? |
Entry Price | Preserves where execution began. | The price at which risk was actually taken. | Are entries consistently late, chased, or far from the planned level? |
Exit Price | Preserves where execution ended. | The price at which the position was closed. | Are winners cut early or losers allowed to travel too far? |
Position Size | Connects price movement to risk taken. | The number of shares or contracts chosen. | Does oversizing change discipline, variance, or realized P&L? |
P&L | Provides the outcome variable for review. | The realized dollar result. | Which setups, emotions, and execution states correlate with better or worse outcomes? |
Emotion | Captures state before hindsight rewrites it. | The emotional context around the decision. | Which emotional states are associated with weaker execution or results? |
Setup | Names the hypothesis behind the trade. | The repeatable pattern or play you believed you were taking. | Which setups have enough evidence to keep, reduce, or stop trading? |
Execution Rating | Separates process quality from outcome. | Whether execution was disciplined, mixed, or impulsive. | Do disciplined trades outperform impulsive ones even when individual outcomes vary? |
Reflection | Preserves context that does not fit a structured tag. | The exception, lesson, or detail you want to remember. | What recurring notes should become a rule, checklist item, or structured field later? |
This is the same two-layer model described in What to include in a trading journal: the trade record says what happened; the decision record says what you controlled. The CSV stays deliberately small so it remains practical to fill in consistently.
How to use it in Excel or Google Sheets
- Download the CSV. Excel, Google Sheets, and Numbers can open it directly.
- Delete the example row. Keep the header names intact if you may import the file into Kyra later.
- Log every trade. Consistent coverage matters more than perfect prose in the reflection column.
- Record context the same day. Emotion and execution labels are most useful when captured close to the decision.
- Save or export as CSV for Kyra. If your spreadsheet app uses its own workbook format, export a CSV when you want to import into the app.
Emotion, setup, and execution fields
The template deliberately keeps behavioral categories small so the same dimension is captured consistently from trade to trade.
Emotion states: Calm, Focused, Confident, Anxious, FOMO, Hyped, Frustrated, Bored.
Default setup tags: Breakout, Dip Buy, Earnings Play, Gap Fill, Momentum, Reversal, Scalp. Kyra also accepts custom setup tags.
Execution rating: Disciplined, Mixed, or Impulsive.
Why these fields?
Date, direction, and P&L describe the result. Emotion, setup, and execution rating describe the context around the decision. Keeping both in the same row makes it possible to review questions such as whether one setup behaves differently when you are calm versus chasing, or whether execution discipline changes after a loss.
The reflection field stays free text for your own notes. Kyra does not use a language model to interpret that note.
Import the same CSV into Kyra later
The template is designed around Kyra's import fields. If you decide to move beyond the spreadsheet, export or keep the file as CSV and use Kyra's local CSV import. You see a preview before anything saves, and duplicate trades are skipped on re-import.
Prefer to stay in a spreadsheet? That is fine too. The file has no analytics, scripts, account requirement, or vendor lock-in.
Template versus a trading-journal app
A spreadsheet gives you full control over rows, formulas, and custom columns. A dedicated journal reduces logging friction and can automate repeated analysis. Kyra's difference is that pattern detection runs on-device against your own history rather than sending trade details to a server. See Kyra vs a spreadsheet for the trade-offs.
License
Free for personal use. You may modify and share the template. Attribution is appreciated but not required.
Educational tool only. The template records trading information; it does not provide trading signals, recommendations, or financial advice.
