New traders rarely fail for exotic reasons. It's the same seven mistakes, in roughly this order.
1. Trading without a written plan
Fix: one page — setup, entry, stop, target, size formula. If it's not written, it doesn't exist.
2. Oversizing
The account-killer. Risking 5–10% per trade means a normal losing streak is fatal. Fix: 1% risk per trade, sized from the stop distance, no exceptions.
3. Trading without a hard stop
Fix: the stop order goes in with the entry. Mental stops fail precisely when markets move fast.
4. Revenge trading
Fix: a hard daily loss limit (e.g. -2%) after which the platform closes. Decided in advance, enforced mechanically.
5. Strategy hopping
Fix: commit to a minimum sample — say 50 trades — before judging any approach. Ten trades tell you nothing.
6. Ignoring swaps and spreads
Fix: know your all-in cost per trade. Our costs comparison is the starting point.
7. Choosing a broker on marketing
Fix: regulation first, then costs and platform fit. That's this entire site's reason to exist.