[00:02] making more money is to trade more. More charts, more setups, more entries, more charts, more setups, more entries, more action. But that mindset is exactly what destroy most traders. Just because the Forex market is open 24
[00:16] hours a day, 5 days a week, does not necessarily means that you have to trade every single day. And just because the market is moving, does not mean you have to be part of it.
[00:30] The truth is a huge part of becoming a profitable trader is knowing when not to trade. So, it's like knowing when not to trade is as important as knowing when to trade. Because as a trader, you only have a
[00:45] finite amount of capital. And if you keep chasing low probability setups, eventually you won't have any money left for the high quality ones that actually matter, that actually make you money. And the thing about these
[00:58] high quality setups is that they don't come around often. But when they do, you need to be ready. You need to be ready to deploy your capital. So, in this lesson, I want to show you the market conditions in which you should not
[01:11] trade. So, you can preserve your capital, protect your trading psychology, and stop donating money to conditions that were just never worth trading in the first place. So, with that being said, let's dive
[01:24] into the lesson. Now, the Forex market is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, right? Every day is a trading day, but that does not mean that you should trade there is a high probability setup that aligns with your plan. Remember, if you
[01:39] blow up your capital, you can't trade, right? Because if you are pretty much going all in on these low probability setups, you are just setting yourself up for failure in the long term.
[01:52] that does not mean you have to trade it. Right? It's imperative that you guys understand when not to trade. Because knowing when not to trade is as important as knowing when to trade. And when to trade is very simple. It's just
[02:06] that aligns with your plan, your mechanical trading plan, take that trade. If there isn't, don't trade. As simple as that. Right? But at the same time, there is some days or some months, some
[02:19] scenarios where you shouldn't be taking a trade at all. Okay? And before I talk more about that, I just want to say this, right? 99% of the volatility you see every single day is just a trap waiting for the unsuspecting
[02:31] trader. If you're not careful whatsoever, if you're impatient, if you are trying to force trades when there is no opportunity, just because you want to make money, you are going to make a mistake, and you
[02:44] are going to lose. Even if you don't make a mistake, the market will induce you to making a mistake. Right? And you will lose money. And this is exactly why so many of traders actually lose money in the
[02:56] markets because they are impatient. Now, quality setups don't come around often, but when they do, you need to be ready. And if you're chasing volatility probability setups, uh you're forcing trades, you are
[03:10] revenge trading, all these type of stupid mistakes, you will not be ready when the quality setups come. Because when the quality setups come, guess what? You either have no money to actually take it, or you don't have
[03:23] emotional capital. Right? That means you're not emotionally ready to take losing the past few trades, and your confidence is down after, you know, going through this huge losing streak. Therefore, it's extremely important to
[03:36] know when not to trade so you can preserve your capital for the high actually work. Okay? And quite simply put, there is not trade.
[03:50] markets are illiquid. All right? So, let me just explain what this mean. Now, based on my 5 years of experience, you should not trade when it meets any of these criteria. Okay? So, I'm going to explain one by one. All right?
[04:04] Let me just pull up the drawing tool if I actually need to draw something. So, the first scenario is when price is in the middle of nowhere. Now, what do I mean when I say price is in the middle of nowhere? Basically, if you actually
[04:16] right? You identify your market structure, you mark up your point of interest, you should be just waiting for price to get to the point of interest. know, it just broke structure to the upside. And then right now you are
[04:30] to this demand zone so you can look for an entry. This means that when price is pulling back, you're not doing anything. All right? You are just waiting for price to patiently get down to the point of
[04:42] interest, then you take that trade. Okay? But obviously, later on you will and you will know that you can trade this countertrend as well, and we actually teach you how to do that. Okay? But for now, just know that when price
[04:55] means price is in the middle of nowhere, and since price is in the middle of trade. Right? Because it messes up your risk to reward. If you try to enter for a trade when price is in the middle of nowhere,
[05:08] where should you place a take profit? You realize that you will most likely get a very, very bad risk to reward, like a one is to one risk to reward, or even worse than that. Right? So, when price is in the middle of nowhere, do
[05:20] not trade. Okay? Do not trade whatsoever. Just, you know, after you do point of interest that you want to enter on, and just patiently wait for price to tap into that point of interest, and then go and look for your entry model.
