Avoid constantly ‘hunting’ for trades. The reason is simple: the trades that are truly worth risking your money on, and that have the highest potential for significant returns, are usually so clear that you can’t miss them. Don’t waste your time on low-probability trades that are hard to determine if they align with your trading strategy. The more you have to question whether a trade setup is genuinely valid, the less likely it is to be successful.
How to Let The Best Trades ‘Come to You’
The Market Isn’t Going Anywhere
The first step to stop searching too intensely for trades is to remember that the market will always be there. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that the market existed long before you were born and isn’t disappearing anytime soon. There will always be new opportunities, so don’t worry if you miss one now and then. There’s no need to rush; you aren’t in a race against time or anyone else. Understanding and internalizing these points is crucial for long-term success. The less urgency you feel to trade, the more likely you are to succeed over time.
Focus on Daily Charts Only
Concentrate solely on daily charts. This approach helps prevent over-trading and avoids unnecessary losses. It requires self-discipline, as it’s tempting to glance at lower time frames to “see what’s happening.” However, the moment you do this, you break your rules and expose yourself to the market’s temptations. Remember, you are trying to change your habits and routine to be more effective over the long term. This means you must be disciplined and resist the urge to trade constantly. The key is to plan your actions in advance and stick to your plan. A crucial part of this plan is focusing only on daily charts, which means you must adhere strictly to this rule to succeed.
Keep in mind, this isn’t a permanent restriction. You just need to focus on daily charts long enough to learn that the best trades will stand out clearly on higher time frames like the daily chart.
Slower, More Relaxed Trading Approach
By remembering that the market will still be there tomorrow and focusing only on daily charts, you can develop a slower, more relaxed approach to your chart and market analysis.
Adopting a slower, more relaxed approach allows you to observe the charts with less emotional attachment, and your directional bias will remain steadier since daily and weekly charts naturally move at a slower pace than shorter time frames.
Your primary goal is to identify TLS: trend, level, and signal. Over time, as you open your computer and load up your charts, the right trades will either stand out to you or they won’t. When you notice everything aligning and it feels right, don’t hesitate—take action.
Conclusion
The idea that you don’t need to trade frequently to make substantial gains over the long term, and that the best trades are often the easiest to identify, seems straightforward. However, many traders overlook this because they aren’t trained to think and trade with this mind-set.
You need to reach a certain level of trading knowledge and expertise before you can easily spot a good trade just by looking at your charts. Once you attain this level, the key is to create a trading plan based on your knowledge and stick to it. Since the most worthwhile trades will be so clear, you won’t need to search hard for them—they will practically stand out to you.
When you shift your mind-set from feeling like you “need to trade” to simply following your strategy and trading edge, the charts will become much clearer and easier to interpret.