📈 Trading Journal

A professional, cross-platform Java desktop application for analyzing your MetaTrader 5 trading performance. Import your trade history directly and visualize your edge with comprehensive analytics and beautiful UI.

✨ Features

• 📊 Advanced Analytics: Real-time calculation of Win Rate, Profit Factor, Expected Value, Sharpe Ratio, and more
• 💹 Equity Curve: Visualize your account growth with dynamic equity curve and drawdown analysis
• 📅 Period Analysis: Breakdown performance by Weekday, Hour, and Month with detailed charts
• 🏷️ Strategy Tagging: Tag trades by strategy/setup (e.g., "ORB", "Z-Score") to see what works best
• ✏️ Full Edit Capability: Edit every field of your trades including prices, dates, and P/L
• 🔄 MT5 Integration: Seamless import from MetaTrader 5 using our custom TradeExporter script
• 🎯 Smart Import: Assign account and strategy to all trades during import
• ➕ Manual Trade Entry: Add trades manually with a user-friendly dialog for data not in MT5
• 🗑️ Trade Management: Delete individual trades or clear all at once
• ♻️ Rename & Update: Rename accounts or strategies and automatically update all associated trades
• 📂 Multi-Account: Manage multiple trading accounts with starting balances
• 📝 Trade Notes: Add comments and post-trade analysis to your records
• 📓 Notes Tab: Dedicated space for writing and managing trading journal notes, ideas, and observations
• 📅 Calendar Tab: Monthly calendar view with daily P&L, trade counts, color coding, and weekly P&L summary
• 🎨 Professional UI: Custom application icon and modern interface
• 🌍 Cross-Platform: Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

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🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

All Platforms:

• Java 11+ (JDK recommended for building)
• MetaTrader 5 (for exporting trading data)
  • Windows: Download MT5
  • macOS: Download MT5 for Mac
  • Linux: Download MT5 for Linux

Windows:

• Windows 10/11

macOS:

• macOS 10.14+
• Install Java: brew install openjdk@11
• Maven (optional): brew install maven

Linux:

• Ubuntu/Debian or compatible distro
• Install Java: sudo apt install openjdk-11-jdk
• Maven (optional): sudo apt install maven

Installation

Windows

1. Download the latest release
2. Unzip to a folder (e.g., C:\Journal)
3. Double-click TradingJournal.exe to launch

macOS / Linux

1. Clone or download this repository
2. Make scripts executable:

   chmod +x run.sh build.sh

3. Build the application:

   ./build.sh

4. Run the application:

   ./run.sh

   Or directly:

   java -jar target/trading-journal-1.0.0.jar

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📥 Importing Trades

Step 1: Install Exporter Script

1. Navigate to the Trade Exporter/ folder in this repository
2. Copy TradeExporter.ex5
3. Open MetaTrader 5, go to File → Open Data Folder
4. Navigate to MQL5\Scripts\ (Windows) or MQL5/Scripts/ (macOS/Linux)
5. Paste the file there
6. In MT5 Navigator window (Ctrl+N / Cmd+N), right-click Scripts and select Refresh

Step 2: Export Data

1. Drag TradeExporter from Navigator onto any chart
2. Click OK
3. A file named TradingJournal_Export.txt will be created in MQL5/Files
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\MetaQuotes\Terminal\[instance]\MQL5\Files
   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/MetaTrader 5/Bottles/[instance]/drive_c/users/[user]/Application Data/MetaQuotes/Terminal/[instance]/MQL5/Files
   • Linux: ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/MetaTrader 5/MQL5/Files

Step 3: Import into Journal

1. Open Trading Journal
2. Click "Import TXT"
3. Select the exported text file
4. Choose an account for the imported trades
5. Optionally choose a strategy to assign to all trades
6. Your trades will appear instantly!

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🧹 Managing Data

Screenshots

Main application window with trade list and analytics

Managing Trades

Clear All Trades:

• Click File → Clear All Trades in the menu bar

Delete Individual Trades:

1. Double-click any trade in the table
2. Click the "Delete" button
3. Confirm the deletion

Trade Details dialog - Edit everything, then Save or Delete

Edit All Trade Fields:

1. Double-click any trade to open Trade Details
2. Edit any field (prices, dates, P/L, commission, strategy, etc.)
3. Click "Save" to apply changes

💡 Tip: Net Profit is calculated automatically from Profit + Commission + Swap

Managing Strategies

Strategy Manager dialog

Tools → Manage Strategies:

• Add Strategy: Create new strategy labels
• Rename Selected: Rename a strategy (automatically updates all trades)
• Remove Selected: Delete a strategy label

Managing Accounts

Account Manager dialog

Tools → Manage Accounts:

• Add Account: Create account with starting balance
• Rename Selected: Rename an account (automatically updates all trades)
• Remove Selected: Delete an account

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🛠️ Building from Source

Using Maven (Recommended)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/janzofx/Trading_Journal.git
cd Trading_Journal

# Build
mvn clean package

# Run
java -jar target/trading-journal-1.0.0.jar

Platform-Specific Scripts

Windows:

:: Build the application
build_app.bat

:: Run the application
TradingJournal.exe

macOS/Linux:

./build.sh
./run.sh

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� Application Overview

1. Main Dashboard

The main dashboard gives you an instant health check of your trading performance.

• Equity Curve: Visualizes the growth of your account over time. A healthy curve moves from bottom-left to top-right.
• Trade List: Detailed table of every trade. Double-click any row to edit prices, dates, or add notes.
• Quick Stats: Immediate view of your Win Rate, Net Profit, and Profit Factor at the top.

