Paper trading journal
Paper trading journal
A paper trading journal records your demo or simulated trades with the same care as real ones, so you can prove a strategy works before you fund it. Dusk Analyst is a paper trading journal: demo accounts import and sync just like live accounts, with the same stats.
Free tier: 2 accounts, no card required.
A paper trading journal logs demo trades with entry, exit, size, setup and notes, then shows win rate, profit factor and average win and loss. Keep demo and live trades in separate account books so you can compare them honestly. Dusk Analyst treats demo accounts like live ones and is free for 2 accounts, no card needed.

Quick answers
Should I journal paper trades?
Yes. Without a journal, demo trading is practice with no score. A journal tells you if the strategy has an edge before money is on the line.
Can I sync a demo account to a trading journal?
Yes. In Dusk Analyst a MetaTrader, cTrader or NinjaTrader demo account imports on Free or auto-syncs on Pro the same way a live one does.
How long should I paper trade before going live?
Until your results show a positive expectancy over a fair number of trades and you followed your rules on most of them. Then start live with small size.
26 seconds
Watch a trade log itself.
A real MetaTrader terminal. Close the trade, open Dusk Analyst, and it’s already there: symbol, direction, entry, exit and P&L. Nothing to export, nothing to type, nothing forgotten.
Auto-sync (MT4, MT5, cTrader, NinjaTrader) is on Pro. The free plan imports your history files.
Get started, freeAt a glance
Dusk Analyst at a glance.
- Price
- $0 or $25/monthFree forever. Pro is one flat price.
- Free plan
- 2 accounts, no cardManual entry, file import, tags, calendars and weekly reports. No time limit.
- Auto-sync
- MT4 · MT5 · cTrader · NinjaTraderOn Pro. Your first 5 trading days are free, no card.
- How sync works
- EA, cBot or NinjaTrader add-onRuns in your own terminal and sends each closed trade.
- Your password
- Never asked forNothing logs into your broker account from our servers.
- Brokers
- 365 checkedAny broker or prop firm on MT4, MT5, cTrader or NinjaTrader 8 works.
- Setup
- About 2 minutesPer account, once.
- Where it runs
- In your browserDesktop and phone. Nothing to install except the EA, cBot or NinjaTrader add-on.
- AI
- Dusk QuantAnswers questions about your own trades. Pro, 1,000 trade-analyses a month.
How to use it
Paper trade like it is real
Separate books
Put demo trades in their own account book with its own starting balance, so demo and live results never mix.
Real size
Trade the size you would trade live. Huge demo positions teach habits you cannot afford later.
Same tags
Use the same setup tags on demo and live. When you go live, compare each setup side by side.
Demo vs live
Compare demo and live results
Live results are usually worse than demo: real fills, real nerves. Keeping both in one journal shows you the gap per setup. See paper trading and the win rate calculator.
Import your MT4 or MT5 history file on the Free plan, or auto-sync MT4, MT5, cTrader or NinjaTrader 8 on Pro.
How it works
Live in two minutes.
Create your account
Sign up and grab a per-account API key from the connectors panel.
Drop in the EA, cBot or add-on
One file into MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader or NinjaTrader 8. No extra software.
Trades sync themselves
Every close pushes into the vault automatically. Journal complete, always.
See it in action
Ask your trading data anything.
Your journal isn't a logbook, it's a dataset. The AI reads your actual trade history and answers the questions that move your edge.
- Why do my losses cluster on Fridays?
- Which strategy am I actually profitable in?
- What happens when I break my 1% risk rule?
Choosing a journal
Free plans, pricing and picks
Journal types
A journal for how you trade
Auto-sync setup
How do I connect my platform?
Auto-sync (MT4, MT5, cTrader, NinjaTrader) is on Pro ($25/month), free for your first 5 trading days with no card. The Free plan imports your platform's history file.
Broker search
Does my broker work?
Each broker was checked against its own site in our 2026 audit. See all 365.
Pricing
Free is enough to build the habit. Pro is where it runs itself.
Start manual and free. Upgrade to MT4, MT5, cTrader or NinjaTrader auto-sync when you're ready to stop touching it.
Free
$0
A real journal, free from day one. $0 forever, up to 2 accounts, no credit card required, weekly reports included, and CSV import from any trading platform.
- Up to 2 accounts
- Manual entry + CSV import from any platform
- Tags, calendars & core analytics
- Weekly reports
No terminal connection. Upgrade to Pro when you want the vault to fill itself.
Start freePro
$25/month
The journal that journals itself. $25/month auto-syncs MT4, MT5, cTrader and NinjaTrader 8 across unlimited demo, live and funded accounts, with 1,000 AI trade-analyses a month, monthly reports and full export.
- Auto-sync MT4, MT5, cTrader and NinjaTrader 8 (terminal connection)
- Unlimited accounts, demo, live & funded
- AI insights & automated session reviews
- 1,000 AI trade-analyses every month
- Monthly reports + full export
- Priority support
5 trading days free, no card. Then $25/month.
