Free Resource
If I Started Trading Today, I’d Do These Exact Things
I’ve spent years of my life on trading.
Not “watched a few videos and called myself a trader” trading. I mean I changed my university major for it, moved cities, bought courses, consumed free content like it was oxygen, joined signal channels, jumped between crypto, forex, and stocks, and took thousands of trades.
I’ve had days where I felt like a genius and weeks where I felt like I should never touch a chart again.
Now trading is my job. I wake up, I check my markets, I take my trades, and I treat it like work because that’s what it is.
So if you’re new and you’re in that stage where you’re confused and bouncing around, this is what I’d do if I had to restart today. Step-by-step. No magic, no hero stories.
You’re going to feel lost at the beginning. The goal is to get un-lost fast without burning your money or your time.
1) I’d commit to 2 hours a day. Every day.
This is the first thing most people mess up.
They either go all-in and burn out in two weeks, or they “study when they feel like it” and wonder why nothing sticks.
Two hours is enough to make real progress and small enough to become a habit.
Not more. Not less.
| Daily time | Why it works | Why people fail |
|---|---|---|
| 2 hours/day | sustainable and consistent | they do 6 hours then quit |
| 30 min/day | too slow, nothing compounds | they mistake “busy” for progress |
| 5 hours/week | no repetition, no rhythm | they never build pattern recognition |
And no, this doesn’t mean you quit your job tomorrow. The market will still be here. Your rent doesn’t care about your “potential.”
2) I’d pick a stable time window (so later live trading is easier)
You can do your 2 hours whenever you want, but if you want my suggestion, these windows are practical:
- 10:00 to 14:00
- 16:00 to 20:00
Pick one, and stick to it.
Why those times? Because you eventually want to trade when markets actually have movement and liquidity (especially for forex and crypto). These windows line up better with active sessions instead of weird dead hours where you train yourself on market behavior you won’t trade live.
Don’t backtest and “learn” during hours you’ll never be awake for. That’s how you build fake confidence.
3) I’d start with Price Action. Not indicators. Not “secret strategies.”
If you’re new, you don’t need 10 indicators. You need a foundation.
Price action is that foundation. It’s been used for decades because it forces you to look at what matters: structure, highs/lows, momentum, key levels.
Every fancy strategy you see online borrows from it anyway.
So the learning order I’d follow is simple:
| Stage | What I learn | What I ignore |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | price action basics | “holy grail” strategies |
| 2 | market structure | 12-indicator setups |
| 3 | basic risk rules | signal channels |
| 4 | execution & journaling | chasing win rate |
4) Then I’d add Smart Money concepts (as a layer, not a religion)
After price action, I’d add Smart Money concepts to understand something beginners usually miss:
How money actually moves through the market. Liquidity, stop clusters, why price spikes into obvious levels and reverses.
Not because “the market is evil.” Because orders exist and price has to move through them.
The key is not to turn this into a cult where everything is “manipulation.” The key is to use it as context.
Price action is the grammar. Smart money is the meaning behind some sentences.
5) I’d backtest properly (and I would NOT lie to myself)
Backtesting is where people fool themselves. The chart is clean, your brain is calm, and hindsight makes you feel like a genius.
So if I restarted, I’d follow three rules:
Rule A: Backtest the hours you’ll actually trade
If your real life means you trade 10:00–20:00, then your backtest should live inside that window too.
Otherwise you’re basically practicing a sport at a different gravity level.
Rule B: Write down every trade, even the stupid ones
Most people backtest like this:
- enter
- lose
- “oh but I wouldn’t take that in real life”
- delete mentally
- continue
That’s fantasy trading.
Here’s the adult version:
| What happened | What I write |
|---|---|
| trade hit stop | “I misread liquidity / structure” |
| entry missed | “spread/entry placement wrong” |
| trade worked | “why it worked (conditions)” |
| I hesitated | “fear, unclear rule, no checklist” |
A mistake only gets fixed after you admit it. If you keep explaining it away, you keep repeating it.
Rule C: Account for spread
In backtesting you’re not connected to a broker, so you’ll “hit” entries you wouldn’t actually get.
So I’d train this habit:
When I want to enter, I place the entry slightly more realistic (depending on direction) so I don’t build a backtest record that can’t exist live.
6) I’d use a journal from day one (because memory lies)
This is the part where most traders act like journaling is optional. It’s not optional if you want to stop repeating the same dumb mistakes.
Here’s the exact journal structure I’d use (based on your transcript):
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Asset | ETH / EURUSD / etc |
| Date | 2025/09/04 |
| Entry time | 15:45 |
| Exit time | 16:57 |
| Result | Win / Loss |
| P&L | +$12 / -$6.5 |
| Why it failed | “liquidity misread” |
| Screenshot link | link |
| Notes | “ignored HTF level” |
This does two things:
- shows you your real patterns
- kills the “I’m unlucky” excuse
7) I’d forward test with real money… but tiny money
This is the part beginners hate, but it matters.
You cannot understand your emotions in demo.
Demo gives you fake confidence. Real money shows you who you are.
So I’d take a small amount, something like the equivalent of $1–$5 worth of pain, not life-changing money.
In your transcript you mentioned roughly 50–60k tomans, and the logic is correct: it needs to be real, but small enough that if it burns, your life doesn’t shake.
Because emotions are the real game:
- fear
- greed
- revenge
- ego
- overconfidence after a win
- panic after a loss
The version of you in your head is not the version of you in a live trade.
The most important money rule (the one that saves people)
If you don’t have a plan for the money, don’t put it in the market.
If you set aside money for life (rent, bills, necessities), don’t touch it.
If you have extra money that you won’t cry over if it disappears, that’s the only money you should use at the start.
Here’s the simplest way I can say it:
| Money type | Should you trade with it? |
|---|---|
| rent / bills | no |
| emergency fund | no |
| money you “need soon” | no |
| extra money you can lose | yes (small at first) |
People blow accounts because they put their entire life into the market, then every candle feels like a personal threat.
A realistic beginner plan (print this, don’t debate it)
This is what I’d do for the first month:
| Week | Focus | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | price action basics | mark structure daily |
| 2 | add smart money layer | identify liquidity areas |
| 3 | backtest 10:00–20:00 | 30–50 recorded trades |
| 4 | forward test tiny money | journal emotions + mistakes |
After that, you’ll have something most beginners don’t:
data about yourself.
Wrap Up
You don’t need a genius strategy.
You need a boring process you can repeat.
Two hours a day. Same time window. Price action first. Smart money second. Backtest honestly. Journal everything. Forward test with tiny money so your emotions get exposed early, not after you’ve burned real capital.
That’s it.
Everything else is noise until you’ve done these steps long enough that they become normal.