Stonk Journal vs Rize Trade
What's the Difference Between Stonk Journal and Rize Trade?
Stonk Journal is a free, manual trade logger for traders building the habit. Rize Trade is a paid journal built for traders who need auto-import, deeper analytics, and rule-compliance reporting to fix what's breaking them.
Stonk Journal keeps it simple — you log every trade by hand and get clean basic stats.
Rize Trade syncs from your broker, tags your setups and emotions, and shows you where your money is going and where you're losing it.
What is Stonk Journal?
Stonk Journal is a free, donation-supported trading journal for manual trade entry and basic performance review. It's more polished than the average free spreadsheet, and the feature set is solid for a free tool.
It works across stocks, options, futures, forex, and crypto. Features include:
- Manual trade entry
- Rich text notes
- Custom tags
- PnL calendar
- Quick filters
- Hold time tracking
- Multi-currency support
- Trade setup tool to calculate risk/reward before entries
No ads. No paywall.
Where Does Stonk Journal Fall Short?
Two places: manual entry and shallow analytics. Traders outgrow it when they start trading more frequently or asking harder questions about their performance.
Why Traders Stop Using Stonk Journal (Manual Entry Friction)
You enter every trade by hand, one at a time. No broker connectivity. No CSV upload.
20 trades in a session means 20 manual entries after the close. That friction is the #1 reason traders quit journaling within a month.
If you're a swing trader putting on a few trades a week, manual entry works. If you're a day trader, scalper, or anyone running 10+ trades a session, manual entry breaks down within days.
One user summed it up: "It may be a good software but I can't write each of my trades manually. Importing the data from various stock brokers should be a must feature."
What Stonk Journal's Analytics Won't Tell You
You get the surface stats — win rate, profit factor, average winner/loser. You don't get the answers that change your P&L.
Questions Stonk Journal can't answer:
- Which specific setups make money? Which ones bleed you?
- What time of day are you most profitable — down to 15-minute blocks?
- Are your losses coming from a broken strategy, or from breaking your own rules?
- How much are revenge trades, FOMO entries, and early exits costing you — in real dollars?
Knowing your win rate is 48% doesn't tell you what to fix.
What is Rize Trade?
Rize Trade is a trading journal built to remove journaling friction and surface the behavior patterns behind your P&L. It records what happened, shows you why, and gives you the structure to fix it.
How Rize Trade Imports Your Trades
Two ways: broker sync (API) or CSV upload. Connect Interactive Brokers, Thinkorswim, Webull, TradeStation, NinjaTrader, and more.
- Auto-sync = no copy/paste, no missed trades
- Past history imports in minutes
- New trades show up automatically
The journal only works if you fill it out. Auto-import is the difference between journaling for a week and journaling for a year.
What Rize Trade's Analytics Show That Stonk Journal's Don't
Time-of-day breakdowns, setup-by-setup P&L, R multiples, MAE/MFE, psychology tags, and rule-compliance scoring. The reports answer the questions Stonk Journal leaves unanswered.
What is Playbook Compliance Scoring?
Playbook compliance scoring measures how often you follow your own trading rules. You build rule checklists into the platform, mark what you followed on each trade, and Rize Trade calculates compliance by trade, session, and week.
This answers a question for traders stuck in boom/bust cycles: Is my strategy the problem, or am I the problem?
How Rize Trade Tracks Emotions and Psychology
Tag every trade with the mental state behind it, then filter your P&L by that tag. FOMO, revenge, boredom, anxiety, overconfidence, fatigue.
Example: seeing that revenge trades cost you $2,400 last month makes the problem measurable — a line item with a dollar figure attached.
Rize Trade Time-of-Day Reports (15-Minute Blocks)
Time-of-day reports show when you make money and when you give it back, down to 15-minute increments.
This report reveals hidden losses. A common pattern: profit on the open, give it back between 11:00 AM and noon. The 15-minute breakdown shows exactly when losses accumulate.
What is Cross-Analysis and Filter Stacking?
