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Overtrading: why fewer trades make more money

How fees, slippage and impulse entries drain accounts, a trade count that forces selection, and what to do with the extra urge.

The slow leak

A trader who takes twenty trades a day on a fifteen-minute chart pays fees and slippage on every one. At typical taker fees, that alone can be two to five percent of the account per month before any trade is right or wrong. Most losing traders are not wrong more often than winning ones; they simply trade more and pay more to do it.

A daily maximum

Three trades a day is a reasonable cap for most intraday plans. Once they are used, the session is over. Scarcity forces selection: with three bullets you wait for the setup; with unlimited bullets you shoot at everything.

The "but" test

A trade must match the plan on the card. If you need the word "but" to explain why it qualifies, it does not. Write the "but" trades down anyway, in a separate column; after a month that column is usually the most expensive one in the journal.

Redirect the urge

If you must click, take the extra trades on a paper account and log them separately. The sim journal shows what the impulse trades would have cost, which is both educational and, over time, a cure.

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