Module 18: Common Beginner Mistakes

Avoid these pitfalls that trap most new traders:[^8]

1. Trading without a plan: Entering trades on gut feeling instead of defined rules.
2. Risking too much per trade: A few bad trades can wipe out weeks of gains.
3. Overtrading: Taking trades out of boredom or FOMO instead of waiting for A+ setups.
4. Moving stop-losses: Widening your stop when a trade goes against you, hoping it reverses.
5. Revenge trading: Trying to immediately recover a loss by taking unplanned trades.
6. Not journaling: Without a journal, you can't identify patterns in your mistakes.
7. Strategy hopping: Switching strategies after every loss instead of giving one strategy enough time.
8. Ignoring risk management: Focusing on entries while neglecting position sizing and stop-losses.
9. Trading during high-impact news: News events create unpredictable volatility that stops out even good setups.
10. Going live too early: Skipping backtesting and paper trading because you're impatient to make money.[^31][^8]

Appendix A: Glossary of Key Terms

Appendix B: Recommended Learning Resources

Books:

• Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas (trading psychology)[^8]
• Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques by Steve Nison (candlestick mastery)[^13]
• How to Day Trade for a Living by Andrew Aziz (beginner foundations)[^49]

Platforms:

• TradingView (charting, backtesting, community scripts)
• OANDA (forex broker with competitive spreads)
• MetaTrader 5 (versatile forex/CFD platform)[^47]

Practice:

• TradingView Replay Mode (free chart replay for backtesting)
• Demo accounts on your chosen broker
• BabyPips.com School of Pipsology (free forex education)[^50]

Disclaimer: This course is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Day trading carries substantial risk of loss, and most retail traders lose money. Never trade with money you cannot afford to lose.

References

1. TOP Day Trading Patterns for Beginners: Updated Guide - LiteFinance - This section analyzes the top 10 day trading candlestick patterns that appear most often on the char...

2. Day Trading: The Basics and How To Get Started - Investopedia - Day trading involves buying and selling securities rapidly—often in less than a day, but it's a comp...

3. Best Day Trading Course for Beginners 2026 - Humbled Trader - These programs provide essential knowledge and practical tools to help beginner traders build a stro...

4. How Time of Day Affects Trade Success - LuxAlgo - Best Times to Trade: Morning (9:30-10:30 AM ET): High volatility and trading volume, ideal for activ...

5. Forex Market Hours - Myfxbook.com - The forex market is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. It begins at 5:00 pm EST on Sunday and ends ...

6. How To Start Day Trading As A Beginner (2026 Full Guide) - YouTube - In this video, I will go over 10 of the most important concepts that you need to understand as a tra...

7. Supply and Demand Trading Zones Explained - TrendSpider - Learn how supply and demand zones work, how to identify them, and use them in forex, crypto, stocks ...

8. Comprehensive Beginners Guide to Trading and Trader Psychology - First you need to understand that trading is a probability game and becoming profitable requires EXT...

9. whats the strategy - The strategy is a 3-step supply and demand trading method that combines trend analysis with precise ...

10. don't include things the video did not mention. stick to what was talked about in the video - Understood. Here is a strictly faithful summary of the TradingLab strategy rules as described in the...

11. [create a checklist for this strategy: The Only Trading Strategy You'll Ever Need](https://www.perplexity.ai/search/1a1a5c9d-5f4c-4f0b-980a-a0765527279d) - Use this concise, repeatable checklist to apply the video’s 3‑step formula (market structure → suppl...

12. Describe this strategy in great detail. Respond as if im showing someone how i want them to trade for me. The Only Trading Strategy You'll Ever Need - I want you to trade for me using this precise, step-by-step strategy. This method centers on pure pr...

13. 4 Candlestick Patterns You Need to Know for 2026 - StockBrokers.com - The four patterns we'll look at here are the bullish engulfing pattern, the bearish engulfing patter...

14. Candlestick Chart Patterns PDF Download Free 2026 - dhanarthi.com - Download our Candlestick Chart Patterns PDF for free. Learn key bullish & bearish signals & improve ...

15. 35 Powerful Candlestick Patterns For Smart Traders In 2026 - This blog explains 35 essential candlestick patterns, including bullish, bearish, and continuation f...

16. Supply And Demand Zones - How to Use it in Forex Trading? - Combines technical and fundamental: While supply and demand is a technical analysis tool, it reflect...

17. Master the Supply and Demand Trading Strategy Today - This supply and demand approach revolves around a basic economic truth: price fluctuates due to imba...

18. Day Trading Indicator Set Up for Beginners 2026 (How to use VWAP ... - VWAP and 9 Exponential moving average pair VWAP stands for volume weighted average ... VWAP, RSI, MA...

19. Day Trading Indicators! RSI, MACD, VWAP, EMA, S/R.... - YouTube - Top Day Trading Indicators! RSI, MACD, VWAP, EMA, S/R.... Today we talk about some of the top DayTra...

