The core problem with any template — Notion, spreadsheet, or otherwise — is manual entry. Manual entry creates three failure modes specific to crypto and derivatives trading:
Fees and funding disappear. On perps, a trade that looks profitable by entry/exit price can be net-negative after maker/taker fees and 8-hour funding payments. Most traders don't bother calculating the real cost, so their journal shows phantom P&L.
Leverage isn't tracked honestly. You write "10x long ETH" but don't record the actual liquidation distance or the margin impact on your account. When you review, you can't distinguish a disciplined 3x position from a reckless 20x gamble.
Trades get skipped. After a bad loss, the last thing you want to do is open Notion and log it. But those are the trades that reveal your leaks. Selective logging creates survivorship bias in your own data.
These aren't Notion-specific problems. They apply to every manual template. The difference is whether you're willing to maintain the discipline — or whether you'd rather automate the capture and focus your energy on the review.
