How to Log Your First Trade Manually in FTJ

This tutorial shows how to add your first manual trade in Forgalis TradingJournal.

You will start from the Dashboard or Trades view, click New Trade, enter one example trade, add basic review structure, save it, confirm it in Trades, and check that the Dashboard updates.

This is a product walkthrough, not trading advice.

Watch the walkthrough first, then use the written steps below as a reference while adding your first manual trade in FTJ.

This tutorial assumes you already created an account in Video 1.

In the tutorial series, the example account is called Demo CFD Account. Use your own account name if you are following along in your own journal.

Every trade in FTJ belongs to one account, so make sure the correct account exists before adding the trade.

Start from the Dashboard or Trades view.

Click New Trade to open the manual trade form.

The form starts with the instrument field, so you can begin entering the trade immediately.

Fill in the basic trade information first:

1. Instrument — the symbol or market you traded.
2. Direction — Long or Short.
3. Entry Price — the price where the trade was entered.
4. Quantity — the position size.
5. Account — the account this trade belongs to.

For the tutorial example, the trade is assigned to Demo CFD Account, so it stays connected to the journal account created in Video 1.

These fields create the base structure of the trade record.

Next, add the trade context that makes the record useful later.

Depending on what is visible in your current form, this can include:

• Entry date and time.
• Stop loss.
• Take profit.
• Exit date and time.
• Exit price.
• Fees or commission.

For a closed trade, add the exit details so FTJ can store the completed trade record.

Do not treat P&L as the main thing to type manually. Where FTJ has enough information, result values can be calculated or displayed by the app.

FTJ supports strategies, confluences, and exit reasons so your journal can be reviewed with structure.

For this tutorial, the example labels are used only as review structure:

• Strategy: Breakout Trading
• Confluences: Support / Resistance Level, Break of Structure (BOS), Higher Timeframe Alignment, Volume Confirmation
• Exit Reason: Take Profit Hit

These are example journal labels, not trading recommendations.

This page does not explain the trading logic behind those labels. Video 02 is about manual trade entry, not strategy education.

A later tutorial covers how to manage strategies, confluences, and exit reasons properly.

Add one short factual note to the trade.

Keep it simple. A useful first note can answer:

• What was the plan?
• What happened?
• Did you follow your own rules?

For the tutorial example, the note is short and direct:

Planned breakout trade. Entered after confirmation. Closed at planned target.

The point is not to write a perfect review. The point is to save a trade record that you can actually inspect later.

When the trade details are complete, click Save or Save Changes, depending on the button shown in your current FTJ version.

After saving, the trade should appear in the Trades view.

Open the saved trade once if you want to confirm that the instrument, account, exit reason, labels, notes, and calculated result were stored correctly.

Return to the Dashboard.

The journal should now reflect the saved trade in areas such as recent trades and total trade count.

One trade does not provide meaningful performance analysis. It only confirms that the manual trade-entry workflow works.

The basic workflow is:

1. Click New Trade.
2. Fill the key trade details.
3. Choose the account.
4. Add simple review structure.
5. Add a factual note.
6. Save the trade.
7. Check it in Trades and Dashboard.

Manual trade entry is the simplest way to start building a structured trading journal.

Instead of keeping loose rows in a spreadsheet, FTJ stores trades with account context, entry and exit details, labels, notes, and review fields.

That structure matters later when you want to review what happened across more trades.

Start simple. One clean trade record is better than waiting for a perfect journal setup you never use.

Do not treat example labels as advice.

Breakout Trading, Support / Resistance Level, Volume Confirmation, and Take Profit Hit are used here as example review labels only. They are not recommendations, signals, or claims about what you should trade.

Do not judge your performance from one trade.

A single saved trade confirms the workflow. Meaningful review requires more data over time.

Do not turn this tutorial into an import workflow.

Manual entry is for adding one trade directly. Importing CSV or Excel trade history is covered in the next tutorial.