Options Trading Journal
Log every options trade; see P&L, win rate and returns.
Not financial advice. All results are estimates based on the prices you enter. This tool does not use real-time market data: check live quotes with your broker before you trade.
Realized P&L
Example journal+$560
- Win rate
- 83%
- Premium collected
- $715
- Open trades
- 1
5W / 1L
credit trades, before buy-backs
$6,200 at risk
6 closed trades: 5 wins, 1 loss. You've collected $715 in premium and have $6,200 tied up in 1 open trade. Every $1 lost was matched by $3.67 won.
Not financial advice. Money Scale is not a broker, investment adviser or tax professional, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any security or option. These calculators are for education.
Estimates only. Every figure is a hypothetical estimate built from the numbers you type in. Results ignore taxes, bid-ask spreads, early assignment, margin requirements and anything else you don't enter. Annualized returns assume a trade could be repeated all year, which is not guaranteed. Past or hypothetical results don't predict future returns.
No real-time market data. These tools don't pull live stock or option prices. Quotes change constantly, so confirm current prices, premiums and fees with your broker.
Options involve risk and aren't suitable for every investor: a covered call or cash-secured put can still lose most of the stock's value. Read the OCC's Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options before trading options.
Your numbers
Your trades
These are example trades (made up, not real or typical results) so you can see how the journal works. Log your first trade and they disappear, or .
| Opened | Ticker | Strategy | Strike | Qty | Premium | Status | P&L | Return | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-03 | XYZ | Cash-secured put | 48 | 1 | $1.10 | Expired | +$110 | 2.3% | |
| 2026-08-31 | XYZ | Cash-secured put | 48 | 1 | $1.25 | Assigned | +$125 | 2.6% | |
| 2026-09-28 | XYZ | Covered call | 50 | 1 | $0.95 | Assigned | +$295 | 6.1% | |
| 2026-09-08 | QQQ | Put credit spread | 450/445 | 1 | $1.40 | Closed | +$80 | 22.2% | |
| 2026-09-15 | ABC | Long call | 120 | 1 | −$3.20 | Closed | −$210 | -65.6% | |
| 2026-10-01 | SPY | Iron condor | 5 wide | 1 | $1.60 | Expired | +$160 | 47.1% | |
| 2026-10-27 | KO | Cash-secured put | 62 | 1 | $0.85 | Open | open | — |
Where your trades are saved
In this browser, automatically. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you turn on sync below.
Save to your free Money Scale account to see your journal on any device. We email you a sign-in link; no password.
We store your email, the trades you log, and sign-in and purchase records. No marketing emails unless you sign up for them separately. See our privacy policy.
Your analytics
Equity curve and breakdowns are in Journal Pro
See which strategies, tickers and holding periods actually make you money.
Tax-season worksheet
Every option trade that ended in a tax year, organized with Publication 550's general rules for equity options: options you wrote that expired or were bought back as short-term gains or losses, bought options by how long you held them, and assigned puts and calls listed separately because they change your share basis or sale price instead. Index options such as SPX are flagged (Section 1256 contracts follow different rules). It's a worksheet to check against your broker's 1099-B, not a tax filing or tax advice.
Go further with your journal
The journal is free and stays free. These add deeper analytics and take-home files. Checkout is handled by Stripe.
Journal Pro (yearly)
$49/yrSave 32% vs monthly
Every chart and breakdown, plus the tax-season worksheet.
- Equity curve of your realized P&L
- Results by strategy, by ticker and by days held
- Win rate and average win/loss for each strategy
- Tax-season worksheet of realized option P&L (each tax year)
- Everything in the free journal
Unlocks right after checkout. Cancel anytime from the billing portal.
Journal Pro (monthly)
$6/moThe same Pro features, month to month.
- Equity curve of your realized P&L
- Results by strategy, by ticker and by days held
- Tax-season worksheet of realized option P&L
Unlocks right after checkout. Cancel anytime from the billing portal.
Options & Wheel Journal Spreadsheet
$19The journal as an Excel workbook with working formulas.
- Trade log for puts, calls, spreads and calendars with P&L, return and annualized return formulas
- Wheel sheet that tracks adjusted cost basis per ticker
- Monthly summary and a premium-by-ticker table
- Works in Excel, Google Sheets (File → Import) and Numbers
Instant .xlsx download, plus a link emailed to you.
Printable Options Trading Journal
$7A clean PDF journal to print or fill in on a tablet.
- Trade log pages, wheel cost-basis pages and monthly review pages
- Strategy reference card with the formulas from our calculators
- Letter size, prints in black and white
Instant PDF download, plus a link emailed to you.
Tax-Season Worksheet
$15Your realized option P&L for a tax year, organized for your records.
- Every option trade closed, expired or assigned in the year, with dates, premium, cost to close and net result
- Totals by month and by ticker
- CSV that opens in Excel or Google Sheets
- A worksheet to check against your broker's 1099-B, not a tax filing
Unlocks the worksheet download in the journal right after checkout.
Lifetime Bundle
$99Pro forever, plus both downloads.
