Top 5 Mistakes New Traders Make (and How to Avoid Them) Reading time: ~7 minutes • Educational only Every trader begins with dreams of profit, but most lose early because of simple, avoidable mistakes. In this article we’ll cover the five biggest beginner errors — and how to fix them before they cost you real money. 1) Trading Without a Plan Jumping into trades without rules is gambling. A trading plan is your roadmap — it defines entry conditions, stop-loss, take-profit, and daily risk limit. Fix: Write a one-page plan. Example: Pair: XAUUSD Session: London Setup: Break-and-retest Risk: 1% / trade RR: 1:2 minimum 2) Over-Leveraging Using huge lot sizes might feel exciting, but it quickly blows accounts. A few pips against you can erase your balance. Fix: Use leverage wisely — keep total exposure under 5 × your equity and never risk more than 2 % per trade. 3) Ignoring Risk-Reward Ratio Many beginners take 10-pip profits and 100-pip losses. This kills long-term ...