So… after a few months of a LOT of learning (I know I still have 95% to go!), a heck of a lot of demo’ing, some live trading (about 200 trades, still up, just!) and about 6 trading system ‘evolutions’ I am now wondering…
should I just go ‘bare’ i.e. no indicators, no confusion, some (very limited) EMAs fast and slow but basically nothing but price action and Support/Resistance? Thinking to vary timeframe by asset/pair (anything from 1 hour to 1 day) but essentially study the flow of each and take my trades accordingly with refinement on a 1 minute chart.
Am I barking mad? Or is this the breakthrough (potentially) that I have been working really hard towards in terms of being really clear, disciplined and risk/capital aware. Would really welcome others’ thoughts…
Every trader should find own path to be profitable. Try price action and If you feel comfortable trading with this method, just stay with this method. Regards Greg
That is how you can get better, when you are starting with nothing, you are going to try and experiment something that you can understand in time. So, yes, you can but make sure to make a proper management on both risk and reward
The answer to your question is in your head. Do what it tells you will bring you money. Test on a demo long term, and on a live (micro lots) on a short term, to see if all angle is ticked good.
Yep. thank you everyone, I think what you’re all saying is I basically need to figure it out myself but gain confidence through demo and (small) live testing - wish me luck, practice hopefully makes for progress over time!
It is all credit to you that you are still head above water after a few months! Well done! It suggests you already have a good dose of common sense and control over your emotions, discipline and patience. That is an excellent start
I think you are taking the right approach. I doubt that trading charts without anything on it to create some structure will work out long term, but I think you are thinking about this the right way. I would suggest that when you take the raw chart, you think to yourself what do I need to know here in order to make a decision. The answer might be something to identify the underlying trend and its current strength, or it might be something that shows me where the price has stalled and reversed before.
Once you know what you are looking for then you can decide what additions will serve the purpose.For example, as you say, a combination of MA’s or S/R from higher timeframes, etc. The point being that by doing this you do not add anything that is superfluous or duplicate or distracting. Your charts remain clean and spartan and you know why everything is there and what it is meant to be telling you.
I think daily, 4-hour, 1-hour are all suitable timeframes depending on what kind of trading you are doing. And using multiple TF’s, working together, is also beneficial, e.g. trend identification from a daily chart and entries/exits from an hourly chart. But I am personally a bit skeptical about using a 1-min chart for “refinement”. I think this may prove to be more distracting and misleading than useful. In one minute the price can make sudden moves, only to return to the same point a minute later. Similarly, if you are going to trade off a 1-min chart I am not sure what value there would be from a daily chart. But this is just my view, I never trade such short term TF’s so it is really mainly just an opinion.
I think you have good promise of getting somewhere with your trading. Good luck!
thank you for your encouragement, it often feels like a game of nerves and patience as well as learning - I’ll stick at it and check back in sometime later!
Live trading and back testing, if possible.
Many years ago I back tested some systems that used only the OHLC numbers, and still find a trade now and then using nothing but the bare chart.
A little complicated at first, but a chart that has candles starting at the lower left and ending at the upper right, will, invariably have more up candles than down candles, not the same number of up and down candles, with the up candles being longer.
That is a usable edge.
All the best to you, Minnou29
