A Paper Trading Journal for Your Demo Account
Log demo trades the way you would log live ones, so the habit and the tags are in place, and compare demo and live results by account when you are ready. Updated 18 October 2026
What is a demo trading journal?
A demo trading journal records trades made on a practice account, with the strategy version being tested, whether you followed your rules and whether you would take the trade with real money. It shows if a plan is consistent enough to trust before you risk capital, and it keeps demo and live results apart.
The free .xlsx template for demo accounts is further down.
Why Keep a Journal on a Demo Account
A demo account has no money at risk, which makes it a low-cost place to build a journaling routine: choosing the fields, keeping setup names consistent and reviewing on a schedule. Many traders also use demo trading to learn a platform or test a plan before funding an account. A paper trading journal records those trades the same way a live journal would, so the habit and the tags carry over.
Setting Up a Demo Account in the Journal
- Create the account. In the Accounts manager add an account and set its type to Demo, with the starting balance and currency of your demo.
- Log trades. Add them by hand, by CSV import (MT4/MT5, cTrader, Tradovate or a generic layout), or on Elite through a connection: cTrader demo accounts are supported by the sync, and the MT5 and MT4 Expert Advisor works on demo accounts attached to MetaTrader.
- Start small. A beginner journal can start with a handful of fields, such as pair, direction, entry, exit, setup and a note, and add more later. The how to build a trading journal article lists a minimum set.
Comparing Demo and Live Results
Each account has its own trades, and the dashboard, journal and analytics can be filtered to one account or several. That lets you look at the same measures, such as win rate, expectancy, profit factor and drawdown, for a demo account and a live account, one after the other, and see where they differ. Results on a demo account can differ from live ones for reasons the journal cannot see, such as fills, spreads and how it feels to have money at risk, so the numbers describe what you logged and do not predict live results. The emotion and discipline ratings you log on each trade are one place a difference can show up.
The Free plan has 1 account, so keeping a demo and a live account apart needs Pro (3 accounts) or Elite (unlimited).
Limits to Plan Around
- The Free plan allows up to 30 trades per calendar month, and CSV imports count toward that limit. A demo account that takes many trades a month will reach it sooner; Pro has unlimited trades.
- The Analytics page, Trader DNA and Mistake Cost Analysis are on Pro and Elite. On Free you have the journal, dashboard (last 90 days), sessions and position sizer.
- Risk Desk is on Elite. It works from the loss limits you enter for the account.
What should a demo trading journal track?
A demo account has no money at risk, so the useful questions are about the plan rather than the profit. A demo journal earns its place by tracking:
- The strategy and its version. If you change a rule, start a new version, so each version has its own results.
- Whether you followed the rules. A demo profit made by breaking your own rules says nothing about the plan.
- Would you take it live? A yes or no on each trade. Trades you would not take live should not count as evidence.
- Fill notes. Spread, slippage and execution that looked different from what you would expect with real money.
- Emotion, honestly rated. It will be calmer than live. Record that it was demo, so you know how to read it.
How many trades should you log on a demo account before going live?
There is no number that makes a plan safe. What helps is deciding the test in advance: write down the strategy version, the target number of trades and the rules, then stop and review when you reach it. The free template has a target-trades cell, shows your progress towards it and shows the share of trades that followed the rules. Here is a fictional example:
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Target number of demo trades | 100 |
| Logged so far | 38 |
| Progress | 38% |
| Followed the rules | 31 of 38 (81.6%) |
| Trades you would take live | 27 of 38 |
Only 27 of the 38 trades would be taken live, so those 27 are the ones that count towards the plan. More trades make the statistics steadier, and The Trading Terminal's Edge Score uses the same idea: it treats 5 closed trades as the minimum sample and scores sample size up to 200. Whichever number you choose, a small sample moves a lot with each trade. Demo results describe what you logged. They do not predict live results.
What changes between a demo account and a live one?
- Fills. Spreads, slippage and execution can differ from a live account. Note any difference you see when you move over.
- Emotion. Money at risk changes behaviour. Compare your emotion and discipline ratings on demo and live trades of the same setup.
- Size. Demo balances are often larger or arbitrary. Express results in R so the two accounts stay comparable.
- Discipline. The test of a plan is whether you follow it when a loss costs something.
Keeping the two records separate matters. Each account has its own trades in The Trading Terminal, and you can look at the same measures for each side by side once you have both. The Free plan has 1 account, so a demo and a live account at the same time need Pro (3 accounts) or Elite.
Is there a free demo trading journal?
Yes. The Trading Terminal's Free plan is A$0 with no card and gives you the full journal and dashboard for 1 account with a Demo type: up to 30 trades per calendar month, 90 days of dashboard history, and CSV import and export. Trades on a demo account count towards the 30 a month, as on any account.
The free demo trading journal template has no trade cap. It adds the strategy being tested, the followed-the-rules check and the would-I-take-this-live check to the usual columns, with a target number of trades, your progress towards it and the share of trades that followed the rules on the Summary sheet.
Download the demo trading journal template (.xlsx)
Free, no sign-up, no macros. Row 6 is a fictional GBP/USD demo trade: overwrite it. In Google Sheets use File > Import > Upload. See also the trading journal template and the free trading journal page.