A trading journal in Google Sheets: template, formulas and MT5 import

Free, shareable and familiar. How to set up a Google Sheets journal in ten minutes, which formulas to use and how to stop retyping every MetaTrader 5 trade.

What you need from a Google Sheets journal

A trading journal in Google Sheets is popular for good reasons. It is free, it opens on any device with a browser, it can be shared with a coach or a friend, and the formulas are the same ones you would use in Excel. The risk is that a sheet is only as good as the habit of filling it, and that most free templates found by searching are either copies of each other or ask you to retype every trade by hand.

This guide shows how to set up a journal in Google Sheets in about ten minutes, which formulas to use, what to avoid and how to get your MetaTrader 5 trades in without typing them. It uses the free template on this site, so you are not starting from a blank page.

Set it up in ten minutes

  1. Download the free MT5 trading journal template. It is an Excel file with a Trades sheet, a Dashboard, a Weekly review and a start-here sheet, and the formulas are already in place.
  2. Open drive.google.com and press New, File upload, then choose the file. Right-click it in Drive and choose Open with, Google Sheets. Sheets converts the file and keeps your formulas.
  3. Press File, Save as Google Sheets if it still shows an Excel badge, so you have a native sheet, and give it a clear name.
  4. Open the Trades sheet and delete the three example rows. Type your first real trade into the first empty row.
  5. Check the Dashboard. It should update as soon as the first row has a result.

If you prefer a plain table without the dashboard, the CSV version of the forex trading journal template imports with File, Import, Upload and gives you the columns only.

The columns that matter

ColumnWhy it is there
Date openedTo sort, filter and group by day, week and month
Symbol and directionTo see which instruments and which side you trade best
Lots, entry, exitThe raw facts of the trade, copied from MetaTrader 5
Stop loss and take profitTo judge the plan against the result
Profit / lossThe net result in money, including costs
Risk amount and R multipleTo compare trades of different size. Try the R multiple calculator
Followed plan? and setupTo separate good decisions from lucky outcomes
NotesTwo lines on why you took it and what you would change

Formulas that work in Google Sheets

Assume your results are in column I of a Trades sheet, from row 2 down. These formulas work in both Google Sheets and Excel:

MetricFormula
Number of trades=COUNT(I2:I)
Net result=SUM(I2:I)
Win rate=COUNTIF(I2:I,">0")/COUNT(I2:I)
Average win=AVERAGEIF(I2:I,">0")
Average loss=AVERAGEIF(I2:I,"<0")
Profit factor=SUMIF(I2:I,">0")/ABS(SUMIF(I2:I,"<0"))
Expectancy per trade=AVERAGE(I2:I)
Running balance (start 5000)=5000+SUM($I$2:I2) in a helper column, filled down

Two Google Sheets features are worth knowing. Open ranges such as I2:I let a formula pick up rows as you add them, so you never edit the range. And FILTER and QUERY let you pull out every trade with a tag or a setup without copying anything, for example =FILTER(A2:N,M2:M="London breakout") to list only that setup. For weekly and monthly totals, a pivot table from Insert, Pivot table with the date as rows and the result as values does the work in seconds.

Getting your MetaTrader 5 trades in without typing

Typing every trade is where most spreadsheet journals die. There are two ways around it.

One honest note: the report uses charts and merged cells, and Google Sheets converts them with some differences. The data and the formulas carry over, but the charts may look different, so treat Sheets as a place to analyse and share rather than a pixel-perfect copy.

Mistakes to avoid

Where a spreadsheet stops being enough

A spreadsheet is a fine journal for a beginner and for anyone who enjoys control. It starts to hurt when you take many trades a day, when you trade several accounts, or when you stop updating it because typing is a chore. At that point an automatic journal removes the typing and leaves you the review. The spreadsheet versus app comparison sets the two side by side, and the free MT5 journal options page lists the free routes honestly.

If you keep notes in Notion instead, the free Notion template and the Notion journaling guide cover that route.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use an Excel trading journal in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload the .xlsx file to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets. The data and formulas carry over, though charts and merged cells may look different.
Is there a free trading journal template for Google Sheets?
Yes. The free MT5 trading journal template on this site opens in Google Sheets with its formulas, and the CSV forex template imports with File, Import.
How do I calculate profit factor in Google Sheets?
Use =SUMIF(range,">0")/ABS(SUMIF(range,"<0")), where range is your column of trade results. A value above 1 means the winners outweigh the losers.
How do I stop typing trades into a spreadsheet?
Paste an export from the MetaTrader 5 History tab, or use an app that reads your MT5 history and exports an Excel workbook you can open in Google Sheets.
Is a Google Sheets journal private?
It is private until you share it. Avoid links open to anyone, and share with named people or a copy of the figures you want reviewed.

Related guides

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