Trade Fields Explained
Understand every field when logging a trade: which create the trade, which fill in automatically, and which are optional
Each trade in TradeLog can hold a rich set of data fields. With inline entry, a few fields are needed to turn a draft into a live trade, several are filled in for you, and the rest are optional but power your analytics. Understanding what each one does helps you get the most from your journal.
Fields That Create the Trade
A draft row becomes a live trade only once these four fields are set. Until then it stays an editable draft:
- Symbol -- the instrument or market (e.g., ES, EURUSD, BTCUSDT).
- Direction -- Long or Short.
- Entry Price -- the price you entered at.
- Quantity -- your position size (contracts, lots, shares, or units).
Filled In Automatically
TradeLog sets these for you when you start a draft -- you can still change them:
- Account -- taken from your current account filter; switch it with the account cell. It determines the currency and risk settings.
- Entry Date and Time -- set to now; editable in the date cell.
- Session -- auto-detected from the entry time using your session windows (defaults for forex/futures: Sydney, Tokyo, London, New York; "Outside" when no session matches).
- Result -- derived automatically (Win, Loss, or Break Even) once the trade closes, using your breakeven tolerance.
Optional Fields
These are not required, but each one deepens your analytics:
- Exit Price -- closes the trade and triggers automatic Net PnL and result.
- Stop Loss -- enter as a price level. Powers the Risk column, risk badges, and R-multiple.
- Take Profit -- enter as a price level. Sets your planned reward-to-risk ratio.
- Strategy -- links the trade to a saved strategy for strategy-level analytics.
- Timeframe -- the chart timeframe used for this trade (e.g., 5m, 15m, 1H).
- Setup Grade -- the A+/A/B+/B/C grade from your strategy's setup grading rules.
- Tags -- custom labels for categorizing and filtering trades (e.g., "news-driven", "A+ setup").
- Images -- screenshots of your chart setup, entry, and exit.
- Notes -- free-text rationale, emotions, and post-trade reflections.
- Fees and Swap -- trading costs, subtracted from gross PnL to give Net PnL.
Auto-Calculated Fields
Several values are computed automatically from what you enter -- you never type them in:
- Net PnL -- contract-aware profit or loss from entry, exit, quantity, and the symbol's point value, minus fees and swap.
- R-Multiple -- how many risk units (R) you gained or lost, based on your stop loss distance and risk settings.
- Risk Badges -- descriptive labels based on where your stop sits relative to entry: Risk Free, Locking Profits, Covering Fees, Increased, and Tightening on running trades (with the net-of-fees amount), and the close reason (Stop-Loss Hit, Take-Profit Hit, Closed Manually, No Stop-Loss) on closed trades.
- Auto-Tags -- system tags such as TP-Hit, SL-Hit, Cut-Loss, Set-and-Forget, Risk-Free, Early-Exit, and Runner, based on how you entered and exited.
- Trade Duration -- calculated from the entry and exit timestamps.
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