How to keep a trading journal for your TopstepX account

TopstepX shows your fills and your P&L, but it doesn't tell you why you made or lost money. Which setup paid? Which session cost you? Do you trade worse after a loss? A trading journal answers those questions, and with a funded account on the line, they matter.

This guide covers the three ways to get your TopstepX trades into a journal, what to add to each trade, and what to review.

Option 1: Export your trade history as a CSV

TopstepX lets you export your trades as a CSV file. Any spreadsheet or journal that reads CSV files can import it.

1. Open TopstepX and go to your trade history for the account you want.
2. Pick the date range and export it as CSV.
3. Import the file into your journal, or paste it into a spreadsheet.

Good for: occasional reviews, or trying out journaling before you commit. Downside: you have to remember to do it. Most traders stop exporting after a few weeks, which is exactly when the useful patterns start to show.

Option 2: Sync automatically with an API key

TopstepX runs on the ProjectX platform, which offers API access as a paid add-on. With an API key, a journal can read your fills automatically: no exporting, no copy-pasting.

1. Subscribe to API access in the ProjectX dashboard (check the current price there).
2. In TopstepX, open Settings → API, link the subscription and add an API key.
3. Paste your TopstepX username and the key into a journal that supports TopstepX sync.

A good journal should only read your trades. It should never place, change or cancel orders, and it should store your key encrypted. Ask before you paste a key anywhere.

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Option 3: Log trades by hand

Writing every trade in a notebook or spreadsheet takes the longest, but some traders like that it forces them to look at every trade. If you go this way, log the trade the moment it closes, not at the end of the day. Memory fades fast, and it fades in your favour.

What to add to every TopstepX trade

Your fills give you the what: symbol, side, size, entry, exit and P&L. The value of a journal comes from adding the why:

• Setup: which of your playbook setups this was
• Session: Asia, London or New York
• Planned risk and target, so you can measure results in R
• Followed the plan? Yes or no, honestly
• Emotion before entry: calm, bored, frustrated, FOMO
• A screenshot of the chart at entry

For the full list, see what to track in a trading journal.

What to review on a funded account

Prop firm accounts have hard limits, so your review should watch them as closely as your P&L:

• Distance to your maximum loss limit. How much room do you have left? See trailing drawdown explained.
• Worst day. Was it one bad trade or a spiral of revenge trades?
• P&L by setup and session. Cut what doesn't pay.
• Trades after a loss. If they lose more than your average trade, that's your leak.

Use the weekly review checklist to turn this into a 20-minute habit.

Journaling several accounts

If you copy trades across several TopstepX accounts, journal the lead account only. Otherwise one trade shows up five times and your win rate, trade count and averages are all wrong. Track the other accounts' balances separately.