I have been actively trading the market since 2019 without doing stupid things (only minor mistakes). Before 2019 I was trying to get rich fast, and of course, that didn't go well.
One of the things I have been doing since 2019 was writing principles or key ideas regarding my trading journey. That includes significant mistakes or things I noticed about the fundamental laws behind price movements.
One of those principles is patience. I would put this principle in my top 5 definitely (and I have more than 40 principles I have written since 2019)
The principle: Whenever the market is not providing evident opportunities, DO NOT TRADE! Be aware that you will get anxious because of the lack of executions. However, remember that history has shown you that not trading during those periods was always the best thing to do.
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Let's expand the previous principle.
I have realized that you can not force the market to provide opportunities, and sometimes the market will not provide opportunities for extended periods (months). The first time this happened to me, I started getting anxious because I thought I was missing something, and I executed a lot of low-quality setups, of course, that finished in an absolute mess.
That kind of behavior didn't happen once to me, but several times. And my conclusion always was that if the market is not providing clear opportunities, it was always best not to trade. In other words, I would have been better without executing setups. So, at one point, I asked myself. "How many more times do I need to experience this to understand that I should not trade if the market is not following the filters I have defined?". And in 2019, I decided that would be the last one.
I'm writing about this because I didn't have a lot of executions lately, and I can feel that anxiety telling me, "DO SOMETHING, just trade." And at this stage I'm currently in, I do not follow those feelings anymore, but I keep following my trading plan.
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Let me explain how this applies to two assets I like trading, SP500, and Bitcoin.
On Bitcoin, I'm interested in developing bullish setups, and my filters are the ones you can see in the following image. However, if the price does not move as expected, I will not trade. And not trading is tricky because of the anxiety I explained to you before.
On the other hand, we have S&P500. Similar to BTC, the price has been falling, and I expect bullish opportunities to come. However, I will not risk one dollar until I see the current descending channel broken.
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Lets Recap:
As a swing trader, developing your patience and waiting for the best opportunities without trading in the meantime will save you a lot of money. Remember that you can not force the market to provide you with opportunities; you can only be ready to take action when those opportunities come. I hope this concept was useful. I mainly wrote this for myself, like a journal. If you have any concepts you would like to share in the comments; it's always a pleasure to read your ideas. Have a great day!
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