20. Day Trading Indicator Set Up for Beginners - Humbled Trader - So first and foremost, the indicator pair that so many day traders love to use is the MACD and RSI. ...

21. Lecture 6: Timeframes For SMC Traders - Trading Strategy Guides - This lesson will explain what multi-timeframe analysis means, why it is important, and how to implem...

22. Top Down Approach in Investing: Trade with Benefits - The top down approach is a whole concept of multiple time frame analysis which consist of four major...

23. Multi-Timeframe Analysis Explained for Traders: Picking The Best ... - Multi-timeframe analysis means analyzing the same asset on more than one timeframe. Instead of tradi...

24. How Swing Traders Use Top-Down Analysis (Multi-Timeframe ... - ... approach focuses on price structure, trend alignment, and volatility ... What top-down analysis ...

25. Order Types: Limit, Market & Stop Orders Explained - tastylive - A stop-loss order triggers a market order when a designated price is hit, whereas a stop-limit order...

26. Stock & ETF Orders: Limit, Market, Stop, & Stop-Limit | Vanguard - Learn about stock order types, including market, limit, and stop orders. Understand how they work an...

27. Stock Order Types: When to Use Market, Limit and Stop Orders - Market, limit, stop and stop-limit orders offer different amounts of control over price, timing and ...

28. Position Sizing in Trading: How to Calculate & Examples - Britannica - Position sizing involves calculating the appropriate trade size based on the entry price, stop-loss ...

29. The risk and position sizing rules I teach every new trader - Reddit - When it comes to position size, you only need one clear rule at the start. Risk a small percentage o...

30. Position Sizing for Success: How to Manage Risk Effectively - Position sizing is a risk management technique that involves determining the amount of capital to in...

31. Day Trading: How To Start From ZERO (Beginner's Guide) - YouTube - ... Trading // Ross Cameron // Day Trade Warrior. Day Trading: How To Start From ZERO (Beginner's Gu...

32. Trading Journal: Example Of A Trading Log And Diary ... - The journal should include strategy name, direction, dates, prices, size, drawdown, risk/reward, pro...

33. How to Create a Trading Strategy: Journaling, Testing, and ... - Creating a trading strategy involves a structured and iterative process, which includes planning, re...

34. Forex Trading Sessions & Best Times to Trade | OANDA | US - Oanda - The best trading session for a day trader is the overlap between the London and New York sessions, f...

35. New York Session Forex Trading Hours | Best Times to Trade - The CME's trading hours span from 8.30am to 3.15pm CST (9.30am to 4.15pm EST), contributing to forex...

36. What would a day trader do when logging in at 8am every morning to look for forex trades? i want to know everything when analyzing and looking for trade setups. i want to know what someone would do when looking at pairs on oanda forex exchange. - Now I have comprehensive information about forex day trading routines. Let me compile this into a de...

37. How to Backtest, Strategy, Analysis, and More - QuantInsti - Backtesting is a technique used in trading and investing to evaluate the performance of a trading st...

38. How to Backtest Trading Strategies: A Step-by-Step Guide - Backtesting evaluates a trading strategy's performance using historical market data to simulate real...

39. Backtesting Trading Strategies Everything You Need to Know - Complete guide to professional backtesting. Learn the dos and donts, benefits, pitfalls, and test yo...

40. Best Day Trading Platform for Beginners: A 2026 Guide - Scribe - The best platforms offer structured learning paths with tutorials, webinars, and video courses cover...

41. The Ultimate Guide to Building a Profitable Trading Journal - Learn how to build a profitable trading journal that sharpens your edge, boosts consistency, and hel...

42. Trading Journal Techniques: A Guide to Profitable Trading - What key information should I include in my trading journal? ... Include essential trade details lik...

43. No PDT Brokers: Find a Offshore Brokers Without a Day ... - Remember, the PDT rule applies to investors with account balances of less than $25,000 who execute m...

44. Day Trading | FINRA.org - First, pattern day traders must maintain minimum equity of $25,000 in their margin account on any da...

45. How to Avoid the PDT Rule: 4 Tricks to Use - This rule kicks in if you're trading with a small account under $25K. It could potentially limit you...

46. New PDT Rule Soon! : r/options - Reddit - After the change, PDT likely won't be based on a strict 4 trades in 5 days or a $25K minimum. Instea...

47. How to Start Day Trading for Beginners Step by Step in 2026 - and @ swingtradinglab In this forex trading tutorial for beginners, I walk a complete beginner, Andy...

48. Position Sizing Strategies Every Trader Should Know + ... - TraderLion - Learn how to use position sizing to protect capital, boost gains, and match risk to your trading edg...

49. [PDF] How to Day Trade for a Living A Beginner's Guide to Tools and ... - A Beginner's Guide to Tools and. Tactics, Money Management,. Discipline and Trading Psychology. © An...

50. Forex Market Hours - Forex Market Time Converter - Babypips.com - The forex market is open 24 hours a day during the weekdays which allows traders to potentially trad...