What do you think is the very first step a new trader should take, that you suspect too few actually do? (I’m talking fundamental building blocks. Something obvious that new traders may overlook).

For the record, I make money from trading. Not a lot, just regular enough to live on. I’m hoping this thread helps those traders who are a bit lost. No, I’m not going to give away my edge, but perhaps this thread will help you refine or find your own.

Here’s my answer to my own question, but I’m keen to hear others. 

My step 1 would be simply open a chart. Go to the earliest timeframe you can, i.e 5MIN candles. Hit bar replay. Go back a few years. Then click forward candle by candle and simply observe, in detail, what's happening. No indicators. No EMAs. Nothing but candles.

To me, this is a fundamental lesson that teaches traders how candles relate to each other. How wicks can influence. Where one candle ends and one actually begins. What way the candle is actually moving, etc. That would be the first lesson I'd teach. I’m pretty sure if a noob, or a failing trader went back to this basic step, and looked and studied until they actually understood candle behaviour, it would eventually feed positively into their strategy. 

I worry that a lot of new or failing traders are caught in a loop of adding or making indicators, putting them on their chart in a various formations and hoping something clicks, while at the same time missing out on understanding what they're actually seeing.

So, that’s my first lesson, successful traders, what's yours?