The trading journal for futures, forex, stocks, options and crypto traders, and for prop firm evaluations.
Find out what following your plan is actually worth.
Most journals tell you what happened. Crux tells you what to change — by scoring every trade against your own rules and putting a dollar figure on the difference.
Every figure on this page comes from demo trades scored by the same code yours will be.
Free prop firm evaluation calculator Your drawdown floor, daily limit and what the consistency rule needs. No sign-up.Hypothetical: computed from the demo journal on this page, by the same code that runs on your own trades. Not a projection, and not anybody’s real account. Invented trades dated 9 July 2026 to 30 September 2026, generated 30 September 2026. Trading involves substantial risk of loss — see the risk and hypothetical performance disclosures.
Not a screenshot. The actual thing.
This is Crux running on a demo journal of 264 trades. Every number was computed by the same code that runs on your own — scroll to move through it, or use the tabs and poke about yourself.
What the day actually did
The usual measures, and one most journals leave out: what a trade is worth on plan against off plan. Run your cursor along the curve.
Which setup is paying
Setups written down as rules, each with its own scoreboard. A plan that isn’t paying shows up as a number rather than a feeling — look at the late-day chase.
What it costs to be human
The same trade judged by what came before it. Read from the fills alone, with nothing to tag and no diary to keep.
How much room is left
A funded account measured against the firm’s own rules. The number that matters is the distance to the floor, and it moves every day.
Demo data throughout: two CSV files of made-up trades, imported the same way yours would be. Nobody’s real account appears anywhere on this site. Invented trades dated 9 July 2026 to 30 September 2026, generated 30 September 2026. Every trade is in the files: demo trades and demo evaluation (CSV). Hypothetical results — see the disclosures.
Three things no spreadsheet will tell you
Every journal counts your wins. These are the questions that change how you trade next week.
What discipline pays
Write your setups down as rules. Tick the ones you actually followed. Crux splits your P&L between the trades that kept to plan and the ones that didn't, and tells you which rule costs you most when you break it.
The habits behind the losses
What your next trade does after a loss. Whether your size creeps up when you're down. How re-entering within two minutes works out. How much of the morning the afternoon gives back. All of it from your fills — nothing to write down.
How much room is left
Trailing drawdown, daily loss limits, profit targets and consistency rules, tracked from your own trades. Built for evaluation and funded accounts, where the number that matters is the distance to the floor.
Try the free evaluation calculator →A Christian trading journal
Crux is built by a Christian founder. That shows in how it is made: honest numbers with nothing dressed up, and a journal that measures your discipline, not just your profit.
Mason Shoemate, founder. Most trading content sells you the win. I built Crux for the trader behind the trades: honest numbers, discipline you can measure, and room for your faith right beside them. Write to me at mason@cruxjournal.com.
Like a city that is broken down and without walls is a man whose spirit is without restraint.
A daily Bible verse, if you want one
One verse the first time you open Crux each day, before you look at a single trade. 394 passages on work, money, patience and discipline, in an order that goes most of a year without repeating.
A journal for your faith, too
Set commitments like daily prayer and Bible reading, log each day, and see your streaks, a calendar and a weekly review, the way Crux journals your trading. With a word for each day, nine guided studies, nineteen reading plans, devotions and prayers for traders, a prayer journal and verses to memorize.
Yours to choose
The verse is off unless you turn it on, and Grow your faith can be hidden from the menu. Both are on every plan. Nothing else in Crux changes, whatever you believe.
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men.” Colossians 3:23
Size up on your own numbers, not after a good week
Write down the balance or profit you want before you trade bigger. Crux tracks how far you are, tells you when you get there, and tells you when you drop back below.
$6,400 to go until $45,000, where your plan allows 3 contracts.
- To start1 contract
- At $35,0002 contracts
- At $45,0003 contracts
- At $60,0004 contracts
Sized up early1 trade bigger than your plan allowed at the time.
Your steps, written down once
One contract to start, two at $35,000, three at $45,000. Measure by account balance, or by profit since a start date if deposits shouldn’t count. Or set it by percentage: add a contract after 10% growth, take one away after a 5% fall from your best close. Crux never suggests the numbers.
Up when you reach a step, down when you drop below one
Crux tells you in the app, and by email if you want, the day you reach the next step, and the day you fall back under the one you were on.
Sized up early? It says so
Every trade is checked against the size your plan allowed at the time it was taken. Trading smaller than your plan allows is never counted against you.
On Edge and Elite, and in every free trial.
Twelve more things it does
A journal you only open after the session is a diary. Most of Crux is pointed at the part of the day you can still do something about.
Before you trade
All plansOne answer to “can I take this?”, against your daily loss limit and how much of it today has left. Elite adds your risk rules and the headroom on every funded account, and works out the size that fits.
Your real balance
All plansStraight from your broker wherever it reports one. Otherwise it is worked out from your starting balance, your trades and the deposits and withdrawals you record. It is labelled as an estimate, so you always know which you’re looking at.
Your own risk rules
EliteTrades a day, losses in a row, a size cap, the hours you are allowed to trade. Checked against every fill, with an alert the moment one breaks.
A what-if simulator
Elite“What if I had stopped after two losses?” Run the rule over your own history and see what it would have cost or saved before you commit to it.
Every account on one board
EliteFunded accounts sorted by the one closest to failing: room to the floor, today’s P&L, and what is left before the firm’s daily loss limit.
A payout planner
EliteWhat actually stands between you and a withdrawal: the target, the minimum days, and the consistency rule that catches most people out.
Monthly goals
EliteSet what the month is for — adherence, green days, a drawdown you will not cross — and watch it move as the trades come in.