[05:36] So, price in the middle of nowhere, do nothing. Price at the point of interest, that is where you can start to look for your trading opportunity. All right? And You might be thinking, "Brett, I already know this. You said this a thousand
[05:48] But trust me when I say that this is so many This is where so many traders mess do, you just don't do it. Right? You ignore my advice, and you try to, you
[06:00] know, enter for a sell right here where price is already entering into our discount zone, entering into this uh demand zone right here, and try to enter for a sell here when it's way too late to trade the countertrend. Right? So,
[06:12] trade the market properly. And like I said, we will go deeper into that in the the multi-time frame market phases course module, the lesson. Right? For price is in the middle of nowhere, don't trade. Even if you are trading the
[06:26] countertrend just like this, right? So, let's say you're trading a countertrend, pullback, right? In this case, if you don't enter for a sell, you this supply zone, right? And then you actually look for your entering for the
[06:40] countertrend. So, if price is like right here, it's in the middle of nowhere as well, right? Because price has not actually mitigate any point of interest. Right? You should only trade after price mitigate a point of interest, show your
[06:54] entry model, then you take that trade. If price mitigate a point of interest, and you don't see your entry model, same thing. You do not take that trade whatsoever. All right? So, yeah, that's that. That's the first point. When price
[07:06] that's a no-go. All right? Next, when you're experiencing slow and choppy price action and there is no clear bias. Now, what I mean right here is where it's similar to what I said right here
[07:20] where price is in the middle of nowhere, but in this case, it's slow and choppy price action. Okay? So, maybe just let me go on to the charts and show you some action. This right here will be a good example
[07:33] You can pretty much see price is just oscillating, right? Going sideways. There is no clear bias whatsoever. Okay? Because if you look at the overall trend, right? We are still bearish. And if you are still bearish, we are waiting
[07:47] for price to, you know, mitigate some form of supply that we have right here, form of supply that we have right here, or or even like
[07:59] just waiting for price to mitigate that supply. So, if price is like slow and there is no clear bias, we can't really tell whether price is going up right now or whether price is going down. It's just chopping around within this range.
[08:12] This is the market condition that I don't personally trade. Right? And yes, we teach you how to trade consolidation, and you can do that. Right? But for me the market when price is consolidating just like this, and it's slow, and the
[08:27] unpredictable. Right? There is no clear bias, right? from this high, this low, and then price is sweeping the liquidity from this high as well. And right now we are just back to exactly where we start. Right? We
[08:41] now we are back to where we start. Price is in the middle of nowhere, no clear bias whatsoever. We are neither bullish or bearish, we are just going in circles. Right? So, in this case, it's honestly a waste of time to to trade
[08:54] to actually break out of this consolidation, right? And have more right here, very smooth price action, then you can go and look for your trade
[09:06] price action, just just don't bother, honestly. Okay, so next is Mondays and Fridays. Right? I personally do not like to trade Mondays and Fridays
[09:18] as well. Okay? So, you must think about it in this way. it in this way. So, when the market opens on a Monday, this is where the retail traders, or rather majority of traders,
[09:30] just come back onto the market after a 48-hour break. Right? Because the markets are closed on Saturday and Sunday. Right? So, the markets are closed on Saturday and Sunday. As a result, Monday, when the markets
[09:44] open, this is where traders, they come back after this 48 hours break, and they are slowly settling in to their trading desk. So, as a result, there's going to be lower trading volume. Okay? There's going to be lower trading volume.
