The Best Trade I Ever Made? Trading LESS.

Hey traders, I am coming again with a lesson, should you trade less to make more?

I know that most traders believe the more time you spend at the chart, the more money you’ll make. I also used to be that way, taking more trades to increase my profit and yes in the past it worked for a short period of time. But for me, results supercharged when I traded less. In fact over the past three months I’ve traded less than ever and had some super profitable trades.

Over the past three months, I’ve only placed a handful of trades:

That’s it. No 15 minute breakout positions, no fading of news events. And yet, the results have been solid. 

The reason I haven’t traded as much is because of my recent work commitments which has seen me do some travelling. So I was forced not to look at charts as much as usual. 

Now I have already transitioned from trading lower time frames back to higher time frames. But trading the daily chart and holding on to trades for over a couple of months or so has been fairly fresh. 

I noticed that, because my mind was elsewhere, I wasn’t checking on my trades as much. My typical trading style would be to bank profits at key highs, but this time I have just let them go, leaving the trades to breathe. 

Another point was I had to be super selective. This means I only focused on setups that I considered strong. 

I still have my moments of fomo, being involved in the market all the time you get a feeling of what’s moving and what’s not. 

Trading less doesn’t mean being lazy or uninformed. I still do my research and follow my custom trading process, but I’ve learned:

Sometimes the best trade is the one you don’t take.

If you’re struggling with overtrading or inconsistency in your results, try trading less. 

Limit yourself to 1-2 high quality trading ideas a week or a day depending on your current frequency. 

Spend more time analysing markets and sentiment to understand the current narrative. 

Distract yourself with something productive outside of your trading, maybe set some time to backtest strategies or read a book on trading development. 

You may just surprise yourself. 

I never planned to trade less, it was a byproduct of my new role. But it has taught me one of the most valuable lessons in trading psychology: sometimes, doing nothing is the smartest trade you can make.