Linking your Trading Journal to your Charts

My current business practice is for the use of an electronic trading journal spreadsheet, plus hardcopy printouts of charts. For those though who prefer to operate all electronic, saving on folder after folder of hardcopy printouts cluttering your trading office, the following is a simple Excel trick to allow you to easily find the chart image associated with each trade (within seconds), allowing for easier review at a later date & time.

It involves creating a hyperlink within your journal spreadsheet which links to your saved chart image. Most people associate hyperlinks with a link to a webpage. They can also link to files on your hard-drive, as we'll see in this case.

Following the trade, save an image of your chart to your charts folder on your hard-drive.

Later, when time allows, annotate notes on the chart. Your charting platform may allow easy addition of notes. If not, there are many image editors available on the market.

For example:

Enter the trade details into your trading journal spreadsheet, then click on the cell which you wish to make into a hyperlink:

At the Excel menu, go to the Insert tab and click on Hyperlink:

Navigate to the folder where you've saved the chart. Click to highlight the appropriate chart image. Click OK.

The journal comments field will now be a hyperlink.

Clicking the link opens up the chart image in your browser window, allowing for easy reference to the chart while reviewing your trading journal entries.

(Please note: the steps and actions required may vary slightly when using a different version of Excel and different operating system. The above images were taken from Office 2007 & Windows XP.)