A trading journal built for prop firm challenges
TJ (tjtrace.com) is a free trading journal for futures prop firm traders: it fills in your firm's rules, warns you at 50%, 80% and 100% of your daily loss limit and drawdown, and grades each setup before you click. Free in beta.
Most challenges aren't lost on a bad strategy. They're lost on one bad afternoon: a second trade after a loss, a size doubled just once, a daily limit missed by a few dollars. TJ keeps your firm's rules in front of you on every trade and grades each setup before you take it.
Free plan · No card needed · TJ is journaling software, not financial advice.
Your firm's rules, filled in for you
Add a prop account, pick your program and account size, and TJ fills in the daily loss limit, drawdown, profit target, size and consistency rules. You can edit every value, or type your own rules for any firm that isn't on the list.
| Programs with rules built in | |
|---|---|
| Futures | Topstep Trading Combine, Apex Trader Funding EOD Evaluation, Take Profit Trader Test, MyFundedFutures Rapid, MyFundedFutures Rapid EOD, Tradeify Select |
| Forex and CFDs | FTMO 2-Step Challenge, FundedNext Stellar 2-Step, The5ers High Stakes |
| Any other firm | Type the limits yourself once; TJ counts them the same way. |
Warned before the firm does
TJ counts every limit on every trade you log. As you get close to the daily loss limit or the drawdown, it tells you plainly, for example:
“84% of your daily limit used. Stop for today. A+ only at half size.”
It doesn't connect to your platform and can't block an order. What it does is put the number in front of you at the moment you're most likely to ignore it: right before the next entry.
A challenge routine that fits in a few minutes
- Write your strategy once. A simple yes/no checklist of 2 to 5 rules, or an advanced one with points, vetoes and grades.
- Rate It! before every entry. Tick the checks and get a TJ score out of 100 and a grade from A+ to D. Weak setups get a smaller size or no trade, and any veto means no trade.
- Log It! after the close. Your rating carries over. Type the prices, and risk, R and P&L fill in by themselves. Add a screenshot and you're done in about 20 seconds.
- Check the calendar. The economic calendar shows actual, forecast and previous values with alerts before the news you care about.
- Review weekly. R by grade, rules followed, performance after a loss, and an AI review of your week that compares it with the week before.
What the review shows a prop trader
- Rules followed vs broken: what breaking your own rules has cost you, in R.
- Performance after a loss: one of 30 ready-made reports, and often the most uncomfortable one.
- First trade of the day vs the rest: useful when your best trading is done by 10:00.
- MFE/MAE and exit efficiency: how far trades went for and against you, and how much of the move you kept.
- P&L calendar: every day at a glance, next to your daily limit.
Keep a separate backtest account so practice results never mix with the challenge, and use chart replay to rehearse your setup on history back to each market's first day.
Who it's for
- Futures traders in evaluations on NQ, ES, MNQ or MES.
- Forex and gold traders in 2-step challenges.
- Funded traders protecting a payout account.
- Coaches running a group of challenge traders, with Mentor spaces.
What it won't do
- Pass a challenge for you.
- Tell you what to buy or sell.
- Read your firm's dashboard; you log or import your trades.
- Replace your firm's own rulebook.
FAQ
Which prop firms have rules built in?
Nine programs: Topstep Trading Combine, Apex Trader Funding EOD Evaluation, Take Profit Trader Test, MyFundedFutures Rapid and Rapid EOD, Tradeify Select, FTMO 2-Step Challenge, FundedNext Stellar 2-Step and The5ers High Stakes. You can edit every value or type rules for any other firm.
How do my prop trades get into TJ?
Log them in Log It! in about 20 seconds, or import a CSV from your platform: TJ reads MT4/MT5 history, Tradovate and NinjaTrader-style exports and most broker CSVs. On Silvy and Sapphire, MT4/MT5 accounts sync by themselves with a read-only investor password.
Will TJ stop me from breaking a rule?
It warns you, but it can't block your platform. The warnings show as you approach your daily loss and drawdown limits, and Rate It! can tell you to skip a weak setup.
Is it free?
Yes, the journal is free: unlimited trades, Rate It!, prop-firm alerts and your key stats. Silvy ($19 a month) adds the full Review, the trade chart and MetaTrader sync; Sapphire ($59 a month) adds mentor spaces. Anyone who joins by 5 December 2026 gets 30% off the first year.
See it on your own trades
Open the demo to click through Rate It!, Log It! and Review with sample data, or start a free account and import your history. The journal is free, and anyone who joins by 5 December 2026 gets 30% off their first year of Silvy or Sapphire.