There’s a special kind of boredom that only traders know.

You’re flat. No setups. Just candles drifting.
But you’re still there… staring at the screen.
Waiting. Clicking. Fidgeting.

Then comes the itch:
“What if I just take this small one…?”

You know it’s not in the plan.
But it gives you something to do.
Something to feel.

And that’s how boredom becomes expensive.

I’ve blown more money from “just one quick trade” than I have from bad setups.
Not because the trade was terrible.
But because it came from the wrong place.

Boredom trading feels productive.
It’s not.

It’s gambling disguised as participation.

Real discipline isn’t just about managing losses.
It’s about managing inactivity.

Here’s what helped me:

• Close the charts when nothing’s there.
• Walk. Stretch. Journal.
• Let the market come to you.

You don’t get paid for clicking.
You get paid for waiting well — and acting when it’s time.

— Gav, with coffee

Side note: If you’re stuck in the boredom trap, revisit your playbook. Fewer setups, more clarity.

I’ve seen traders stack indicators like furniture in a hoarder’s garage.

Moving averages. RSI. MACD. Fib levels. Support zones. Volume profiles.
And still — no trade.

They’ll call it “being thorough.”

But let’s be honest. Most of the time, it’s just stalling.

Analysis becomes a comfort blanket.
The chart gets more complicated, not clearer.
And decisions get pushed further away.

That’s not trading. That’s avoiding.

I’ve done it too.
When confidence is shaky, I start tinkering. Adding lines. Swapping timeframes.
Deep down, I’m just afraid to be wrong.

But trading doesn’t reward overthinking.
It rewards action under pressure.
With a plan. With risk. With consequences.

Analysis is supposed to guide the trade, not replace the decision.

At some point, you’ve got to stop hiding behind the chart and click the damn button.

And if you can’t?

It’s not a strategy issue. It’s a self-trust issue.

— Gav, with coffee

Side note: If you’re caught in the loop of “almost ready,” my Back to Basics of Trading series might help you clear the noise.

I used to think the perfect setup would solve everything.

The kind of trade where the structure’s clean, price action is obvious, confluence lines up across timeframes, and all the signals say “go.”

So I waited. And waited.

Then watched price take off without me — more times than I care to admit.

Here’s the truth I had to swallow:

Perfect is a fantasy.

Markets aren’t clean. They’re messy, fast, and often unclear.

Clean setups matter. But perfection? That’s procrastination with a halo.

What really matters:

• Do you understand your edge?
• Can you size the trade properly?
• Will you manage it when it moves — or doesn’t?

Good enough with strong risk control beats perfect with hesitation every time.

Now I trade what I see. I manage what comes after. I accept the blur.

Because the edge doesn’t live in waiting for ideal.

It lives in executing well in real conditions.

— Gav, with coffee

Side note: If your charts feel stuck in “almost,” my Back to Basics of Trading series breaks down how I simplified my setup — and got out of my own way.

Ever walked into a messy kitchen first thing in the morning?

Plates everywhere. Spills on the counter. Half a cup of cold coffee from yesterday.

That’s how most trading charts look.

Overloaded. Cluttered. Confusing.

I used to stack indicators like I was building a sandwich — RSI, MACD, Bollinger Bands, moving averages from five different timeframes.

It felt like I was doing analysis.
But really, I was just hiding behind the mess.

Too many lines blur your thinking. Too many signals create noise.

A clean chart forces you to see price action for what it is, not what you hope it’ll be.

Once I stripped it down, I started to see structure. Clarity. Flow.

It wasn’t just easier on the eyes. It made my decisions sharper.

Clean charts, clean trades.

Try it. Ditch the clutter. Keep what earns its place.

— Gav, with coffee

Side note:
If you’re rebuilding your charting workflow, TradingView has the flexibility and tools that make a solid place to start.