Part 3 · Manage risk

08Recognise the no-trade conditions

Knowing when to stand aside is part of the plan.

Each candle = 1 hour | Gold line = illustrative SMA50. Hypothetical illustration, not real market data.

Repeated crossings of a nearly flat average are common. The slope and separation checks reject many of these, but not every false breakout.

Condition	Practice response
Spread above 1.5 pips	No new order; the threshold is a test assumption.
Major scheduled EUR or USD release	No new orders from 30 minutes before until 30 minutes after; cancel pending orders before the window.
Order price already crossed	Skip it; never chase with a market order.
Minimum lot exceeds risk budget	Skip the trade rather than rounding size up.
Two losses today / missing data	Stop new entries and review your records.

Honest note

News exclusions apply to new orders only. Open positions keep their planned exits, so news risk never fully goes away.

Key takeaway

"No trade" is a decision the plan makes for you. It is not a missed opportunity.

Try it

Look at this week's economic calendar and mark the windows where you would place no new orders.

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