Guys there are lots of patterns and indicators I feel so overwhelmed. In order to be a good trader do i need to memorize them all? Thank you
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I use only a few indicators to work, which I consider necessary. The more you use them, the greater the risk of confusing yourself.
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Find a single simple objective strategy in a time-frame that suits your life-style and time commitments. Run it in a demo account until you completely understand how it works and you are making a consistent profit.
Most successful strategies use just a few set-up patterns and entry signals, and only one or two indicators. Looking for every pattern on every chart in every time-frame is not practicable.
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I think it is much better if you choose a few indicator , read and lean them carefully ,
combination of two or three indicator will be help full for you ,
for better understanding how your selected indicators will work, before using them on real trade it will be better you put them on the chart with difference time zone and take a look at back to see how they will signal you, did you get what i mean ?
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To be a good trader you need a strategy with an edge that you can follow consistently, risk management and understanding trading pychology. Patterns and indicators by themselves do not make a good trader.
So I’ll focus on the first part of being overwhelmed with patterns and indicators There are 2 ways you can approach this. Either you can patiently learn all the patterns you can find and test each indicator until you can recognise and understand them easily. Or you can focus on a few.
But how will you know which ones to focus on? It will largely depend on what you read and watch as that’ll make you aware of how to use it. So, unless someone shares their strategy and is consistently profitable then yes you dont need to go through all the patterns and indicators as you can focus on what you’ve learnt.
Until then, I’d recommend you to start from the top, either via Babypips or youtube and start going through everything you learn. When you come across something that makes sense to you, keep it, if you dont then leave it. Remember trading is a long term learning profession. You cant learn everything in one month so you’ll find something that makes sense to you. Then in 6 months you’ll come across something else and you can backtest it and try and add it to your trading. This is what weekends are for.
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No. You don’t need to memorise them. The basic building block for any technical analysis is a method of finding support and resistance. I’d suggest starting with just one method to determine support and resistance, tests it, trade it on demo account and if all good then think about going live. If not good try another method to find support and resistance.
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its a nice description you have done , got so many fines lines , thanks for your nicer post.
Quite the opposite, if you’re looking for somewhere to start, pick something really simple maybe just one indicator and demo trade it, go over each trade retrospectively and ask what went wrong? what worked well? eventually you will make smaller adjustments to it and left with something that gives you a little edge where you start to see some progress.
I was struggling for ages on magpie syndrome, looking at all the shiny new things where consistency is the most important thing in trading without a shadow of a doubt. Keep the core of your strategy the same, then make smaller adjustments and back test to cover the different conditions a market can be in e.g. sideways, trending, volatile.
It takes a tremendous amount of patience and understanding. I don’t want to put you off, but trading is the hardest thing I have ever had to master (and a have a degree in software engineering) but if you are looking for a challenge, this is it. Best of luck.
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Hi Megan,
I see that there are a few posts that suggest that you should keep it simple and that there is no need to remember patterns and indicators. To an extent, I agree with them, but …
Have you ever played with Microsoft Word or Excel and discovered something that you think is absolutely fantastic and that, had you known earlier, would have saved you lots of time and possible heartache? Trading can be a bit like that really.
I agree with those that have posted about looking a shiny new things (Magpie syndrome), but you do have to learn about things before you can dismiss them as being of no use.
In short, I would suggest that you build on your knowledge - remain inquisitive and find out what indicators do and how to use them before adopting or rejecting.
As for chart patterns - absolutely learn them! Print off a cheat sheet and revise until you can call out candlesticks and continuation or reversal patterns. If you are serious about trading, know your craft! 
Good luck with your trading, but know that it is hard (very). Don’t expect to be successful if you don’t want to put the effort in though.
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Not at all. But to become extremely profitable and be labelled a skilled trader, about 60% of the patterns and indicators /oscillators should be 2nd nature to you.
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No… you will only get frusterated because some indicators just contradict one another. Use you tube and google and look for sttategies that you can follow. There is a lot of info in the cyber world for you to utilize.
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My System is designed to be simple and functional. I use 7 bullish / bearish pairs of high percentage candle patterns. Sometimes I use them in isolation for small day trades, but their primary use in my system is to supplement a supply and demand strategy (e.g., optimizing entry and stop loss or reducing risk over the life of an open position). In my case, 7 pairs isn’t hard to memorize at all. 
Hope that bounds the problem a bit.
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I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man that has practiced one kick, 10,000 times.
Knowing is not enough, we must apply.
To me, the most extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way. Martial arts is nothing at all special. The closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is.
Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own.
Bruce Lee.
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With enough practice, patience, and time, patterns and indicators will all make sense.
But you need to start somewhere, so start by opening a demo, or practice account and start reading through the School of Pipsology right here on Babypips. They go through all the different patterns and indicators, and even walk you through how to use them with different strategies…and it’s free! Take this info and transfer it to your practice account.
The best way to learn is to do, and there is no easy road, or shortcut that will get you there faster.
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Hi, could you share your favourite pairs with us?
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Hello everyone! I am a few months into trading and was recommended this site. I am happy to be apart of such a savage community. May the pips be with you all!
The ones I consider are: hammer and shooting star, morning and evening star, bearish and bullish engulfing, three white soldiers and three black crows, piercing and dark cloud cover, tweezers bottoms and tops, and the gravestone and dragonfly dojo’s. Considering adding the Marubozu candles to the repertoire as well.
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Aye right then, theres thousands!
this is <3
thanks for this!
Great follow up comments, if i wanted to add to this its almost like we need to get all the desperation out of us before we start the real work. I have friends who start this journey and they are all over the place, but its great from a point of view that you must go down the journey of finding out what doesn’t work before you find what does work. And completely correct “know your craft”. Why do people think they can trade in months when it takes years to be competent at any other profession? Be prepared for some serious work !
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