What Time Frame Should I Trade

[forexjedi]

Hey everybody,

I'm brand new to the market and have a couple questions:

1. About how long does it take to know what you're doing in forex?

2. What time frame is the best to trade for someone just starting out?

Thanks.

[dannybly]

Realistically, it can take anywhere from a couple of months to a lifetime to be consistently profitable trading fx.

Here's a summary of the main trading sessions:

1. Asian Session (Tokyo) 7PM-4AM EST

2. US Session (New York) 8AM-5PM EST

3. European Session (London) 2AM-12PM EST

4. US European Overlap Period 8AM-12PM EST

If you're looking for volatility you might try to focus on the US European Overlap Period. Good luck, see you on the boards!

[rhodytrader]

Originally Posted by forexjedi

What time frame is the best to trade for someone just starting out?

This is entirely a personal question that we really can't answer for you directly. Give this a read: Which Timeframe Signals Should I Take?

[pipwrangler]

Realistically it depends on how much time you are willing to spend learning about the market and how much time you willspend each day practising. One area that will help you shorten the learning curve is to pick one set of indicators pick a strategy that you like and STICK WITH IT! Too often people jump from one thing to the next before really grasping the concepts they are learning about. Hang in there it does take some time but more importantly it takes effort and consistancy to acheive success.

[pipwrangler]

Sorry I failed to realize this was a two part question. dannyply gave you the trading sessions. This should give you an idea of when to trade. The questions you need to ask yourself. Are as follows: What life style do I want to have because of trading. One can spend a tremendous amount of time in front of the computer? which cn take away from the freedom you might be trying to achieve. Or you might have a full time job and want to trade on the side? Do you like being in and out of trades multiple times a day or do you like longer term trades that you are in 2-3 days at a time or longer? If you go to forexstrategysecrets.com and check out the blog posts there you can find some really good articles on this subject.

[kent123]

To answer your questions first of all it comes down to you when it comes to how long before you become profitable. The more time and effort you spend learning the basics the better prepared you will be. I suggest you go through the school of baby pips everything you need is right there. Second question about time frames, this comes down to your schedule and how long you want to stay in a trade. I personally use the daily charts because am in school and just don't have the time to watch charts all day. If you want to be a day trader use small time frames like the 5 minute etc. If you don't have the time to watch charts all day use the daily, weekly or monthly. As i said before go through baby pips and everything you need is right there.


Disclaimer- This is my own opinion

[forexjedi]

Thanks for everyone's replies, they have been very helpful.

[jwilliamson]

I'm gonna echo kent and reiterate that your trading time frames depend largely on your intent in forex and your availability as a trader. When I have the free time to test out new indicators or strategies with discretionary trades, I sit down on my Meta Trader and play around with the 1m intervals, very active, lot of quick results and quick entry/exit trades.

When I don't have the time to trade but want to participate, I use daily or weekly charts for longer term, larger moves.

When I have no time at all, I just set the Avonko EA to auto trade and let it do its magic

[akeakamai]

I'm liking the daily charts more and more. It finally began to sink in how much day-trading costs in terms of spread costs. I mean if you are consistently going for 20pips, and your spread is only 2pips, which is pretty conservative, then you're losing 10% every trade. On the dailies, it's rarely over 1%, and that makes it a lot easier to become a truly profitable trader.

It's such a myth that trading more means making more. It's possible, but if you can do it on a 5-minute chart, you could do it on a daily chart, and at a far smaller cost. You trade less often, sure, but the moves are bigger!

The only problem is that unless you've got a micro-account setup, you have to have a rather large account balance to set logical stops, while keeping a conservative risk target (which is a good thing).