How to Import Interactive Brokers Statements Into a Trading Journal
Export an Interactive Brokers activity statement, import it into SimpleTradeLog, and turn raw trade history into net P&L, commissions, fees, and trading performance insights.
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Keeping a trading journal is one of the most effective ways to improve your trading performance. But before you can review your trades, analyze your results, or track your progress, you need to get your trading data into your journal.
If you use Interactive Brokers, this guide shows you how to export an Activity Statement from IBKR, save it to your computer, import it into SimpleTradeLog, review your trading history, and analyze performance after commissions and fees.
How to Export an Interactive Brokers Activity Statement for SimpleTradeLog
Prefer a video walkthrough? Watch the full step-by-step guide before following the written instructions below.
Open the tutorial on YouTubeWhy import Interactive Brokers statements?
Interactive Brokers reports are excellent for record keeping, but they are not optimized for performance analysis.
Executions
Review entries, exits, partial fills, and position changes.
Commissions
See how trading costs affect each result.
Regulatory fees
Include applicable fees in net performance.
Realized P&L
Connect broker results with your trade review.
Account activity
Keep the broader account context close to your journal.
Step 1: Generate an Activity Statement in Interactive Brokers
Log in to Interactive Brokers and navigate to Performance & Reports → Statements.
- 1Select Activity StatementChoose the report type that contains your trading activity.
- 2Choose a date rangeUse Last 7 Days, Last 30 Days, Current Month, or a custom range.
- 3Generate and downloadOnce generated, download the statement file to your computer.
Step 2: Save the statement
Save the statement somewhere easy to find, such as Downloads or Documents/Trading.
The exact location does not matter as long as you can locate the file during the import process.
Step 3: Import the statement into SimpleTradeLog
Open SimpleTradeLog, navigate to Import Statement, and select the file you downloaded from Interactive Brokers.
Processed automatically
Executions, commissions, regulatory fees, gross P&L, and net P&L.
No manual workflow
No spreadsheet formulas, manual calculations, or copy-and-paste cleanup.
Step 4: Review your trades
Once the import completes, your trades become available inside SimpleTradeLog for review.
Entries
Review where trades started.
Exits
Review where trades closed.
Position sizes
Compare size with results and risk.
Trade outcomes
Understand which trades worked.
Net results
Review profit and loss after costs.
Step 5: Analyze trading performance
The real value comes after the import, when raw statement data becomes useful trading insight.
| Analysis | What it helps answer | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Net P&L | What did I actually keep? | Shows true performance after fees and commissions. |
| Performance by ticker | Which stocks contribute most? | Identifies symbols that help or hurt your results. |
| Trading statistics | How strong is my edge? | Tracks win rate, average winner, average loser, profit factor, largest gain, and largest loss. |
| Performance over time | Am I improving? | Compares daily, weekly, and monthly performance trends. |
Broker reports are designed for reporting. Journals are designed for improvement.
By reviewing results consistently, you can identify profitable behaviors, costly mistakes, strong setups, weak setups, and areas where fees or position sizing are working against you.
Interactive Brokers tells you what happened. A journal helps explain why it happened.
Common problems when importing IBKR statements
A few issues show up often when traders try to maintain their own journal manually.
Missing fees
Many spreadsheets ignore commissions and regulatory fees. SimpleTradeLog includes them when calculating net performance.
Manual data entry
Entering trades by hand is slow and often introduces errors. Statement imports eliminate that work.
Partial fills
Interactive Brokers statements often contain partial fills. SimpleTradeLog handles these during the import process.
Continue researching IBKR journals
Read the IBKR trade journal guide, open an IBKR .tlg file, compare the best trading journal for Interactive Brokers, explore AI trade analysis, learn when to replace a trading spreadsheet, or review pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Practical answers for traders importing Interactive Brokers statement data.
Can I import historical Interactive Brokers statements?
Yes. You can export historical activity statements and import them into SimpleTradeLog.
Does SimpleTradeLog calculate commissions?
Yes. Commissions are included when calculating net trading performance.
Does it include regulatory fees?
Yes. Applicable fees are processed during the import.
Can I replace my spreadsheet?
For many traders, yes. SimpleTradeLog automates imports and performance calculations while providing dedicated trading analytics.
Final thoughts
Exporting an Interactive Brokers activity statement is only the first step. The real goal is understanding your trading performance and improving over time.
By importing your statements into a dedicated trading journal, you can spend less time organizing data and more time reviewing the decisions that matter. SimpleTradeLog was built to make that process simple.
Import your IBKR statement and start reviewing
Turn Interactive Brokers statement exports into net P&L, trade history, and performance analytics without spreadsheet cleanup.