Trader`s spreadsheet-basic accountability

Whenever I talk with traders, it amazes me how few people maintain records of their trades in spreadsheets. Many rely on their brokers, but while your brokerage house is probably very accurate, its statements do not provide the necessary level of information. This is why I recommend using your own spreadsheet.

Basic spreadsheet literacy is highly desirable for traders. If beginners took 10% of the time they spend staring at indicators and invested that time in learning basic Excel, their payoff would be much greater. You do not need to become a spreadsheet expert, but a simple ability to manipulate numbers will give you a much greater degree of control over your trading(Figure 3.1).

Figure 3.1 A Basic Record-Keeping Spreadsheet

The previous figure shows the headings as well as a few lines from my own spreadsheet, with my own trades. The text explains the meaning of every column.

This basic spreadsheet takes just a minute to update after every trade. What you see above is a single tab. In my own spreadsheet I have a tab for every account and a summary tab where I record the value of every account on a weekly basis to track my equity curve.

If you would like a more high-end spreadsheet, I recommend Trader’s Governor, programmed by my old friend James (Mike) McMahon. It calculates risk, evaluates trades, tracks capital, and much more. It is extremely powerful, but takes longer to learn than this simple spreadsheet.