- Journal Pro for life (no subscription)
- Tax-season worksheet every year
- The Options & Wheel Journal Spreadsheet
- The Printable Options Trading Journal
Unlocks right after checkout; download links emailed to you.
Prices in USD. Journal Pro renews automatically at the same price ($6 every month or $49 every year) until you cancel. Cancel anytime online with "Manage or cancel your subscription" on this page or the billing link in your receipt email; you keep access until the end of the paid period. You must be 18 or older (or have a parent's permission) to buy. Unhappy with a purchase? Email hello@moneyscale.app within 14 days for a full refund (see our refund policy). These are educational tools: they don't recommend trades and don't use live market data.
Next steps
This free options trading journal is a simple trade tracker for covered calls, cash-secured puts, the wheel, credit spreads, iron condors, calendars and long options. Log a trade in a few fields and it calculates capital at risk, P&L, return and annualized return for each trade, then your win rate, premium collected, average win and loss, and realized P&L by month across all of them. Trades save in your browser automatically, export to CSV, and can sync across devices with an emailed sign-in link. It only does math on the trades you enter: no recommendations, no alerts, no live market data.
How this calculator works
- Pick the strategy (cash-secured put, covered call, credit spread, iron condor, calendar, long call or put, or other) and enter the ticker, dates and contracts.
- Enter the premium per share: what you collected for credit trades, or what you paid for debit trades. Add the strike(s) the form asks for so it can work out your capital at risk.
- While the trade is open, leave Status as Open. When it ends, edit it: Closed (with the price you paid or received to close), Expired worthless, or Assigned.
- Watch the top of the page: realized P&L, win rate, premium collected and annualized return update as you close trades. The monthly chart shows realized P&L by month.
- Download a CSV or backup file any time, or enter your email to sync the journal to other devices.
credit P&L = (premium − cost to close) × 100 × contracts − fees
debit P&L = (sale price − debit paid) × 100 × contracts − fees
return = P&L ÷ capital at risk annualized = return × 365 ÷ days held
win rate = winning trades ÷ closed tradesCapital at risk depends on the strategy: strike × 100 × contracts for a cash-secured put, the share price × 100 for a covered call, (spread width − credit) × 100 for a credit spread or iron condor, and the debit paid for long options and calendars. An assigned put keeps its premium as the trade's profit; an assigned covered call adds the stock's move from your share price to the strike. The overall annualized figure weights each trade by its capital and days held.
- premium
- Credit received (or debit paid) per share to open
- cost to close
- Price per share paid to buy back a credit trade (0 if it expired worthless)
- capital at risk
- Cash secured, share value, spread max loss, or debit paid
- days held
- Calendar days from open to close or expiration
Frequently asked questions
What is an options trading journal?
A record of every option trade you make: what you sold or bought, the strike, expiration, premium, how it ended and why you took it. Reviewing it shows which strategies, tickers and holding periods make or lose you money, which a broker statement doesn't.
What should you track for each options trade?
At minimum: the ticker, strategy, open and close dates, expiration, strike(s), number of contracts, the premium per share, what it cost to close, fees, and how it ended (closed, expired worthless or assigned). A short note on why you took it makes the monthly review far more useful.
How do you calculate the return on an options trade?
Return = P&L ÷ capital at risk. For a credit trade, P&L = (premium collected − cost to close) × 100 × contracts − fees. Capital at risk is the cash set aside for a cash-secured put (strike × 100), the share value for a covered call, (width − credit) × 100 for a credit spread, or the debit paid for a long option or calendar.
How do you track the wheel strategy in a journal?
Log each cash-secured put and covered call as its own trade. When a put is assigned, mark it Assigned: the premium is kept and the shares become a new position. When a call is assigned, the journal adds the stock's move from your share price to the strike. Use the Wheel Strategy Tracker to follow your adjusted cost basis per ticker.
Where is my trading data saved?
In your browser by default, and nowhere else. You can download it as a CSV or backup file at any time. If you choose to sync, we email you a sign-in link and store your trades with your email address so you can open the journal on other devices; you can delete that cloud copy whenever you like.
Does the journal tell me which trades to make?
No. It only does arithmetic on the trades you enter. It doesn't recommend trades, strikes or tickers, doesn't send alerts and doesn't use live market data. It's an educational record-keeping tool, not investment advice.
Sources used in this calculator
- OCC — Characteristics and Risks of Standardized OptionsContract size (100 shares), exercise and assignment rules(opens in a new tab)
- IRS Publication 550 — Investment Income and Expenses (options)How written puts and calls are treated when they expire, are closed or are assigned(opens in a new tab)
Reviewed by the Money Scale editorial team. How we source our data
Related calculators
See all- Wheel StrategyLog every put and call; track cost basis and returns.
- Covered CallReturn if flat, if called, annualized, and break-even.
- Cash-Secured PutReturn on collateral, annualized yield, buy price if assigned.
- Roll vs CloseRoll, close, or take assignment: compare all three.
- Net WorthAssets − debts, with US-median comparison by age.
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