Account identity · Rule versions · Review evidence
Prop Firm Trading Journal
Keep the rule, the execution and the official account status together. A useful prop firm journal lets you explain a discrepancy without assuming that a profitable final balance proves compliance.
Pineify provides manual records and review notes. Live equity limits, challenge status and payout eligibility remain with the firm.
Save the exact rule before reviewing the account
A rule record needs the firm, account identifier, program, phase, currency, effective date and official source link. Separate evaluations, funded phases and practice accounts. A similarly named account can have different rules after a reset, payout or migration to another phase.
- Threshold definition
- Is the floor fixed, based on a daily starting value, or trailing? Which balance or equity observation moves it? Record the actual value shown by the firm with its timestamp.
- Monitoring and reset
- Does monitoring include open-position P&L and charges? Record the reset time, timezone and daylight-saving convention. A local calendar date is not necessarily the firm’s trading day.
- Other eligibility conditions
- Preserve applicable minimum-day, concentration, position-size and payout conditions separately. Meeting a profit target alone does not establish eligibility.
- Authoritative status
- Keep the official statement or dashboard observation. Label a personal calculation as an estimate, with its source data and missing observations.
For example, Topstep’s Maximum Loss Limit explanation distinguishes an end-of-day update to a trailing floor from real-time monitoring that includes unrealized P&L. Its account phases also differ. Use the official rule for your own account; do not copy this mechanism to another firm.
A closed-trade total cannot reconstruct an intraday breach
Fictional account example, not a named firm’s rules: assume a fixed floor of $9,500 for this session, with any equity touch or fall below it treated as a breach. There are no deposits, withdrawals or separate charges in this example. The balance before opening the position is $10,000.
| Observation | Recorded value | What it establishes |
|---|---|---|
| Before entry | $10,000 balance; $9,500 floor | $500 above the assumed floor |
| While the trade is open | −$600 unrealized P&L; $9,400 equity | $100 below the floor at that time |
| After exit | −$450 realized P&L; $9,550 balance | Final balance is $50 above the floor |
| End-of-day journal | Only the −$450 closed result is visible | Does not erase or reveal the earlier $9,400 observation |
The final balance cannot prove that the account stayed above its floor. Likewise, a journal with no intraday equity record cannot independently prove the exact low. Preserve the firm’s timestamped observation and status; do not infer a safe buffer from closed trades alone.
A loss floor is not a recommended amount to risk. Order execution, fees and price changes can move equity between observations. Pineify does not monitor or enforce this example’s rule.
Organize records in Pineify without confusing them with live status
Create a named journal for each account and phase. Confirm its timezone and currency settings. Enter actual trade and close records, then use plans, diary notes, setups, sessions and tags to retain the decision context and rule references.
- Trade collection: Import History is marked Coming Soon. There is no automatic TradingView or broker synchronization in this workflow.
- Statistics: default statistics include partially closed and closed positions. Dates filter entry times; daily results are grouped from close records using the journal timezone. Reconcile the exact selection with the firm’s statement period.
- Capital curve: recorded closes and cash transactions form a daily curve. It does not contain a live intraday equity path; withdrawals can change the curve without being trading losses.
- Payouts: cash transactions and notes can document a received withdrawal. They do not submit a payout request, verify approval or calculate eligibility.
Keep any missing contract-value, fee or currency adjustment with the original statement and reconcile the monetary result. A chart label or number of contracts alone is not enough to establish account P&L.
Close the review with a documented discrepancy
- Match the account, phase, timezone, period and rule version before comparing totals.
- Reconcile positions, partial closes, fees and cash movements with the official record. Keep unknown values unknown.
- Compare each flagged event with the firm’s timestamp and monitored metric. A positive final day can still contain an adverse intraday observation.
- Record the discrepancy, its evidence and the resolution separately from your trading outcome. Preserve the old rule version when a new phase begins.
Use the analytics verification checklist for metric definitions, and the TradingView record guide to separate strategy simulations from execution records.
Questions about this journal workflow
Does Pineify enforce prop firm loss limits?
No. It is not a live equity monitor or rule engine. Use the official dashboard and the rule version that applies to the account and phase.
Can a profitable final balance prove there was no breach?
No. A rule may monitor intraday equity, including unrealized losses. A closed-trade total cannot reconstruct the full path or erase an earlier threshold event.
Can I separate several accounts?
Create named journals and identify the account, phase, currency and timezone. These are your records, not linked firm dashboards or verified challenge status.
Does Pineify import broker or TradingView trades?
Import History is marked Coming Soon. This workflow uses manual trades, close records and notes; keep the original statements for reconciliation.
Does a deposit or withdrawal represent trading performance?
No. Keep cash movements separate from trade results. Pineify’s recorded capital curve includes transactions, so a change in that curve is not automatically a trading gain or loss.
Can a journal verify payouts or eligible trading days?
No. A recorded trade date or withdrawal does not establish challenge-day eligibility or payout approval. Preserve the official rule, status and statement for that decision.
Keep the account evidence with the review
Use named journals and notes for the facts you can verify. Check current Journal access and account features before choosing a plan.