Prop Firm Trading Journal: What to Track

A normal journal asks "was this a good trade?". A prop firm journal has a second job: it must tell you how close you are to breaking a rule. On a funded or challenge account, one careless day can end the account even if your strategy is fine. This article lists what to record so you always know where you stand.

1. The rules of your account, written once

Before the first trade, copy these numbers from your firm's own rules page into your journal:

Account size and profit target for the phase.
Daily loss limit and maximum drawdown, in money and in percent.
The drawdown type: static, trailing or trailing end of day. If you are unsure, read trailing vs static drawdown first.
Minimum trading days and any consistency rule (see the consistency rule explained).

Rules change, so check the firm's page again at the start of each phase. In ICC Zillas you create an account with the type Prop firm and enter these values under Set rules; every trade is then checked against them and the progress bars turn red close to a limit.

2. Your rule buffers

A buffer is the distance between where you are and the limit. Write down three buffers at the start of every day:

Daily buffer: how much you can still lose today before the daily limit.
Drawdown buffer: how far the account is from the maximum drawdown floor. With a trailing floor this number changes after every new high.
Target gap: how much profit is left to reach the target.

Then compare the buffer with your normal risk. If you risk 1% per trade and your daily buffer is 1.5%, you are one and a half losses from a breach. That is the moment to trade smaller or not at all. The free prop firm drawdown calculator does this arithmetic for you.

3. Per-trade fields that matter more on a prop account

Risk in R and in percent of the account. Percent tells you about the rules; R tells you about your edge (R-multiple and expectancy).
Playbook and rules followed. A challenge is the wrong place to try a setup you have not written down.
Mistake tag. Moved stop, oversized, traded outside hours, broke the news rule. Keep the list short.
Emotion tag. Calm, fear, greed, frustration. Pressure is higher when real fees are at stake, and the Emotions report shows what it does to your results.
Rating of execution, 1 to 5 stars. Rate how well you followed the plan, not whether it won.

4. The daily journal

In the pre-market plan write your buffers, the setups you will take and the point where you stop for the day. In the end-of-day review note whether you followed the plan and one lesson. The Notebook collects these notes so you can search them later.

5. The money side

Challenge fees, resets, subscriptions and payouts are part of your real result. A trader who passes after three resets has a different return from one who passes first time. ICC Zillas has a Prop firm finances page for this, and the free challenge ROI calculator gives a quick view. Track the cost honestly, including the attempts that failed.

A short daily routine

Morning: write the three buffers and the plan.
During the day: tag every trade right after closing it, while the feeling is fresh.
Evening: check the badge (In progress, Target reached or Breached), write the review.
Weekly: run the weekly review and pick one rule for next week.

Common mistakes

Watching profit only and ignoring how close the floor is.
Tracking a trailing drawdown as if it were static.
Not logging the failed attempt, which hides the true cost.
Changing strategy in the middle of a phase after one loss.

Ready to set it up? Open the app, create a prop firm account and follow the Prop firms section of the guide.

Trading carries a high risk of losing money. This article is education, not financial advice, and no rule or tool guarantees that you pass a challenge or make a profit.

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What to put in a prop firm trading journal (and what to check every day)