Futures and forex trading contains substantial risk and is not for every investor. An investor could potentially lose all or more than the initial investment. Risk capital is money that can be lost without jeopardizing one’s financial security or lifestyle. Only risk capital should be used for trading and only those with sufficient risk capital should consider trading. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.
Hypothetical performance results have many inherent limitations, some of which are described below. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those shown; in fact, there are frequently sharp differences between hypothetical performance results and the actual results subsequently achieved by any particular trading program. One of the limitations of hypothetical performance results is that they are generally prepared with the benefit of hindsight. In addition, hypothetical trading does not involve financial risk, and no hypothetical trading record can completely account for the impact of financial risk of actual trading. for example, the ability to withstand losses or to adhere to a particular trading program despite trading losses are material points that can also adversely affect actual trading results. There are numerous other factors related to the markets in general or to the implementation of any specific trading program that cannot be fully accounted for in the preparation of hypothetical performance results and all which can adversely affect trading results.
Trade notes are where Journalit turns a transaction into something you can review. Each note combines structured trade data, media, metadata, review state, and open markdown so your analytics stay clean without forcing every trade into the same rigid template.
What trade notes are for
A trade note should answer two questions: what happened, and what should you learn from it. Journalit keeps the structured data consistent while leaving room for your own analysis style.
Trade notes render as a Journalit view inside the markdown note. The rendered view is controlled by the trade note layout selected in Layout Builder.
The top of the note keeps the trade identity, status, edit actions, and reviewed state easy to reach.
Trade navigation stays fixed in the header area when enabled, so moving between related trades and reviews remains predictable.
Media, metrics, thesis, missed-trade reason, metadata, and the review footer can be shown, hidden, and reordered.
The rest of the note remains normal Obsidian markdown for deeper write-ups, screenshots, links, tables, and embedded context.
Journalit uses the same trade note system across the main trade types, while keeping type-specific context visible.
Executed trades with entry, exit, P&L, costs, accounts, setup, mistakes, tags, thesis, media, and review state.
Positions still in progress. A saved market-price snapshot can show Floating P&L, or Unrealized P&L when none of the position has been realised yet.
Setups you identified but did not take. The missed-trade reason can appear as its own movable section.
Historical or simulated trades that use the same reviewable note structure without being mixed up with live execution.
One lifecycle, one note
When a synced or manually logged position changes state, Journalit updates the existing trade note where possible instead of splitting the trade into disconnected files.
Trade note customisation lives in Layout Builder. Use it when the default note order does not match how you review.
Run Open Layout Builder from the command palette or open it from
Home View.
Choose the trade note layout you want to edit. Trade notes use their saved layout link, so the selected layout controls how matching notes render.
Show, hide, and reorder the movable sections. The navigation bar can be shown or hidden, but it stays fixed in the header area rather than joining the movable section order.
Choose which metric cards and metadata rows matter for the layout. Metadata can include accounts, setups, mistakes, tags, and custom fields.
Save your changes. Future renders of notes using that layout reflect the saved structure.
Some trades need different evidence. A futures scalp, options trade, missed setup, and crypto swing trade may not deserve the same note layout.
The default layout covers trades without a dedicated asset layout.
Add explicit layouts for stocks, options, futures, forex, crypto, or CFDs when those instruments need different sections.
Asset-specific layouts are explicit, so you can see exactly which asset types have their own structure.
Practical use
Use asset-specific layouts when the evidence changes by instrument. For example, futures notes may need execution metrics first, while options notes may need contract context and thesis closer to the top.
Show screenshots, chart images, local video, GIFs, vault media, Obsidian wikilinks, embeds, Excalidraw drawings, or TradingView references.
Choose cards such as entry, exit, duration, stop loss, take profit, execution breakdown, P&L, R multiple, costs, and position size.
Keep your trade idea or reasoning visible as a dedicated review section.
For missed trades, show the reason as a first-class section rather than burying it in metadata.
Display accounts, setups, mistakes, tags, broker comments, and supported custom fields in a structured block. Configured setup and tag colours carry through to their labels.
Keep review status visible when your process depends on marking trades reviewed after analysis.
Visual context is part of the trade. Trade notes can preserve the charts, confirmations, drawings, video, and GIFs that explain why the trade made sense at the time.
Use saved chart screenshots or other image files from the vault.
Attach local video files and GIFs anywhere Journalit shows trade media. GIFs behave like images; local video plays in fullscreen.
Image paths, wikilinks, embeds, and Excalidraw drawings can resolve inside trade and review views.
TradingView share links can be converted into more useful image references where supported.
Paste supported YouTube links to show a thumbnail preview and play the video in a fullscreen YouTube embed.
Open an image fullscreen, then right-click it to copy the image to the system clipboard.
Give an individual attachment its own tags and notes from the Trade Form or a supported fullscreen viewer.
Media annotations describe the evidence in one chart or recording without changing the trade's own setup and tags. In the Trade Form, annotation edits remain part of the draft and are saved with the trade.
Trade notes track whether a trade has been reviewed and when. The structured Trade Review workflow itself belongs in the Daily Report Card as a configurable review widget.
See whether a trade has been reviewed and toggle the state from the trade note workflow when appropriate.
The reviewed flag remains structured for filtering, navigation, and review widgets.
Use the Trade Review widget in a DRC layout to answer structured review prompts. Its answers are stored as readable markdown.
Unreviewed trades are easier to find and work through instead of disappearing into the archive.
You can edit trade details from the note without reconstructing the trade from a broker statement or spreadsheet.
Update entry and exit prices, timing, size, direction, and related execution fields.
Adjust commission, fees, swap, dividends, and other realised cashflow details when needed.
Change setups, mistakes, tags, accounts, custom fields, thesis, and attachments from the trade workflow.
Journalit recalculates dependent values and updates analytics after trade data changes.
Trade notes are connected to the rest of the journal so one trade can be viewed inside the larger trading day and review cycle.
Move through related trades without manually browsing folders.
Jump back to the DRC that planned or contextualised the trading day.
Place the trade inside weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly review context.
The same structured data feeds filtering, analytics, and broader performance review.
Journalit maintains native Obsidian links between related notes so Graph view can show the journal as a connected review system rather than a collection of isolated files.
Regular trades link to the Daily Report Card for their trading day.
Regular trades link to the setup notes they use.
DRCs link to weekly reviews, then monthly, quarterly, and yearly reviews.
Obsidian provides the reverse relationship through backlinks and Graph view.
Journalit writes these relationships as generated frontmatter properties while
preserving your note body and unrelated properties. If links need to be rebuilt,
run Rebuild Journalit graph links from the command palette.
Related pages
Use Layout Builder to customise trade note layouts, Manual Entry to control trade data capture, and Review System to connect trades to DRCs and higher-timeframe reviews.
