M6 · L5Risk Management
When NOT to Trade
The most profitable decision you'll ever make is knowing when to stay out.
What This Means
There are specific conditions that make trading high-risk and low-probability: major news events (avoid 15 min before and after NFP, CPI, FOMC), end of month / end of quarter (institutional rebalancing creates fake moves), Mondays in the first 30 minutes (London gap fills), and Friday afternoons (low volume, unpredictable).
Visual
The Rule
No trade = a valid decision. The best traders miss more setups than they take.
COPY THIS
Tick each step as you complete it1
Every Sunday, check the economic calendar for the week
Use forexfactory.com — filter for red (high impact) events
2
Mark all red events on your trading calendar
3
For each red event: no trading 15 min before and 15 min after
4
Mark NFP (first Friday of each month) as NO TRADE DAY
5
Mark FOMC meeting days as NO TRADE DAY
6
Avoid the first 30 min of Monday's session
7
Avoid Friday after 2pm GMT
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Common Mistake
High-impact news can move gold 100+ pips in seconds. If you're in a trade going into news, consider closing for a small profit rather than risking the spike.
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