Start your free Pro week See auto-sync in 26 secondsNo setup fees. No card for Free, and no card for your first week of Pro: every new account gets Pro free for 5 trading days. After that it is $25/month. We email you before billing starts.
Prove it on demo before you pay for it.
Import your demo trades. $0 to start.
Get started, freeNo card required.
FAQ
Paper trading journal questions, answered.
Is there a free paper trading journal?
Yes. Dusk Analyst's Free plan is $0 for 2 accounts with manual entry and file import, and a demo account counts as one of them.
Do demo accounts count towards my account limit?
Yes, a demo book is an account like any other: 2 on Free, unlimited on Pro.
Can I journal TradingView paper trades?
Yes. Export your TradingView history as CSV and import it on the Free plan.
Does paper trading prepare you for a prop firm challenge?
It helps you learn your setups. Dusk Analyst shows your daily P&L so you can check your own limits, but it does not track prop firm rules for you.
Is Dusk Analyst really free?
Yes. The free tier costs $0 forever and includes two accounts, manual trade entry and CSV import - enough to journal a live account properly, with win rate, P&L and equity curve all calculated for you. There is no credit card required to start. Pro ($25/month flat) adds unlimited accounts, MT4/MT5/cTrader/NinjaTrader auto-sync, AI insights on your trading (1,000 trade-analyses a month), monthly reports and full export, and every new account gets Pro free for 5 trading days with no card. The pricing is deliberately simple: one plan, one price, no per-feature upsells.
Is there a free trial?
Yes, and it needs no card. Every new Dusk Analyst account gets Pro free for 5 trading days from sign-up: auto-sync from MT4, MT5, cTrader and NinjaTrader 8, AI Insights with 1,000 credits, monthly reports and unlimited accounts. After that Pro is $25/month, and you can cancel anytime from Billing in the app. If you skip it, the account moves to Free with every trade kept.
Can I import my existing trade history?
Yes - CSV import is available on every plan, including free. If you've been tracking trades in a spreadsheet, broker export or another journal, export the CSV from wherever it lives and import it into Dusk Analyst; the journal matches it against your accounts and keeps your history continuous. Import is also the fallback for platforms that don't run MT4, MT5, cTrader or NinjaTrader 8. For MT4/MT5/cTrader/NinjaTrader terminals, Pro auto-syncs going forward and the EA backfills any trades your terminal missed while it was off. Any platform that exports a CSV of your trade history works. Dusk Analyst recognises TradingView, Tradovate, cTrader, MT4 and MT5 exports on sight; for anything else you map your columns once and that parser is saved for next time. Comma, semicolon and tab files are all handled, day-first and month-first dates are detected from the file itself, and any row that cannot be read is listed for you rather than dropped quietly.
How many AI credits do I get with Dusk Analyst Pro?
Pro includes 1,000 AI trade-analyses every month. One credit covers one trade, so asking a question about a 40-trade week costs 40 credits and you can keep asking. The allowance resets on the 1st of each month and the counter sits in the top bar of the app, so you always know where you stand. Narrowing a question to one account or a shorter date range makes the same allowance go much further. Free accounts get a small number of AI credits to try AI Insights, alongside the full journal, analytics and weekly reports, and the free Pro week (5 trading days, no card) includes the full monthly allowance.
Guides
Find the setup for how you trade.
Calculators10
Platforms17
- MT4 Trading Journal
- MT5 Trading Journal
- XAUUSD Trading Journal
- cTrader Trading Journal
- Connect MT5
- Connect MT4
- Connect cTrader
- Connect NinjaTrader
- NinjaTrader Commission Tracking
- Export NinjaTrader Trades
- NinjaTrader Prop Firm Journal
- Thinkorswim Journal
- TradingView Journal
- NinjaTrader Journal
- NinjaTrader vs Tradovate
- Export MT5 Trade History
- MT4 Account History
Prop firms5
Markets5
Crypto exchanges7
Compare13
- Best Trading Journal Software
- TradeZella Alternative
- TraderSync Alternative
- Tradervue Alternative
- Edgewonk Alternative
- Dusk Analyst vs TradeZella
- Dusk Analyst vs TraderSync
- Dusk Analyst vs Tradervue
- Dusk Analyst vs Edgewonk
- Dusk Analyst vs TradesViz
- Best Trading Journal
- Journal vs Spreadsheet
- Myfxbook Alternative
Templates & guides21
- Tradovate Trading Journal
- Automated Trading Journal
- No Investor Password Journal
- Free Trading Journal
- Beginners Journal
- Excel Journal Template
- Google Sheets Journal
- Notion Trading Journal
- Best Free Journal
- How to Journal Trades
- How to Review Trades
- Swing Trading Journal
- Trading Log
- Trading Diary
- Trading Journal for Mac
- Paper Trading Journal
- Revenge Trading
- Overtrading
- Common Trading Mistakes
- How Many Day Traders Are Profitable
- Trading Metrics Explained