A scaling plan
EdgeWrite down the balance or profit you want before you trade bigger. Crux shows how far you are from the next step, tells you when you reach it, and flags any trade you sized up before you got there.
A morning check-in
EdgeSleep, energy, focus and stress in four taps. Crux then tells you what the days you felt like this have actually cost you.
A card worth posting
All plansYour week or month as an image, laid out properly, with the figures you choose to show and nothing you didn’t.
A public page
All plansYour totals at a link you own. A line says how much came straight from a broker, how much from a file and how much was typed by hand.
A verse, if you want one
All plansOff unless you ask for it. One a day when you open Crux, chosen for encouragement and for what scripture says about work, money and patience.
Keep scrolling — there are twelve.
Your trades arrive on their own
Connect once and stop exporting a statement after every session. Crux only ever reads: it has no order-entry code and never places, changes or cancels a trade.
Step-by-step guides for every connection →
NinjaTrader, Tradovate, cTrader, Topstep, TopstepX, TradeLocker, DXtrade, OANDA, Interactive Brokers, Kraken, Coinbase, Robinhood, OKX, Crypto.com, Binance.US, tastytrade, Schwab and E*TRADE are trademarks of their respective owners. Crux is an independent trading journal that connects to them — it is not a brokerage and never places orders.
NinjaTrader® is a registered trademark of NinjaTrader Group, LLC. No NinjaTrader company has any affiliation with the owner, developer, or provider of the products or services described herein, or any interest, ownership or otherwise, in any such product or service, or endorses, recommends or approves any such product or service.
Seven days free, then pick a tier
No card to start. Prices shown monthly; pay yearly and save about 17%.
Journal
- Unlimited trades and accounts
- Calendar, analytics and daily write-ups
- A weekly and monthly review, emailed to you
- Automatic broker connections
- File import from any broker
- Your account balance, straight from your broker where it reports one
- Screenshots and tagging
- Share your week as an image, and an optional daily Bible verse
- A pre-trade check, and a public page for your record
Edge
- Everything in Journal
- Playbooks and plan-adherence scoring
- The habits engine
- A daily check-in: what sleep, stress and focus do to your results
- A scaling plan: size up only when you hit your own number
Elite
- Everything in Edge
- Your own risk rules, checked on every trade, with an alert when you break one
- A what-if simulator: test a rule on your own history first
- Monthly goals with progress
- Prop firm evaluations — Apex, Topstep, FTMO — with email alerts before a limit
- Every funded account on one board, with a payout planner
Less than one losing trade a month on Journal.
Why so cheap? Crux is built and run by one person, with no sales team. It skips the features that cost the most to run, like market replay and AI coaching. You pay for the journal, not for the overhead.
Compare plansHide comparison
| What you get | Journal$9.99/mo | Edge$19.99/mo | Elite$29.99/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| The journal | |||
| Unlimited trades and accounts | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Calendar and daily write-ups | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Analytics: expectancy, R, drawdown | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Weekly and monthly review, emailed to you | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Notes, tags and screenshots | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Automatic broker connections | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| File import from any broker | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Account balance, straight from your broker where it reports one | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Export everything you have | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Working on your plan | |||
| Playbooks: your setups, written down | Not in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Plan-adherence scoring | Not in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| The habits engine | Not in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Daily check-in: how sleep, stress and focus move your results | Not in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Scaling plan: size up only when you hit your own number | Not in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Your own rules and goals | |||
| Personal risk rules, checked on every trade | Not in Journal | Not in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Alerts the moment you break one | Not in Journal | Not in Edge | Included in Elite |
| What-if simulator: test a rule on your own history | Not in Journal | Not in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Monthly goals with progress | Not in Journal | Not in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Funded and evaluation accounts | |||
| Prop firm evaluations tracked for you | Not in Journal | Not in Edge | Included in Elite |
| All your funded accounts on one board, worst first | Not in Journal | Not in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Payout planner: what stands between you and a withdrawal | Not in Journal | Not in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Email alerts before a drawdown or daily limit | Not in Journal | Not in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Multiple accounts side by side | Not in Journal | Not in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Everything else | |||
| Pre-trade check: every limit answered before you click | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Seven days free, no card | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Your data stays yours, export any time | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Read-only broker access, always | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| Share your week or month as an image to post | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| A public page for your record, saying what was synced and what was typed | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
| An optional daily Bible verse | Included in Journal | Included in Edge | Included in Elite |
Your seven free days include every row. Whatever you write in Crux stays readable and exportable on any plan — even after one ends. More detail in Plans, billing and refunds.
Already have an account? Sign in. New here? Choose a plan above to sign up — your seven free days start straight away, no card needed.
Weighing it up? See how Crux compares with TradeZella, TraderSync, Tradervue and Edgewonk.
Prop firm rules, explained
Plain-English guides to the rules that end prop firm accounts, checked against each firm’s own help centre and dated, with the sums worked through.
Tried Crux? Tell us straight.
We only show reviews from people who have actually used Crux, so this page starts empty and fills up honestly. If you’ve traded with it, tell us what worked and what didn’t. With your permission, we’ll quote you here.
Testimonials appearing on this website may not be representative of other clients or customers and is not a guarantee of future performance or success. If a reviewer was paid, or given anything, for a review, the review says so.
Start your seven days free
Every feature, no card, nothing to install. Connect a broker or import a file and your trades are scored against your own rules in minutes.
Not for you if you want trade signals, copy trading or a bot that trades for you: Crux never places a trade.
Questions? support@cruxjournal.com — we read every message.