Christian Flanders

One of the hardest lessons I've learned in over 20 years of trading: You must be willing to stay out of the market for weeks or even months. Look at this chart of the Nasdaq since 2019. Notice how often the market goes through sideways periods, choppy uptrends, corrections, and bear markets. As a swing or position trader, I don't want to participate in all of them. I want to be aggressive when the market is strong and opportunities are plentiful. But when conditions deteriorate, I become extremely selective, stop opening new positions, and let my individual sell rules determine when to exit existing holdings. Why is this so difficult? Because there are ALWAYS stocks moving higher. Even in terrible markets. You see those stocks, feel you're missing opportunities, and convince yourself that you need to keep trading to make money. I've experienced this myself. In 2026, I made very good profits in April and May, but gave back some of those gains during the choppier months that followed. The reality is that the general market is a huge part of your trading edge. Even the best setups become much harder to trade when conditions are unfavorable. I believe one of the biggest changes you can make is to stop defining yourself as a trader by how often you trade. A disciplined trader doesn't need constant action. A disciplined trader waits until the probabilities are in their favor. The ability to sit in cash for weeks or months is what separates disciplined traders from those who constantly struggle. You don't get paid for being active. You get paid for making good decisions.