The Options Journal is QuantWheel's cross-strategy performance and trade-tracking surface. While the Wheel → Results tab shows wheel-specific metrics, the Journal shows everything - every trade from every connected broker, including non-wheel positions, dividends, and cash flows. This page is a routing map: which Journal tab answers which question.
Before you start
Required:
- The Wheel or Quant plan, or an active $1 trial. The 5 Journal tabs, cost basis, rolls, chains, and transaction history are limited to the Wheel and Quant plans. QuantWheel GEX includes one broker connection and the Open Positions table only.
- At least one connected broker with trading history.
- 5 minutes to learn the 5-tab layout.
The 5 tabs + Open Chains
The Journal has 5 sub-tabs in the sidebar, each tuned for a different question:
Tab 1: Profit View
Question it answers: "How is my portfolio performing over time?"
Performance cards (Net P&L, Trade Win %, Profit Factor, Avg Win/Loss, Deposits/Withdrawals) and 6 charts (Cumulative P&L, Net P&L, Account Balance, ROI, Cash Balance, Drawdown). This is the dashboard view - open it when you want a one-glance health check across your full account.
Deep dive: How to read the Profit View charts.
Tab 2: Calendar
Question it answers: "When did I make or lose money?"
A monthly calendar grid with per-day P&L amounts and trade counts, plus weekly totals. Toggles separate roll P&L from new premiums so you can see what's income vs. what's housekeeping. Useful for spotting patterns - bad weeks, expiration-day spikes, monthly rhythms.
Deep dive: How to use the Calendar P&L view.
Tab 3: Transactions
Question it answers: "What specifically closed, and what did each trade net me?"
An itemized list of every closed transaction - ticker, strike, type, contracts, close date, dollar amount, ROI. Summary cards at the top split the month's realized P&L from its unrealized premiums. This is the line-item audit trail.
Deep dive: How to review your transactions.
Tab 4: Per-Ticker
Question it answers: "How has each individual stock performed for me across all the wheeling I've done?"
A table grouped by underlying ticker, with each row showing the full history: options sold, realized gains, unrealized, total P&L, ROI, and the key column - Real Cost, your adjusted cost basis after all premiums collected. This is where you see whether your wheel has actually reduced your effective cost on a given ticker over time.
Deep dive: How to view per-ticker performance.
Tab 5: Trades
Question it answers: "Show me every individual trade, raw, with broker source?"
The raw trade feed from your connected brokers. Every buy, every sell, every expiration. Includes filters by account, symbol, source, and date. This is the deepest audit-level view - use it to reconcile with your broker's statements or to catch a trade that didn't import cleanly.
Deep dive: How to review the raw trade feed.
Open Chains (on Open Positions)
Question it answers: "What's the state of my multi-leg or actively-rolling positions?"
Not strictly a Journal tab, but lives on the Open Positions page with related scope. Tracks positions that have multiple legs or an active rolling history, showing realized + unrealized + locked-in P&L across the chain.
Deep dive: Tracking open chains and multi-leg positions.
Which tab to use when
- End of month check-in → Calendar (monthly P&L grid)
- Quarterly performance review → Profit View (charts + overall metrics)
- Tax prep / reconciliation → Transactions (line items) or Trades (raw feed)
- Deciding whether to keep wheeling a ticker → Per-Ticker (Real Cost column)
- Debugging a missing trade → Trades (filter by symbol and date)
- Tracking an active rolling position → Open Chains
How the Journal complements the Wheel tabs
The Wheel tab has its own results view (Wheel → Results). They're not duplicates. The distinction:
- Wheel → Results is the wheel-strategy-only summary - closed wheels, open wheels, wheel-flavored metrics. Use it to answer "how is the wheel going?"
- Journal → Profit View is the full-account summary - every trade, every strategy, all cash flows. Use it to answer "how is my portfolio going?"
If you only run the wheel, the two views overlap significantly. If you run other strategies alongside the wheel (buy-and-hold, covered calls on stock you bought directly, long calls, etc.), the Journal is the broader view and Results is the narrow one.
Common issues
The Journal is empty after I connected my broker.
Initial sync takes a few minutes to hours depending on broker. Fidelity has a 24-hour delay on positions and transactions. If the wait goes longer than expected, see Broker sync failed.
Numbers in the Journal don't match my broker's statement.
Small differences are usually timing - QuantWheel's data is as-of-last-sync; your broker's statement is as-of-trade-date. Larger differences are usually categorization - QuantWheel separates rolls from new premiums, while some broker statements bundle them. Check the relevant toggle (Show/Exclude Roll P&L) to match your broker's methodology.
Can I filter the Journal by strategy (wheel vs. non-wheel)?
Not directly as a filter, but Per-Ticker's row expansion shows chains, which are QuantWheel's grouping of multi-step wheel sequences. Non-wheel trades appear as single-leg transactions.
Is the Journal available in the free demo?
No. The Journal requires a connected broker, which requires a paid plan. The demo shows sample journal data so you can see the shape of each tab, but real-data journaling is a feature of the Wheel and Quant plans. GEX subscribers can connect one broker and see live positions, but the Journal tabs stay locked until they upgrade to the Wheel plan.