Okay -- played around with TradeBench, which isn't bad. Was planning on going with it at least through year-end but then I checked out Trademetria -- kinda digging that one now. For the most part, it has all the features I liked about TradeBench and more. There is a subscription fee but finding a journal that works for you is "priceless."
I keep a simple log of each trade so I can look back at performance the following month. But it really is simple - dates of entry and exit, amount lost/gained, entry signal/pattern, with trend/against trend, rationales for stop placement. Early each month I look back over the trades closed the previous month with two simple aims - could the losers have been smaller, could the winners have been bigger? As in all research / learning / data gathering / planning, I've found its most efficient to start with the outcomes rather than the inputs - i.e. what questions you must answer, rather than what data you could collect. Or if you like, what you need to decide rather than what you'd like to know.
So I had been journaling thoughts on this site for the past week. This was a beneficial exercise as it taught me that I preferred a web-based solution for a trading journal that allowed me to express my thoughts and ideas. That led me to look at other, more robust options such as TradeBench and Trademetria. Thanks to themickey for the list he posted. I had been trying to use Edgewonk, which is a good product but there are a few features that it lacks that are important to me: (1) a true, web-based solution (Edgewonk is a stand-alone solution and while it can be installed in DropBox to make it cloud-based, it still isn't as "portable" as TradeBench and Trademetria); (2) multiple account support in a single instance (Edgewonk recommends setting up a separate instance of Edgewonk for each account so you end up having multiple journals that you need to manage which can become overwhelming and time-consuming - especially for someone like me with ADD); (3) freestyle journaling without needing to identify specific trades (Trademetria has the best option for this as you can have a daily journal and if you took trades that day, it will automatically capture those at the bottom; TradeBench has a "Notes" tab which can be used for this, although not as structured, organized, etc). At the time I purchased Edgewonk, it seemed like the best solution for me. Again, for some traders it may work really well and it has some nice features but I needed a solution that was more streamlined yet flexible in the journaling. Some days I don't have trades -- but I need to get my thoughts down or just want to lay out a plan for the next day or week. Edgewonk is fine if you want to analyze every trade with all sorts of pull-down menus, categories, etc. I realized I didn't want to be that rigid. I needed a journal that just didn't analyze trades and provide metrics but allowed me to just become more self-aware in a flexible way. On the positive side, I can always go back to Edgewonk -- they keep adding features and making improvements. At some point, I can see it being a subscription-based, web-based solution. Further, I still have the license to the Edgewonk Trader Development course, which has some value to make sure I'm measuring the right things, doing the proper self-analysis, etc. Edgewonk does have a free trial for those who want to check it out. It is visually appealing and has a good support team. There is a streamlined, free version of Trademetria but I went ahead and purchased a monthly subscription so I could track all of my various accounts. Assuming it works well for me over the next month, I will likely purchase a yearly one. I'll plan on posting an update on my experience as this whole journal thing has been a source of frustration in my trading, and I have been reluctant to try another solution given my prior investment in Edgewonk. My belief is that consistency in my journaling will lead to more consistency in my trading results.
Just to give an update, I went ahead and purchased an annual subscription to Trademetria - I really like this journal. I have exchanged a number of emails with the creator of it and he has been very helpful. I did make a couple of suggestions for upgrades which he is taking into consideration.