TradeStation trades into a journal, via TradeManager

On the TradeStation desktop platform, the export you want is in TradeManager Analysis: tick your account, set a date range, Generate, then Data > Export to CSV or XLSX. The Trades List section gives you one row per trade with price, quantity, profit and commission. On the web, TradeStation's Activity tab offers a CSV of completed buys and sells. Either file imports through the journal.

Desktop: TradeManager Analysis

1. Open TradeManager Analysis.
2. Tick the account or accounts, set the date range, and click Generate.
3. Choose Data > Export. TradeStation offers XLSX and CSV; XLSX needs full Excel installed. You can export the whole report or tick individual sections.
4. Tick only the Trades List section and save as CSV.

Exporting just the Trades List matters. A full report CSV stacks several sections, each with its own headers, in one file. The journal reads the first row as the header row, so a stacked file confuses it. One section, one header, one clean import.

The Trades List columns

TradeStation's help does not say whether each row is a whole round trip or one leg. Look at your file: if entry and exit sit on separate rows sharing a trade number, it is legs, and only the closing row carries the result.

Two things we found when we tested the import

The Shares/Contracts header. The journal recognises Tradovate files partly by the word "contract" in a header. A TradeStation style file with a Shares/Contracts column was read as a Tradovate file, and the symbol came out as the trade number. Rename that header before importing.

Legs give points, not dollars. With the header renamed, a file of buy and sell legs is read as fills and paired first in, first out. For a generic file the journal works out P&L as price difference times quantity, without the futures point value. For stocks that is correct. For futures it is not: our ES test came out wildly wrong.

The layout that imports correctly

For futures, turn each round trip into one row and keep TradeStation's own Profit/Loss figure. We tested this exact layout and every field landed right:

Stocks traded at TradeStation can go in as legs: rename Shares/Contracts to Quantity and let the journal pair them. Keep stocks and futures in separate journal accounts either way.

Web: the Activity tab

TradeStation's newer web hub has an Activity tab listing completed buy and sell transactions over a time frame you choose, with a CSV download. It is a list of fills, so the same rule applies: fine for stocks, rebuild futures into one row per trade. The Statements tab holds confirmations, monthly statements and tax forms as PDFs for your records.

Gotchas

• Futures symbols with expiry codes. TradeStation writes contracts like ESZ26. Use the root (ES) in your import file so the journal files it under futures; keep the full code in a note if you want it.
• Time zone. TradeStation does not document the zone in these exports. Check a trade you remember and set the journal's time zone to match. Use ISO dates.

What to review

• Commission per contract. TradeStation gives you the number per trade. Divide by contracts and compare across months.
• Holding time. Scalps and swing trades behave differently. Sort by duration.
• R. Add your stops and read results in R. The R-multiple calculator shows how.