Cross-analysis is the ability to overlay multiple variables and find patterns that single stats hide. Stack filters like:
- Setup type + day of week
- Emotion tag + position size
- Time frame + symbol
Serious journals reveal the variable combinations driving your results. Spreadsheets only give you averages.
Does Rize Trade Include Daily Journaling Templates?
Yes — premarket prep, if/then planning, intraday check-ins, and end-of-day recaps. Structured templates remove blank-page paralysis.
You sit down before the open, fill in the blanks, and trade with a plan.
What is the Rize Trade Progress Tracker (Discipline Heat Map)?
The Progress Tracker is a daily compliance heat map. It tracks whether you followed your process — max loss, max trades, stop time — independent of whether you made money.
The heat map exposes days where you profited despite breaking your own rules.
Stonk Journal vs Rize Trade — Feature Comparison
| Feature | Stonk Journal | Rize Trade |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (donations) | Essential $24/mo · Pro $49/mo |
| Trade Import | Manual only, one at a time | Broker API sync + CSV upload |
| Broker Connectivity | None | Interactive Brokers, TOS, Webull, TradeStation, NinjaTrader + more |
| Analytics | Win rate, profit factor, avg winner/loser | Full reports: time-of-day (15-min blocks), symbol, strategy, risk, R multiples, tags, trade duration, cross-analysis |
| Playbook / Strategy Builder | No | Yes — with rule checklists and compliance scoring |
| Emotion / Psychology Tags | Confidence meter + notes | Full emotion tagging with P&L filtering by mental state |
| Discipline Tracker | No | Daily rule compliance with heat map |
| Daily Journal Templates | No | Premarket prep, intraday check-ins, end-of-day recaps |
| Chart Plotting | Basic visualization | Auto-plotted entries/exits with custom indicators |
| R Multiple Tracking | No | Planned vs. realized R on every trade |
| MAE / MFE Analysis | No | Yes — shows money left on the table and worst drawdown per trade |
| Trade Replay | No | Yes |
| Community | No | Active Discord with recap competitions and accountability |
| Prop Firm Support | No direct integration | Demo account import for prop firm challenges |
| Money-Back Guarantee | N/A (free) | 30-day money-back guarantee |
When Stonk Journal Is the Right Call
Stonk Journal is the right call if you want a free, simple journal to prove you'll stick with it.
- You're new to journaling and need to build the habit first
- You take a handful of trades a week and manual entry is no big deal
- You want clean logging, notes, tags, and basic stats — and nothing more
Start free and see if you stick with it.
When to Switch from Stonk Journal to Rize Trade
Switch when manual entry and basic stats stop improving your results. Common signs:
- Manual entry has become a barrier. You skip trades. You journal three days a week instead of five. You dread it. Manual entry eats 20–30 minutes a day. Auto-import takes seconds.
- Your stats aren't telling you what to change. A 48% win rate gives you the outcome but no direction. You need to know which setups, which times, and which mental states are dragging it down.
- You keep repeating the same mistakes. Revenge trading, overtrading, cutting winners short. You need reporting that puts a dollar figure on each one.
- You're running prop firm challenges. If you're trading funded accounts (Think Capital, Apex, etc.), you need structured risk tracking against firm rules — daily loss limits, max drawdown, compliance monitoring.
- You want to run trading like a business. Rize Trade tracks the KPIs that matter: playbook compliance, R multiple performance, psychology tags, and daily rule adherence.
How Much Does Rize Trade Cost?
Essential Plan — $24/month. Three accounts, unlimited imports, broker sync, full analytics suite, daily journal, progress tracker, chart plotting, strategy builder.
Pro Plan — $49/month. Everything in Essential, plus unlimited accounts, voice notes, priority support, and the complete feature set.
Both plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee and can be canceled anytime.
Is Rize Trade Worth It Compared to Stonk Journal?
A journal that only records what happened is a diary. A journal that shows why it happened and gives you the structure to fix it is a performance tool.
Stonk Journal earns its spot as a free journal for beginners building the habit.
Rize Trade is the next phase — when you need auto-import so journaling sticks, and reporting deep enough that you stop guessing what's working and what's costing you money. For broader context on how broker relationships and account protections work, see FINRA's guidance on working with a broker.