Last Updated: 2026-10-26
Correction: this address previously presented a March 2026 personal trading diary. The source material did not include the fills, account export or dated market evidence needed to substantiate it, and its trade arithmetic did not reconcile. The original text is preserved in the editorial archive; it is not retained as a verified performance record. The example below is entirely synthetic.
A useful journal lets you trace a claimed result back to quantities, prices and cash movements. A detailed story about a market does not substitute for that record. Start with what the account actually held and paid before explaining why a trade worked.
Reconcile one partial exit
Assume a spot purchase with $50,000 of trade notional before fees, an entry price of $95,400 and no borrowing. The quantity is $50,000 ÷ $95,400, or approximately 0.524109 BTC. Half is sold at $98,800 and half at $97,580.
Scroll sideways to see every column. Keyboard: focus the table region and use the arrow keys.
| Synthetic fill | Quantity | Price | Cash before fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy | 0.524109 BTC, rounded here | $95,400 | −$50,000.00 |
| Sell half | 0.262055 BTC, rounded here | $98,800 | +$25,890.99 |
| Sell remainder | 0.262055 BTC, rounded here | $97,580 | +$25,571.28 |
Using the unrounded quantity, the gross price gain is $1,462.26. The two displayed sale proceeds sum one cent differently because each row is rounded separately. Keep full precision in the calculation and document the rounding convention; the journal should not invent an unexplained adjustment.
Now assume an illustrative 0.10% fee on each fill. The entry fee is $50 and total exit fees are approximately $51.46. Net trade P&L is $1,360.80. Those are assumed rates, not a named venue's current fees. The purchase requires $50,050 of cash under this convention; a $50,000 cash budget including fees would buy less BTC.
Trade profit is not automatically account return
Suppose an account starts at $10,000, receives a $2,000 deposit and ends at $12,300. With no withdrawals, its change after external cash flows is $300, not $2,300. That alone does not determine a time-adjusted return: the timing of the deposit matters. Reconcile cash flows before choosing a return measure and state which measure you used.
Keep realized P&L separate from the valuation of open positions. Record fee assets, conversions and the valuation timestamp. For derivatives, include actual funding and borrowing entries with their recorded signs rather than assuming every payment favors the same side. Do not treat a transfer between your own accounts as a new investment gain.
Minimum fields for a reproducible record
Scroll sideways to see every column. Keyboard: focus the table region and use the arrow keys.
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Account and product | Separates spot, derivatives and different collateral pools |
| Timestamp and timezone | Aligns fills, funding and available information |
| Order and fill identifiers | Detects duplicates and links partial fills |
| Quantity, side and fill price | Reconstructs cash and remaining exposure |
| Fees and their asset | Avoids subtracting a cash-equivalent estimate twice |
| Deposits and withdrawals | Separates external cash from investment result |
| Open positions and valuation source | Makes unrealized P&L and stale marks visible |
| Missing records | Prevents an incomplete export from looking complete |
Separate observation, hypothesis and hindsight
An observation can be “the position was sold at this timestamp for this amount.” A hypothesis might be “the release changed demand.” Establishing that cause needs more than a price move after the release. Save the source and what was knowable at the decision time; do not revise the original thesis to fit the outcome.
Compare with a benchmark only when the start and end times, external cash flows, fees and valuation basis are matched. An active strategy can lag a passive alternative even when its trade ledger shows a profit. Keep losing and skipped trades visible rather than constructing a narrative from selected winners.
If the export is incomplete, report the reconciled subset and the missing coverage. A blank field should stay unknown, not become a plausible price, date or personal anecdote. This worksheet is educational and does not establish profitability or recommend trades. The site may earn commissions on marked affiliate links elsewhere; no signup recommendation is included here.