2. Powerful Filters

Drill down into your data to find exactly what is working—and what isn't.

• Strategy: Filter by specific setups (e.g., "Trend Following" vs "Reversal").
• Symbol: See which instruments trigger the most wins.
• Account: Toggle between different trading accounts (e.g., "Live" vs "Prop Firm").
• Time: Filter by specific date ranges.

3. Analytics & Performance

Switch to the Analytics tab for deep-dive statistics.

Performance Overview:

Detailed Breakdown (Hourly & Daily):

Monthly Progress:

• Win/Loss by Day: Identify your best trading days of the week.
• Hourly Performance: Find your most profitable times of day.
• Long vs Short: Analyze directional bias in your trading.

4. Smart Import

Importing trades is easier than ever. The import dialog now lets you bulk-assign properties.

• Account Assignment: Assign all imported trades to a specific account (e.g., "FTMO Challenge").
• Strategy Assignment: Tag an entire batch of trades with a strategy (e.g., "News Trading") instantly.

5. Manual Trade Entry

Forgot to log a trade? Add it manually.

• Complete Data: Enter entry/exit prices, times, and volume.
• Calculations: The system will automatically calculate P/L if you provide prices and size.

6. Notes Tab

Capture your trading thoughts, strategies, and observations in a dedicated notes section.

• Organized Notes: Create and manage multiple notes with titles and timestamps
• Rich Editor: Write detailed trading journal entries, strategy ideas, or market observations
• Auto-Save: Changes are automatically saved when switching between notes
• Persistent Storage: All notes are saved locally and persist across sessions

7. Calendar Tab

Visualize your trading performance on a monthly calendar view.

• Monthly View: See your trading days at a glance with P&L displayed on each day
• Color Coding: Green for profitable days, red for losing days
• Trade Counts: Shows number of trades executed per day
• Weekly Summary: P&L per week displayed in the sidebar
• Navigation: Easily browse through months using Prev/Next buttons

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📊 Metrics Dictionary

Understanding your stats is key to improvement. Here is what every number tells you:

Metric	Definition	Why it Matters
Net Profit	Total Profit - Total Loss	The bottom line. Are you making money?
Profit Factor	Gross Profit / Gross Loss	Measures the efficiency of your strategy. • < 1.0: Losing strategy • 1.0 - 1.5: Marginal / Break-even • 1.5 - 2.0: Good • > 2.0: Excellent
Win Rate	(Winning Trades / Total Trades) * 100	How often you are right. Note: High win rate doesn't guarantee profit if losses are large.
Expectancy	(Avg Win * Win Rate) - (Avg Loss * Loss Rate)	The average amount you can expect to earn (or lose) per trade over the long run. Positive expectancy = profitable edge.
Sharpe Ratio	Risk-adjusted return metric.	Measures return per unit of risk. Higher is better (usually > 1.0).
Max Drawdown	Largest peak-to-valley percentage drop.	Measures the risk of your strategy. Lower is safer.
SQN (System Quality Number)	Statistical score of your trading system.	Used to evaluate the "quality" of your edge. • < 1.6: Poor • 1.6 - 2.0: Average • 2.0 - 2.5: Good • > 3.0: Excellent
Z-Score	Statistical measure of streaks.	Tells you if wins/losses are random or clustered.

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📂 Project Structure

Trading Journal/
├── src/main/java/           # Java Source Code
│   └── com/tradingjournal/
│       ├── model/           # Data models (Trade, Account, Note, etc.)
│       ├── repository/      # Data persistence layer
│       ├── service/         # Business logic
│       └── ui/              # Swing UI components
├── Trade Exporter/          # MT5 Export Script (.ex5 / .mq5)
├── screenshots/             # Application screenshots
├── target/                  # Compiled binaries (generated)
├── TradingJournal.exe       # Windows launcher
├── run.sh                   # macOS/Linux launcher
├── build_app.bat            # Windows build script
├── build.sh                 # macOS/Linux build script
├── icon.png                 # Application icon (PNG)
├── icon.ico                 # Application icon (ICO)
├── pom.xml                  # Maven configuration
├── trades.json              # Your trade database (auto-generated)
├── accounts.json            # Account data (auto-generated)
├── strategies.json          # Strategy labels (auto-generated)
└── notes.json               # Your notes database (auto-generated)

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🌍 Platform Support

Platform	Status	Notes
Windows 10/11	✅ Full Support	Native .exe launcher with custom icon
macOS	✅ Full Support	Run via ./run.sh or JAR directly
Linux	✅ Full Support	Run via ./run.sh or JAR directly
MT5 Integration	✅ All Platforms	MT5 available natively on Windows, macOS, and Linux

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🎨 New in Recent Updates

🆕 Latest Features

• ✅ Calendar Tab - Monthly calendar view with daily P&L, color coding, and weekly summary
• ✅ Notes Tab - Dedicated space for writing trading journal notes and observations
• ✅ Full trade editing - Edit every field in Trade Details dialog
• ✅ Strategy selection during import - Assign strategies when importing trades
• ✅ Account renaming - Rename accounts and auto-update all trades
• ✅ Strategy renaming - Rename strategies and auto-update all trades
• ✅ macOS/Linux support - Cross-platform shell scripts
• ✅ Enhanced UI - Professional custom icon and improved dialogs
• ✅ Better screenshots - Complete visual guide in README

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the project
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

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📄 License

This project is open source and available for personal and educational use.

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Happy Trading! 📉📈

Built with ❤️ using Java, Swing, and JFreeChart