Commodity Trading Journal India: Record MCX Trades

A commodity trading journal for India needs the exact Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) contract, expiry, quoted-price unit, number of lots, executed prices and total costs. The unit matters: a price move on standard crude oil produces a different cash result from the same move on crude oil mini. Keep that calculation beside your setup and session notes so you can distinguish a recording error from a trading decision.

Contract details to copy from your execution record

• Write the full contract symbol and expiry, including whether it is a standard or mini contract.
• Separate lots from the physical quantity each lot represents, such as barrels or kilograms.
• Record whether the price quote is per physical unit or another base quantity; use the matching multiplier.
• Keep each actual entry and exit, the direction and all costs together.
• Add session context, the planned exit and any reason you changed it. An exchange expiry and your own intended exit are different records.

Use a journal template for the decision fields. Exchange specifications establish contract terms; the journal entry should preserve the terms that applied when you traded.

Verified crude contract units, with a worked example

Made-up example using those units: buy a standard crude futures lot at ₹6,400 per barrel and sell at ₹6,425. Gross profit = (₹6,425 - ₹6,400) × 100 = ₹2,500. Assume total trade costs of ₹180: net profit = ₹2,500 - ₹180 = ₹2,320. With a mini lot at the same assumed fills, gross profit would be (₹6,425 - ₹6,400) × 10 = ₹250. The standard-contract cost assumption is not a mini-contract quote.

This example explains the contract multiplier, not a return on margin. Do not use the specification's printed margin floor as a current broker margin quote; MCX directs readers to later applicable circulars. Keep deposits and margin requirements separate from realised trading profit.

The quote-unit trap: a Gold Mini example

Crude oil is quoted per barrel, so the multiplier equals the barrels in a lot. Metals are different. Rupeezy's support page on MCX lot sizes lists Gold Mini at 100 grams per lot with the price quoted per 10 grams and a tick of ₹1. It lists standard Gold at 1 kg per lot, also quoted per 10 grams. That page is a broker's summary, so confirm the figures on the MCX specification for the series you trade.

The multiplier is lot size divided by quote unit. For Gold Mini that is 100 g ÷ 10 g = 10, so each ₹1 move in the quoted price changes one lot by ₹10. For standard Gold it is 1,000 g ÷ 10 g = 100, so each ₹1 move changes one lot by ₹100.

Made-up example: you buy one Gold Mini lot at a quoted price of ₹1,20,000 and sell at ₹1,20,300. The move is 300 points, so gross profit is 300 × 10 = ₹3,000, before costs. Using 100 as the multiplier by mistake would show ₹30,000, ten times too much. The prices here are invented and are not a forecast or quote.

Review the session and the execution separately

In your notes, distinguish a planned evening entry from an unplanned trade taken while tired. If you mention a report or news event, record when you saw it and what you decided. A later price move cannot establish that the news caused your result. Compare the same contract type and setup before attributing differences to the session.

There is no universal closing time or expiry shortcut in this journal template. Check the applicable exchange notice and your broker's handling instructions for the contract and date. A futures trade record can help organise exits; a psychology entry adds the decision context.

MCX trading hours and your evening trades

Many MCX traders trade in the evening, so session timing belongs in the journal. Zerodha's market bulletin, which links MCX circular 550/2026, says that from Monday 2 November 2026 non-agri commodities trade from 9:00 am to 11:55 pm. It says select agri commodities (cotton, cotton oil and kapas) trade from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, and all other agri commodities from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. The bulletin also says intraday positions are squared off 10 minutes before market close, which is a broker-side rule worth checking with your own broker.

Hours change with the US daylight-saving calendar and the seasonal hours have an end date, so always note the date of the trade and the timing in force. Our commodity market timings guide has more detail. Do not copy a closing time from an old article into your notes.

Useful session notes include the time of entry, how tired you were, whether a data release was due, and whether you planned the trade before the session began.

Using OneTradeJournal for commodity notes

OneTradeJournal records trades by hand, with strategy, stop, target, emotions and notes. It estimates charges per trade and provides strategy and time analysis. A suggested MCX note field is not a claim that the app supplies current margins, contract specifications or global-price correlation. Confirm that the actual form represents your contract and units before relying on its totals.

A commodity trade log you can copy

For a ready-made layout, see our trading journal template for India. If you are comparing brokers for commodities, our commodity broker page is a place to start, and commodity trading for beginners covers the basics.

Common recording errors in commodity journals

• Using the lot size as the multiplier when the price is quoted per 10 grams or per kilogram.
• Mixing standard and mini contracts in one total without a label.
• Recording the wrong expiry after a roll.
• Leaving out costs, which matter more on small price moves.
• Treating margin as profit or loss.
• Writing the reason for a trade after seeing the result.

A monthly check helps: pick three trades at random and recompute the profit by hand from the lot, quote unit and fills. If your journal total differs, find out why before relying on any chart. OneTradeJournal is a manual journal with no market data or broker connection, so you enter every number yourself. That makes it more important to type the unit correctly.

Reviewing commodity trades once a month

At the end of the month, group your trades by contract and by time of day. Check whether the evening session helps or hurts your discipline, whether your largest losses came from trades you planned, and whether mini and standard contracts behave differently in your own results. Look at how many trades followed a data release, and whether you kept your stop. A short list of findings, written in plain words, is more useful than a long spreadsheet you never open.

Keep the same layout every month so results can be compared. Also keep the contract note or order book screenshot as the source of truth for each fill, and use the journal for the reasoning that a broker statement cannot show.

Sources

• MCX Crude Oil specifications, checked 15 Oct 2026.
• MCX Crude Oil Mini specifications, checked 15 Oct 2026.
• OneTradeJournal official product scope, checked 15 Oct 2026.