Looking for action when there is none...!?

New traders & long time traders, hello all, do you ever get the situation where you’re ready for that trading session & you’re all set up ready to go, fundamentals on the brain, confidence is raring, but you take a little while studying the charts of your currency pairs & you notice there seems to be no entry points or particularly favourable set-ups going on… what do you do? do you sit it out? change time frames? or change the currency pairs???

Long time traders, whats your take on this, does this situation occur? when there’s just no real indication for your system to enter a trade?

Thanks…

BRX/STX

I believe you shouldn’t force a trade if it isn’t there. For me, the best thing to do would be to read up on trading books or go through forums and just take the time to inform and educate yourself. You can also review past price action if you’re determined enough! No use wasting time!

Absolutely… happens all the time. Its worth remembering that not being in a trade is taking a position. As an example, I’ve been waiting patiently now for the better part of 16 hours looking at the retrace on GU with a view to re-entering short.

i typically monitor a handful of pairs, so there’s usually something happening somewhere. on the rare occassion that the markets are dead, i sit it out. there’s no point in forcing a trade if it’s not a valid setup. it’ll only end in regret.

if you find yourself waiting on trades to the point of impatience, maybe you should also reconsider the time frame that you are trading. perhaps you’re better suited for the 15-minute chart or other low time frames.

R Carter is right. No position is also a position. Sometimes, even though you have a clear direction bias, you just can’t find an entry point because the risk to reward ratio is really bad.

Personally, I find it hard trading breakouts. Where should I enter? Do I enter immediately on the break, or wait for the candle to close? What if price extends too much after the level has been broken?\

That’s why I prefer trading retracements. Fibs are clear entry points, especially if they line up with resistance and support levels!

Save your enthusiasm and adrenalin for another trading day. Forced trades almost always turn into losers. Be careful!

You will come to realize that most days actually provide very little in terms of actionable trading opportunities. Sitting out when nothing’s there can really be the difference between being a net loser and a net winner.

Having no position is still having a position.

There are three possible positions in trading

  • buy
  • sell
  • no position

:smiley: Yes I know it sounds counter intuitive! Lets take a look at an example. Instrument ‘X’ is heading south on the daily and has been for some time. The swing high/ low within the overall trend have formed a definable high/ low trend line. So we have been good little traders and traded only in the direction of the trend. When PA has retraced counter trend we have exited our trades. The waiting for PA to again reach swing high (in this case) is certainly taking a position (for want of a better word). You can call it ‘[B]waiting[/B]’ if you want? :20:

WHEN MARKET GIVES NOTHING BUT LEMONS, MAKE LEMONADE. Like Cramer says always a bull market somewhere just need to know where to look.

Excellent thanks for the advice! I felt like it was just me sitting in front of a chart seeing nothing… - confidence restored - Thanks guys :slight_smile: very helpful

JB

That’s great to hear. :slight_smile: