TradeCowboy
TradeCowboy
your trades wrangled · your records organised
- 🔒 Read-only API keys — stored on your device
- 📄 Your data: plain files you own
- 🇦🇺 AU financial-year native — evidence export
The journal that (almost) writes itself
Your last journal entry was three weeks ago. We know.
Journalling works — that's why every serious trader starts one. Friction is why they stop. TradeCowboy watches your connected accounts, so imported fills can populate your journal with entry, exit, size, fees and P&L records. You review the records and add the part only you can write — the why.
Synced, not typed
Fills become journal entries automatically — scale-ins averaged, partial exits matched, fees counted. You approve anything ambiguous before it's written.
The why, captured
The Cowboy assistant helps you capture the reasoning while it's fresh. One sentence from your phone counts.
Your edge, visible
P&L calendar, win rate, hold times, per-account performance — built from the records imported into your journal.
Financial-year evidence, organised
The ATO already sees your trading.
Review the records you keep.
The ATO's crypto data-matching program collects records on 700,000+ Australian accounts every year. When questions come, the answer is organised records. TradeCowboy keeps them as you trade — then exports your financial year in one click.
One-click FY export
A financial-year evidence pack for review: summary + trades and expenses CSVs — per-currency, close-date basis, with AUD conversion at official RBA rates where available.
Trader-vs-investor evidence
The ATO weighs your activity — frequency, turnover, hold times, system. TradeCowboy tracks those indicators so you and your accountant can assess your position with evidence, not vibes.
Receipts, organised
Snap a receipt and AI reads the vendor, date, amount and GST into an expense ledger — with an apportionment percentage you set, for you and your accountant to review. Deduplicated by invoice number, audited against the receipt.
TradeCowboy is record-keeping software — it organises evidence. It doesn't compute your tax or decide your status, and nothing here is tax advice. Verify your position with a registered tax practitioner.
How it works
Connect. Trade. Review.
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1
Connect
Add your exchanges and brokers with read-only API keys. Keys are stored in your device's keychain and are never sent to any TradeCowboy server.
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2
Trade like you already do
Imported fills are organised into your journal. You approve suggestions and add the "why" while it's fresh — from your desk or your phone.
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3
Review without the scramble
Review your calendar, P&L and trader-status evidence all year — then export an FY evidence pack to check against provider statements.
Works where you trade
Supported exchanges and brokers
…plus US & Canadian brokers via SnapTrade. Some connectors are in early access — beta members help validate them first, and steer which venues come next.
Private by architecture
Local-first. Your data never becomes our asset.
On your device
Your trading history lives in plain, open files on your computer — readable in any text editor, exportable forever. There is no readable cloud copy of your trading history, anywhere.
Keys we never hold
Exchange keys are read-only and live in your OS keychain. They are never uploaded, never synced, never seen by us.
End-to-end encrypted phone sync
The iPhone companion (launching alongside the desktop app) syncs through an encrypted relay: our storage only ever holds ciphertext we cannot decrypt. Only your paired devices hold the key.
Honest about AI
Optional AI features (receipt reading, the Cowboy assistant) send only what's needed for that request — the receipt you snap, your message, and the journal excerpts the assistant needs to answer — never your keys, never your full history.
Founding access
Launching late July 2026
Questions, answered
Frequently asked questions
Is this tax advice?
No. TradeCowboy organises your records and surfaces evidence — it never computes a tax number, decides whether you're a trader or an investor, or tells you what to claim. Those calls belong to you and a registered tax practitioner. What we do is give you organised records to review against provider statements before that conversation.
Can TradeCowboy trade with my API keys?
No. You connect with read-only keys (each venue's setup guide walks you through creating them), and keys are stored only in your device's keychain. TradeCowboy has no server that ever receives them.
Where is my data stored?
On your device, in open formats — plain text and CSV. The optional phone sync stores only end-to-end-encrypted data we can't read. Your journal is a folder you own: back it up, move it, or leave anytime.
What does it cost?
There's a free beta for journalling. Paid plans for additional supported connections will be announced after launch. The FY evidence export remains a beta record-keeping feature and is not sold as a complete or accountant-ready pack while source reconciliation and practitioner review are underway.
My exchange isn't listed. Can I still use it?
Maybe — report imports already fold in a few venues without a live connector, more are on the roadmap, and beta members steer which connectors and importers get built next. Join the waitlist and tell us where you trade.
Who's building this?
A solo Australian trader-developer, building in public. TradeCowboy started as the tool its founder needed for his own trading and his own ATO filing — then got good enough to share.