A forex trader must know how he can deal with his trading approaches. And a trader must conduct analysis to ensure safe and right trading decisions. For me while ignoring the sentiment both the fundamental and technical analysis can help a forex trader.
Thanks for your reply @Falstaff but I’m not sure if I got what your trying to say correctly. Are you saying that Technical is more important but also look into the conditions that are going on? 
Thanks for the input. @artawidi I also feel that way. I feel like as a newbie it would be so hard to figure out which information would be useful and if I’m interpreting it correctly. 
I see. I think if it’s just a couple of hours each day then I can do that.
Really? Hmmm my friends said that TA is important in that it gives you details on how to go about your trade but which trades to enter should be based on Fundamentals and Sentiment. They said that relying solely on TA and strictly following a system without consideration of fundamentals and sentiment is how accounts get blown.
@CoinLady, lest cut to the chase, Forex trading is about price action. Price action is measured by the technicals. Sentiment builds momentum and is also measured by technicals. Maybe I am oversimplifying this but sentiment + momentum = trend.
Accounts are blown due to poor trade management namely cash management.
I have no idea what the duck system is.
Can you place a trader in a vacuum and have him trade profitably just on technicals?
If anyone ever tells you they trade strictly on technicals they’re full of bs. Keep them minimalist and I don’t mean the oscillators.
Get yourself a paid live and unbiased news feed without bs headlines headlines most if not all fx sites put out.
It really all depends on the trader. I believe TA is more important than fundamentals because you’re spending more time on the charts than you are analyzing the news. I check the news every night while analyzing my pairs for the next day. That just helps me figure out if there will be a lot of volatility around the pairs I’m trading. But, I’ve heard of some people not even paying attention to the news, and just solely doing TA. So, it just depends on your trading style really
Hi Coinlady, get yourself a mentor that has been around the block in this game, it takes years to learn this stuff and then you still are at the start. There is a great group called Forex Mentor Pro at just under 50 bucks a month and you get five well-seasoned 15yrs or more in the field and established. They teach all aspects and leave the silly stuff out.
Well worth checking out.
Cheers.
IMHO you can be successful just with technical analysis. Long term fundamental can be either priced or lag behind.
Again a lot depend if one is a day trader, swing trader or even just an investor.
Daily news and headlines are especially important for day and intraday traders. Sometime you can have a candle/situation which according to technical analysis is a buy but if you know how the candle has generated (news and headlines) than you can comfortably say that it is a sell.
I think all is important as it gives extra info and makes the picture clearer. At least as long as it makes sense, improves your edge and keep the picture simple enough.
I partly agree with the advice, however good a technical trader you are, it is very important to make sure you are constantly scanning fundamental events taking place around the globe. I read one piece about fundamental trading by Pipbear ( you can Google) that changed my entire trading career.
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Not really. What I’m trying to say is thet what are called “Fundamentals” on here are not really “fundamentals” at all - what some geezer says about forthcoming interest rates - is no really as important as whether a currency is “cheap” or “dear” in historical terms. But of course with real fundamentals - (see my “Bitcoin to fall off a cliff” thread ) - it is easy enough to SEE the truth - but almost impossible to TIME the effects of that truth !
Meanwhile, I say technicals are what we trade and continue to do so - but take a BIG long term “Long” on Bitcoin (in direct opposition to what I see as the “fundamental picture” ) for example at your peril !
Maybe, Forex is your hobby! Because, only H1 is not enough here (for being a pro trader). Whatever, god luck.
Thanks for your input @tommor. True and I get what you’re trying to say. I think what my friends are saying is that I focus on Fundamentals and Sentiment and then use TA only for confirmation, something like that.
See this is what they’re saying about leveling up to what the pro traders do. They said that institutional traders do not rely on TA. They study what’s going on in terms of fundamentals and sentiment that’s why they’re forcing me to do the same. 
Know what you’re saying and I’m sure we at least 50% agree with each other. FA is great for selecting good targets to buy and sell but bad at selecting the optimum time to do so.
So a compromise approach that I use in forex, rather than learn FA and watch the news, is to check the bullishness or bearishness of the whole basket of currency pairs with the same base currency and see if there is a clear consensus so I can select the right target. So, using my bullishness/bearishness criteria, I see that all 7 of the 7 pairs in which AUD is the base currency against the other major currencies are bearish. Right now, all 6 major currency pairs based on CAD are bullish. So, its simple to conclude that a great target for a short would be AUD/CAD - take a look at the chart and see if I’m right.
The problem with relying on TA is that all TA is, is a graphic representation made from trader sentiment. As trader sentiment builds we call in momentum and then we have a trend which can be measured by its slope.
That said its all price action and perhaps a blend of above is healthy and may I interject a trade a basket of USD pairs and watch the DXY as my indicator.
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I do, my soapbox is sentiment + momentum = trend.
My thoughts on Forex fundies is not much as tend to trade debt/interest and not the commodity pairs. So it there is a solid correlation I will try and follow it.
But my cup of tea is percent of deviation from the mean, such as using the Double Bollinger Bands with a CCI.
In my oversimplified view any price action bias is a trend it just a matter of the time and price cycle. Depending on the volumn I have a very good 5M-15M 5-25 PIP scalp, otherwise I stay above the H2 frame.
My bottom line is the market is all about strength and weakness.
Thanks for asking,
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