[quote=“datam, post:40, topic:116816”]
Are most of you trading full time or are some part time traders. For me I don’t have the luxury of looking at charts all day. So I need to do my setups either beginning of the day or the end of the day using New York Close charts. [/quote]
I don’t see the need to differentiate here between full time and part time except in terms of the objectives for one’s trading. I think it is extremely important for a trader to decide whether they are aiming to earn a regular income from which they will live or whether they are accumulating capital. There is a huge difference between these two in terms of what type of trading, the pyschological pressures and other factors in life such as obtaining bank loans, covering sickness periods, financing kids and so on.
If one is constantly and continually trading the daily charts then one is a full time trader regardless of what one does during the rest of the day. In these situations having access to charts during the day is not necessarily a blessing at all - in fact it can do more harm than good. A person trading from dailies will usually have pre-set their stops and targets and will just let them run.
I gave up full time employment to trade my own account but I still run a business from home that is entirely unrelated to trading. My aim is capital building but with a few treats along the way! - but I still consider myself a full time trader because the markets and trades are current in my life constantly, except for holidays!
[quote=“datam, post:40, topic:116816”]
For the higher TF traders, do you have a target pip number for each trade or due you just look at support and resistance levels when placing SL and TP points. [/quote]
I have a standard pre-set provisional risk/reward set that is automatically placed as orders whenever I take a trade (my risk/money management parameters) but I do two things- one before the trade and one after it is taken:
Before taking any trade I check whether the proposed stop/targets are sensible and within my general parameters - if not - no trade.
After taking the trade, I immediately adjust the pre-set stop/target levels to the nearest S/R or other meaningful level. i.e. the target level has a defined logical identity and the stop is at a level that nullifies the criteria that justified the trade in the first place.
Edited to add:
Just for clarification, I have always been a short term trader (1H ->5m) as a retail trader but I have been trying for some time now to migrate to Daily->1H TFs. It is unbelievably difficult to wean oneself off the 15m chart when one is trying to run a longer term position and I have so many times taken profits way too prematurely and left me wondering how and where to get back in again!! D
I am a long-term trend-follower. I never open trades live, they;'re all triggered by pre-set orders based on TA. I look only at daily and weekly charts for this.
I don’t use TP’s as they limit a trend-following trade’s profit potential as the trend continues. If there wasn’t a trend I wouldn’t be in the trade but if you trade off reversals or specific patterns which have a “life-span” you might find a TP is essential. What I do though is add a second trade when the first reaches profit equivalent to original risk (risk based on TA, not pip count) and move the first trade’s SL to its entry, setting the second trade’s risk equivalent to the first’s. And so on. Hopefully ad infinitum.
I would like to hold for unlimited periods, as that’s what I actually want - to always be long in an uptrend always short in a downtrend. But interrupted usually by weakening trend TA, at which point I pull everything out and wait for a re-entry chance. Entry signals aren’t key, its being in rather than getting in that’s important.
Any chart where the 20EMA is above the 50 is worth a look as a potential uptrend. Potential! After that, they can be graded by objective criteria -
is price above the 50?
are both 20 and 50 above the 200?
how long has the 20 been above the 50?
how long has the 50 been above the 200?
is price above the 200?
how many weekly bars are clear of the 50?
how many consecutive weekly closes have there been above the 50?
how many weekly bars does the last weekly bar overlap?
etc., etc.
Vice versa for downtrends.
You can select the EMA’s and the criteria that best match your system. You can give each criterion a point for a positive answer. Or 2 points or 3 or what have you to weight the more important ones. The idea is obviously to identify the trend with the highest number of points, and that’s the one to get into first.
Once I’m in a trend I just want to add to it until it seriously weakens.
Thanks for that - You may have seen me speak of a £1700 loss on here - If you look at this chart, it was around 2002 and clearly the trend was down - I had tried to get in on it 3-4 times and been stopped out for £450 ish loss, which is why i removed my stoploss. I think it was the first bottom, but not sure, it was a long t=ime ago !
I’m part time in the sense that I work a full time job. The reward I get from trading I won’t see for many many years.
But think outside the box. Just because you don’t have the luxury of time doesn’t mean you have to trade daily or 4hr charts. Zoom all the way down past the 1 min chart and look at tick charts. As it is above so it is below. The same price action forms all charts[quote=“datam, post:43, topic:116816”]
so does trading on higher timeframes essentially mean less trade volume but holding the trades for longer ?
[/quote]
Essentially yes but it’s not that simple.
Unfortunately this is your how long is a piece of string or how blue is the sky question.
How do you call “trend” and what are you in at the moment please
Sorry, forgot to answer on this one.
What I’m in, how I got in, when I got in, are irrelevant unless you’re using the exact same strategy and thought processes as I am, which is impossible. Construct your own simple strategy and see what you should be in.
Its not that its harmful to me or costs me anything, its just that its not helpful to you. I’ll be working out over the weekend what are the best trend-following pairs form the point of view of my approach and I will update this on here. But that’s not to say they are the best trend-following pairs for everyone.
Last weekend, my strongest targets were -
long Dow (S&P just behind) and EUR/CHF
then, long CAD/CHF, CAD/JPY, EUR/JPY
then, Brent.
Then a raft of others, either long or short, but not as strong as the above.
That said, I didn’t rate EUR as a very strong buy, but CHF and JPY were good sells.
your reply isn’t helpful without context and only you have that for your trades.
Going back to reason I started this thread. I really want to find out how traders analysis price action setups. It would be helpful (for me at least) if people could post charts along with their observations. these charts don’t necessarily need to be right up to the current day but any that demonstrate PA and trend analysis.
You are getting a variety of opinions about the validity of candlestick patterns and the importance of various price action mechanisms. I believe some of the advice is good and some of it is very bad, but I won’t add to the confusion. I just want to say that as a trader, you’ll need to test everything by doing your own research.
That’s the one thing I’m %100 certain about trading, and especially in Forex, don’t take anyone’s word for anything, no matter how esteemed, accomplished (apparently) and persuasive they might be. It’s only by checking and re-checking (and recording - in a trade journal for example) that you’ll develop a sense of what works for you, and what is useful, versus what is bunk.
This is one of the things that makes the road to competence so time-consuming, but it is ultimately worthwhile since a set of practices that meshes with your market beliefs will help form a trading strategy that is uniquely suited to you. I believe that’s necessary to long-term success, but again, don’t take my word for it.
On a related note, don’t pay (much) for any tool, software, course, or aid of any kind until you’ve done lots of digging around on your own or with the (vast amounts) of free material because it will be a waste of money. Just my opinion, formed from experience.
I agree, there’s a vast amount t of information available even just on this site and it should be about learning some of the basic yourself. there are many people around that are thankfully willing to help. so they makes the learning journey a little easy.
PS. I’d still like a free hand drawing tool for mt4 charts … anyone?
- but I still consider myself a full time trader because the markets and trades are current in my life constantly, except for holidays!
How do you call “trend” and what are you in at the moment please 
, Maybe later.