[09:56] exceptions, right? If I see like a top-notch A+ extreme high probability I'm going to take it because my trading criteria, I will take the trade regardless of the day. Right? But yeah,
[10:12] if it's just like a mediocre setup, you know, it's it's like a eh to me, yeah, Because there is this where there's a lot of traps on Monday, right? And Monday is also the day where the market
[10:26] like trying to determine which direction price is going to play out, right? Is it going to go down in that that week, right? So, Monday is another scenario where I just don't trade on Monday. Okay? And also there's a lot of traps on
[10:40] Monday, right? Especially since, you know, um the market just open, right? Example, when the market open, it could open at like a gap, right? It could open gap up, right? Like and then market open right here. And then as a result, you
[10:54] bullish right now, but in this gap up is just to sweep the liquidity from this just turn incredibly bearish. So, there's a lot of traps on Monday and once again the market is still trying to figure out where to go for the following
[11:08] week. So, yeah, Monday is just not for me, right? And another thing is Friday, right? So, other than Monday, I also don't like trading on Friday, okay? don't like trading on Friday, okay? Reason being Friday, there is a lower
[11:21] amount of trading volume, right? There is lower liquidity because yeah, the market is is ending right now. So, Friday that is where the institutions they are closing their books, you know, like like they are they are settling,
[11:34] right? So, there's going to be lower liquidity. So, the markets are illiquid, That's one thing. And there is going to be very less trading opportunities on Friday. And then another thing is if you try to
[11:48] And then another thing is if you try to enter for a trade on Friday, weekend, past Saturday and Sunday, especially if you are a swing trader. And if you're holding the trade over the weekend, there is going to be a rollover
[12:03] fees that you are going to incur, right? So, yeah, that that just cause your profit margin to just decrease, right? So, as a result, I don't trade on Friday as well. Right? Unless right, I'm already in an
[12:17] exception to this rule right here is that if I'm swing trading, I'm already holding the trade from last week, then yeah, I'm just going to continue holding profit, right? So, I'm not going to like close the trade just because it's
[12:31] the trade over Monday, Friday until the price hit my take profit. So, that's if I'm swing trading. But if I'm day trading or even scalping, I just don't like to trade on Mondays and Fridays. All right? So, yeah, there is that. And
[12:45] then fourthly, December. Now, December, this is where institutions they are taking a break, okay? The smart money, they are, you know, going away for family, going on a vacation for the winter, whatever it is, they are taking
[13:00] a break, right? I mean, they have been working for like what, 12 months, right? So, obviously they deserve a break as well. So, when all these professional traders, this smart money, these institutions, they are on a break,
[13:12] guess what? The market is going to be very illiquid, right? It's going to have less trading volume. And since there's less trading volume, it's more illiquid, that means the markets tend to move slower, right? And it pretty much just
[13:27] And pretty much from December onwards, December, you'll most likely see slow and choppy price action. Okay? If you don't believe me, let me go into the charts and prove it to you.
[13:42] charts and prove it to you. Okay, so this is December 2 years ago. I I can't show you the price data for this year December, but this is from this year December, but this is from December 2022, right? So, once again, I
[13:55] just wanted you to show you how many pips the price move in December for EUR/USD, right? You can see EUR/USD start December all the way to the end of December, it pretty much chop around for just 250
[14:08] pips. 250 pips for the entire month. Do you know how less that is? Right? And just to put it into perspective, let's look at November, right? November, price moved
[14:27] more trading volume than in December, right? Not not really trading volume, but four times more volatile in November than in look at October, all right? Let's just look at October. October itself, it
[14:43] look at October. October itself, it moved over this doesn't convince you, just look at the price action, right? October, we got price pulls back, goes up, pulls back, right? Normal price action. November,
[14:58] same thing, goes up, pull back, goes up, pull back, normal price action. And then come December, price goes up, make this minor pull back right here, and then minor pull back right here, and then just uh you can see you can see how slow
[15:10] very very slow and it's very choppy, you can see. it's just chop around here here. And just uh just not moving anywhere, the the
[15:25] liquidity is extremely thin, and then coming New Year, price action go back to normal again, right? So, please, for the love of God, just go and spend time with your family, go and I don't know, kiss under the mistletoe or like uh decorate
[15:38] your Christmas tree, celebrate your Thanksgiving or Boxing Day, whatever you guys celebrate, just go and chill during December, right? Pretty much from break, right? If you have been trading for the entire year, you deserve a break
[15:52] for 1 month, that's not mean that you are going to like I don't know, lose your trading ability, all right? So, don't be stupid, just December, just take a break and
[16:04] then come back with a fresh mind when the new year actually starts.
[16:16] high impact news, right? When you go through the fundamental analysis course during the news, I don't trade immediately before and after the news. I have this rule called the 30-minute rule or rather the 15-minute
[16:30] rule, right? You basically wait 15 minutes or even 30 minutes after the news come out, then you actually begin trading again, right? So, yeah, that's what I personally do because the news the market uh the market just going
[16:44] learn more inside the fundamental analysis course module, but basically the volatility is extremely high, the spreads are extremely high as well, it's you're going to incur a lot of um
[16:58] uh commission, I mean uh the broker cost, and yeah, it's just not worth it, trading the news. Remember, we are professional traders here, we are not means you can trade the news, right? Try to uh predict where the price is going
[17:14] to go up or down, but more often than not, it's going to you are most likely going to lose money in the long term if you trade news, high impact news, we don't touch price at all.
