As a novice trader, youll often feel the need to trade.

You may be bored or frustrated. Or you just want to try a certain type of trade.

STOP!

Realize that you dont have to be trading all the time to be successful. In fact not trading is often the very best decision you can make.

The market tells you when to trade. If you feel the urge to place a trade or find yourself chasing a trade, walk away from the computer. Better still; take the opportunity to meet a friend for coffee.

The trades you do when youre feeling the need will usually be lemons and leave you with a very bitter taste in your mouth!

They will usually not have clear signals, but youve convinced yourself they are there. After losing your premium, or much of it, youll look back and wonder how you could possibly have entered that trade. Its happened to all of us, so dont be too hard on yourself. Just dont do it again.

The market is going to do what the market is going to do, not what you need or want it to do!

And remember the old saying, If you cant see it, its not there. So if you stand back from your computer and the chart pattern or signal doesnt jump out at you, its not there.

EASY IS BEST

The novice is constantly staring at charts, looking for and often inventing signals. If you have your strategy in place and you wait for the patterns to form, your entry points will FEEL easy. They will be obvious you wont need to be searching for them.

WRITE IT DOWN

Remember to keep a log book. We keep one, which includes any potential trades those which look like they will possibly provide an entry in the near future. Its good to see if they eventually develop into a trade. It will help guide you up to a point where you make a decision whether to enter, or to leave it alone.

Also, when you enter a trade, log it in your book with a few details and, commit to a stop loss point and a profit level where you will be happy to exit the trade. Remember, dont be greedy or youll see your premium reach that point, pass it and quickly drop back past your original exit point. Youll then see how you would have been happy to exit at your prescribed price!

Much of the time there wont be any trades for you to enter, so it leaves you with plenty of spare time for gaining extra knowledge and enjoying life. You probably wont trade more than a few times a week. So, you can see, theres a lot of time to be analysing charts and feeling the NEED to trade.

Be strong and disciplined!