Thank you both for the reassurance!
Maybe, if there are readers here, then this would be a good point to revisit what are my intentions here with this thread!
Crude Oil is a new trading market for me. Although I have traded interest rates and currencies for many years, I have never seriously traded a concrete, tangible, commodity before. Much of the trading environment is the same, but much is also very different. A physical commodity also has an entire industry around it which also adds a huge dimension of simple plain interest in addition to the direct fundamentals and price action.
So I started this thread as a "Newbie"s venture into a new world of commodity trading, where anyone who is interested can explore the nature of the commodity, and its industry, and its various participants, in addition to trading the market itself.
I am trying to form a personal commentary and opinion as I learn about, and explore, the various forces at work in this market, but also using technical analysis to confirm or reject my views, and to provide reference points for timing and appropriate levels for trade entries and exits. I am therefore posting charts purely to illustrate my thoughts and current price activity. I am not looking to promote a specific trading method here. Although, of course, technicals is another relevant area open to discussions!
I am not focusing on any particular timeframe for trading and am using a Daily, 4H, 1H and sometimes a 15m analysis. My trades tend to be intraday/overnight at present simply because of my historic trading style, but I am looking to stretch my horizons to include longer term positions as well depending on the market view.
I keep a strict money management control over trading but I do not maintain any kind of targets objectives. I believe the market can only give what its price movements can offer. My concern therefore is only to read the movements and the underlying market/industry factors and to make disciplined trades accordingly, and to thereby make a profit on my trades according to, and limited by, what the market will offer. In this way, the cumulative size of those profits is a reflection of quality of the overall market movement at the time rather than a pursuance of a fixed percentage gain regardless of market conditions. I don’t ever want to feel pressurised into finding a trade even when there isn’t a sensible one to be found just to reach some pre-defined target percentage that has no bearing on the market’s ever-changing characteristics. The market is the boss, not me.
So my objective is both personal development and also to provide some background knowledge, stimulation and interest to anyone else who may be keen to try this market. And in that sense, as a Newbie myself here, any sharing of views, information, trading experience, etc is truly welcome!