One thing I’ve become much better at:
Walking away from a setup that technically qualifies but doesn’t feel clean enough.
Early in my trading journey, if everything on my checklist lined up, I felt obligated to take the trade.
Now?
I understand that a checklist isn’t a command to enter.
It’s a filter.
If something about the context doesn’t make sense, I can simply leave it.
There will be another setup.
Capital preservation gives you that luxury.
A bullish structure is bullish until an external structure breaks to the opposite direction.
A bearish structure is bearish until an external structure breaks to the opposite direction.
A non-bullish or non-bearish structure is not tradable until an external structure break to one side.
The more you fail to understand this, the more money you lose trading.