cTrader trading journal: import your history

cTrader shows a lot while you trade. Afterwards it shows a list. Fine for checking one trade. Useless for seeing patterns across fifty. I only started learning from my cTrader trades once they sat in one place with my notes.

Where cTrader keeps your history

At the bottom of the platform is the Trade Watch panel. The History tab there holds your closed deals, one row each. Click a column header to sort by symbol, direction, quantity, commission or result.

A few things are handy before you export:

• The search box above the list filters by what you type, a symbol for example.
• The period fields let you pick a standard range or set your own dates.
• Done orders shows the orders you placed, stop loss and take profit orders included.
• The Info icon on a row, or a double-click, shows the deals and orders behind that trade.

Step by step: save your statement

1. Open Trade Watch and click the History tab.
2. Set the period you want with the date fields above the list.
3. Click Statement. Your statement opens in a new tab.
4. Check the dates on the statement. Make sure they cover what you meant to export.
5. Click Save and keep the file somewhere you'll find it. I name mine after the account and the dates.

The steps are the same idea in cTrader Desktop and cTrader Web. The look can differ a little between Windows, Mac and the browser. If a button isn't where you expect it, it's usually one menu over.

Example: a month on one account

• Account: one live account, history for October.
• Period: custom, 1 October to 31 October.
• Statement opened, dates checked, file saved as ctrader-2026-10.csv.
• Inside: one row per closed deal, with time, symbol, direction, quantity, price, commission and result.
• Result: a month of trades in one file, ready to import into a journal.

What a journal adds to the statement

The statement says what happened. A journal says why. For each trade I write down four things, ideally the same day:

1. The setup. One or two words. "Breakout", "pullback to level". Keep the names the same every time or you can't compare them later.
2. The stop I planned. Not where it ended up. Where it was when I took the trade. That's what turns the result into R.
3. Did I follow the plan? Yes or no. No maybes.
4. One line about the trade. What I saw, what I'd do the same, what I wouldn't.

That's two minutes a trade. After a month you can ask real questions. Which setup pays? Which session costs you? Do the trades where you broke the plan cost more than the ones where you didn't?

R instead of money

A loss of 200 on a 10,000 account means something different than 200 on 100,000. R fixes that. R is the result divided by what you risked on the trade. If you risked 100 and lost 100, that's -1R. If you made 250, that's +2.5R. Now trades of different sizes and accounts sit on one scale.

The catch: R needs the risk. The risk needs the stop you planned. That's why the stop goes into the journal even if the trade never got near it.

How often to export

Weekly is enough. Same day, same time. Friday after the close works for me. Export, import, write the notes while you still remember the trades. A month later the notes are guesses.

Common questions

Tomky, Dojiwave · Updated 14 November 2026