A trading journal for prop firm traders

Challenge and funded accounts are MT5 accounts with rules. Here is how to journal each one separately, privately, and what to track about the limits.

Prop firm accounts are just MT5 accounts, with rules

Many prop firm challenge and funded accounts run on MetaTrader 5. If you can open yours in the desktop terminal on your Windows PC, AI Trading Journal can journal it. Each account gets its own journal, so your challenge, your funded account and your personal account stay separate.

Check your firm's rules first

Firms differ on what software they allow around an account. The app only reads your closed trades from your own terminal and never places, changes or closes a trade, but you should still read your firm's terms before you use any third-party tool. We do not know any firm's current rules and make no claim about them.

What to write down in the Notes field

The firm's daily loss limit and maximum loss, and how much room is left.
The profit target and the minimum number of trading days, if any.
Whether you followed your plan on this trade, yes or no.
How close you were to a limit when you took the trade.

What to review each week

How close your worst day came to the daily limit.
Whether you size up after a loss; see how a journal helps with revenge trading.
Your average win and average loss, and your expectancy: the expectancy calculator does it from three numbers.
Your biggest drawdown so far; see the drawdown recovery calculator.

A short daily check you can write in Notes

Question	Example answer
Daily loss so far versus my firm's limit	About a third used
Plan followed on every trade today?	Yes, one exception noted
Biggest size taken today	Within my normal size
One change for tomorrow	No new trades after two losses

The answers are examples. Use the limits your own firm sets, and check them in your firm's own dashboard, since the app does not know them.

If a limit is breached

Review the account's trades before starting a new one. A journal that recorded every position, size and time makes it much easier to see what led to the breach: a sequence of losses, an oversized trade, or a rule you stopped following. Write the finding down as a rule for the next account.

More for prop traders: MT5 prop firms and your journal, the prop firm drawdown calculator, the challenge tracker and what to look for in a prop firm journal.

Why privacy matters more with a funded account

Your account login is the key to an account that may carry real money or an evaluation fee. A journal that reads your own terminal needs no login to be typed into any website. Your trades stay on your own PC and do not pass through our servers. Still protect your accounts with strong, unique passwords.

Question	Cloud journal	AI Trading Journal
Where do your trades live?	On the vendor's servers	On your own PC; they do not pass through our servers
Does it need your broker login?	Many connect with account login and investor password, or an Expert Advisor that sends data out	No. It reads your own logged-in MT5 terminal on your PC
What if you stop paying?	Access and history can end with the subscription	Your Notion journal stays yours
Can it place trades?	Read-only access is typical, but you are trusting the vendor	It is read-only by design; it never places, changes or closes a trade

Limits

MT5 desktop on Windows only; web-only and mobile-only accounts cannot be read.
Trades sync every 5 minutes.
The app does not know your firm's rules or calculate limits for you.
One computer at a time per license.

More: MT5 brokers and accounts, the forex journal guide and how we compare with other journals.

This page is general information. It is not trading or investment advice.

Setting up a journal for a new challenge, in order

Read the rules page and copy the limits. Daily loss, maximum loss, profit target, minimum days and anything about software, with the date you copied them.
Log in to the MT5 terminal with the details your firm gave you, as in the login guide.
Add the account to the journal so that it has its own database from the first trade.
Write the starting balance and the limits in the Notes of the account's first page.
Set your own rules inside the firm's rules. A trade cap and a risk per trade that keep you well away from the daily limit.
Fix your review times. A short check before the first trade and after the last one, and a longer review once a week.

Example Notes entries (hypothetical)

Situation	Note you might write
Before the first trade	Start 100,000. Daily buffer about 4,000, max buffer about 9,000. Cap 3 trades, 0.5% risk each
After a loss	Down 650. Buffer now about 3,350. Next trade at half size or none
A rule break	Took a fourth trade after the cap, chasing a move. Lost 300. Write: no entries once the cap is hit
End of day	Net +420, three trades, plan followed on all three. Closest buffer 3,700

What the journal can and cannot tell you

It can	It cannot
Show every trade, size and time for the account	Tell you whether you have breached a firm's rule
Show your drawdown from closed trades	Include floating losses or reproduce the firm's own definition
Show how your behaviour changes near a limit	Replace your firm's dashboard
Keep a record after a challenge ends	Guarantee a pass or any result

The firm's dashboard is the authority for limits. The journal is the record of how you traded, which is what you need to improve. See the prop firm drawdown calculator for the numbers and the challenge tracker for a daily table.

Questions worth asking your firm about software

Is third-party software that only reads my account's history allowed?
Are there any restrictions on tools that connect to the terminal?
Does reading history from the terminal count as sharing my account in any way?
Where should I look for the current rules if the website and the help centre differ?

Get the answer from the firm itself, in writing if you can. A tool being read-only is not the same as a firm allowing it, and the firm's terms decide.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use AI Trading Journal on a prop firm account?

If the account is an MT5 account you can open in the desktop terminal, the app can journal it. Check your firm's rules about third-party software first.

Does it need my prop firm login?

No. It reads the account already logged in to your MT5 terminal.

Can I keep a challenge and a funded account separate?

Yes. Each MT5 account gets its own journal.

Related guides

Journal your challenge account free for 7 days

Free for 7 days, no card required. After that, a one-time $19.99 purchase. No subscription. Also on the Microsoft Store.

One-time $19.99, no monthly fee · your MT5 login never leaves your PC · trades go into your own journal on your PC, not through our servers.

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