Crypto runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No opening bell, no closing time, no weekend. For some traders that is freedom; for many others it is a recipe for overtrading and sleep deprivation. A crypto trading journal therefore needs to track different things than a journal for forex or indices.
What is different about crypto?
- No sessions and no close: there is always an opportunity, and so always temptation to enter
- High volatility: large moves in a short time, also outside office hours
- Costs beyond the spread: trading fees and, on derivatives, funding rates count toward your result
- Few prop firms with crypto: the offering differs per firm; always check whether and how crypto is offered
- Strongly sentiment-driven: news and social media trigger FOMO and panic
Without a natural limit to the trading day you have to create one yourself. Traders without fixed trading hours often trade too much, too late and too tired. Your journal shows whether your best trades fall within your fixed hours and your worst after midnight.
What should you track extra for crypto?
- Time of the trade: enforcing fixed trading hours starts with seeing when you perform
- All costs: trading fees and any funding, so your net result is correct
- Leverage and actual risk: note your risk as a percentage of your account, not just position size
- Trigger: your own plan, or a message, tweet or sudden price move?
- Sleep and energy: a simple 1 to 5 score reveals patterns you would otherwise miss
Rules you have to set yourself
- Fixed trading hours, even though the market is always open
- A maximum number of trades per day
- A hard daily loss limit you enforce even without a broker or firm doing it
- A ban on entering right after a big move without having confirmed your setup
Many of these traps come from FOMO and overtrading; you only see both once you track them.
Is a crypto journal different from a forex journal?
The basics stay the same: entry, exit, stop, R:R, setup and reason for entry. The difference lies in the extra fields (time, costs, energy) and in the stricter self-discipline you need because the market never stops you. If you already keep a forex journal you don't have to replace the system, just extend it.
Frequently Asked Questions
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