[17:26] right mental state, right? This is something that is so underrated that people don't actually talk about. Now, what I mean when I say the right mental state? Remember, trading is 80% mindset and 20% strategy. You need to
[17:41] ensure that you are 100% focused without any distractions when you go into the opportunity. If you are distracted, you are just going to lose your money or rather transfer your money to the other
[17:55] trader who is extremely focused and disciplined. why not just take a break, right? If you are I don't know, like if you are facing something difficult in your life right now, right? Maybe you have family issues
[18:10] or you just broke up with your girlfriend or you are really struggling right mental state, right? Maybe like a loved one is hospitalized right now, so it's difficult for you to trade and
[18:22] thinking about something else, when that happens, do not trade, all right? Please, for the love of God, do not trade because when you go into the charts, you need to make sure that you perform at your 100%. You
[18:34] need to make sure that you are extremely focused and extremely disciplined. do that if you are distracted by whatever that's going on in your life
[18:46] breakup, I don't know, you're going through a divorce or you're just not in the right mental state to trade, just go and do something else. Maybe go try therapy or walk in the park or go to the gym or I don't know, watch Netflix if if
[18:59] all right? Because you're just going to lose your money. And you're you're just going to use the market as like a as a way to vent your anger or your your sadness. And you are doing that by losing your money and that's going to
[19:13] cause you to become even more depressed and even more angry and that's going to downward spiral and that's what I don't want to see, all right? I want you to not just be rich, but also be mentally well and and spiritually well, all
[19:27] well and and spiritually well, all right? Next is losing streaks, okay? So, I believe I've already mentioned this um a few times, right? When you are going through a losing streak, you have lost the past 10 trades in a row,
[19:40] maybe it's time to steer clear the markets, sit on the steer clear the markets, sit on the sidelines review your trading data, see what you have been doing wrong, right? What
[19:55] mistakes you keep on committing? Are you continuously just revenge trading and and bigger? Basically, just reset, right? So, stop trading even losing the past five 10 trades in a row, stop trading, really go
[20:09] and look at your plan, right? Look at the past few trades, find out what's the mistakes, so you can do more of what works and less of what doesn't work. And then, yeah, you might need to adjust or refine your plan before you get back
[20:22] mind. Okay, so if you are going through a losing streak, just don't trade, right? Just close your laptop, close your computer even, right? Just don't look at the charts for like at least 1 week or so, right? Really go and
[20:36] the charts, because if you don't do this, what happens is that you're just going to fall into this downward spiral of analysis paralysis, you lose a trade even more trade, you start revenge trading trying to make back the money
[20:49] that you've lost, and then uh you lose that trade as well, and then you suddenly just keep on getting very depressed and yeah, and you just start losing faith and confidence in your trading ability,
[21:01] thinking whether trading is the right just quit trading and go back to your 9-to-5 job or whatever, and yeah, this is just going to cause you to end up quitting trading, right? When you are so
[21:14] just push forward and just push through this phase. Right? So, there's that. And then the last condition is the last trading day of the day or of the month, right? So, it could be the 31st
[21:28] or 30th 30th, right? It depends on like which is the the last operating uh trading day of the month, right? And usually this is the day where right? Since they are closing their books, you know, they are done trading,
[21:42] thing like what I mentioned right here, that there's going to be low trading the markets since the markets are illiquid. Right? So, yeah, those are the times you should not trade. Remember, when I say that, knowing when not to
[21:55] trade is as important as knowing when to trade, all right? And the best time to trade is when a setup meets your criteria. opportunity that lines up with your trade plan, execute the trade without
[22:08] hesitation, without reservation or fear. And if you lose the trade, eat the loss and move on, because you trust your plan and you know that in the long term, your discipline will pay off and your trade plan will actually play out and
[22:23] hopefully after this lesson, you can see that one of the best skills that you can that one of the best skills that you can develop as a trader is restraint. Is Because like I said, profitable trading is not just about knowing when to enter,
[22:37] it's about knowing when to stay out, when to sit on the bench, when to sit on the sidelines and just observe. The market is open every single day, but opportunities every single day. A lot of the volatility that you see
[22:51] that have that's going on in the market, most of the time is just noise, is just traps, is just low quality movement that is designed to punish the impatient traders, designed to make the retail traders liquidity.
[23:05] So, yeah, please have a mindset shift, stop thinking that you need to trade all day because you really don't. You only need to trade when a setup clearly meets your criteria and the conditions that actually support
[23:18] That is the real key. Protect your capital, protect your mental state, and save your bullets for the moments that actually matter. traders are not the ones who trade the most. They are simply the ones who know
[23:33] most. They are simply the ones who know exactly when it is worth doing nothing. to seeing you guys in the next lesson, and as always, remember, you're just one and as always, remember, you're just one trade away.