That is a positive improvement. Just one example here, off the top of my head, that could lead you to an improved use of time and effort.
If you take the 28 primary and secondary currency pairs once only, and figure out what the historical ATR(14) has been for the past year, month, week, day, that is 28 x 4 sheet entries. At about 30 seconds per entry, it is 56 minutes - let’s say - one solid hour. So double it to 2 hours.
Now take the data in the same past timeframes and work out how often the value (price) changed by 2 x ATR within 3 days (3 time periods in the case of monthly, weekly,). You will be able to see this quite easily on each timescale because it will be represented by relatively large changes in ATR(14) - up and down. Figure out in the past year how many times that has happened for each of the 28 pairs.
Now you have a trading frequency expectation - about how many trades per year. Let’s say for the AUDJPY that is 50 times, and for the EURUSD that is 10 times. So for the next 3 months, at the same time each day, look at the table. Is the ATR (14) around or above your minimum level? If no, move on to the next pair. That takes about one minute per pair (28 minutes if you are really slow). If yes, tick the pair. At the end of that 30 minutes, go back and determine whether the setup could match your other indicator or selection criteria. If so, decide on an entry point and a stop loss (maximum risk) and put a limit order in. Check that only once per day.
I’m choosing a few charts for me to focus on…
I took a look at CAD/JPY and I see a great entry I missed on D1.
I had told myself that I should keep a better eye on W1 charts. And I guess I wasn’t. I adjusted a resistance line on the W1 and the entry became clear as day on the D1.
Just based on this, I’m missing the details of upcoming trades because I’m grazing over charts and not seeing the important details.
It’s much easier to review the D1 everyday and double check the W1 when you’re just looking at less than 10 pairs.
It’s super difficult (if not impractical) to pay attention to details in 20+ charts.
If you try chasing two rabbits, you won’t catch either one.
I’m making my chart folders of my 6 chosen pairs for D1, W1, and M1.
I can feel the craving for more charts. This is strange.
I have a habit of scanning so many charts looking for trades, and now that habit is trying to dictate my behaviour.
This will take some time to adjust to. Focusing on just 6 charts… oh boy
EUR/USD
USD/DKK
USD/SEK
AUD/SGD
AUD/JPY
CAD/JPY
For some reason I’m liking the kroner. I just like the way it trends.
I quit the kroner for a little while, but…
Kroner, I just can’t quit you.
And there are upcoming trades im a few of these that I’d like to catch. So, I want to pay close attention to these.
Perhaps, once some of these moves pass, I’ll just keep an eye on these and not even bother looking at other charts. That would start the whole cycle all over again.
@MattyMoney has a very practical approach to this by looking at 5-6 pairs (if I’m not mistaken) and then inferring how the other pairs are doing. That’s because of the strong correlations b/w most of the pairs. He recently replied with an explanation along with an example. Might have been his info and money ideas thread.
If you’re using a platform like MT5 you can store trendlines, Fibs, remarks and other objects in workspaces and revisit them. This makes a running analysis of specific pairs easy because you simply carry on from where you left off.
I can see you’re using IG which I also use, so I may have something that will assist in completing your journal.
If you go to your IG dashboard then select Live Accounts (or Demo Accounts) at the top -> history -> P&L Breakdowns -> select the date range -> changed to show position closed. This will then give you an Excel report you can download. I simply copy the lines from the Excel report into my own Excel journal file which will complete most of the data entry for you. I then just complete some extra lines I’ve added to my journal and write any comments that might be necessary.
Like Mondeoman, I also complete my journal before my next trading session, as I won’t allow myself to place any new trades before my previous journalling is complete. And like Mondeoman pointed out, your previous trades (and any mistakes) will then be fresh in your mind moving forward into your next session.
Also with regards to having too many pairs to monitor, you could always take the 28 major pairs and eliminate any containing CHF, CAD and NZD so you are just left with the ‘parent’ currencies (EUR, USD and AUD). It’s not something I do myself but I’ve seen it mentioned by others.
I also trade some commodities like Gold, Silver, Oil, Soybeans, Wheat & Corn (the last 3 only one at a time due to strong correlation).
To be completely honest, I start with these 4 pairs because they’re at the top of my list, but I do not stick to them exclusively these days. If CADJPY isn’t giving any signals but EURJPY is, then I’ll trade EURJPY. However, I am always careful not to open multiple pairs in the same currency.
Of the trades:
4- I don’t remember what the strategy was
2- S/R break through
1- passing a recent low
6- momentum trades
14- S/R bounces
Of those 14 bounces, 12 were AFTER the actual bounces was confirmed.
I never thought I could learn anything from my wins—all this time I’ve been focusing on my losses.
This goes to show me that waiting for the bounce is a good idea. I thought that placing an early order BEFORE the bounce was a good idea. Maybe not. You don’t know for sure where it will bounce.
That’s the funny part about trend lines. They often expand, but you never know when or until when. That makes it hard to place an order in advance. Therefore, waiting for bounce confirmation makes sense.
In my mind, waiting for bounce confirmation will require a much wider SL and lower pip value. But sometimes price will retest or come close to retesting, hence triggering your entry order. And those are the really good ones because you can get in at the price your want.
Also, trading momentum…with these trades, paying attention to the candles is important: long candle wicks, dojis, engulfing candles, etc. At peaks and valleys, those are all clues. Also, shorter candles, lower highs, or higher lows. These are all clues.
Brilliant progress. Backtesting may show that the S/R bounce trades may not be profitable in the long run, unless combined with other indicators. If you are trading S/R bounce, and a million other retail traders are doing the same, the banks will just love taking out the stops. If you are in the minority, working areas that are not popular, you will stand a far better chance than those simply looking for bounce confirmation.
I noticed that everyday I would review all the charts and make a list.
I would take the trades I wanted, then forget the rest. Repeat the next day.
What I should do is keep the list and work that list for the rest of the week or longer.
This would save me some work and time.
I wanted to limit myself to just 5 currencies. There’s only one that has a set up for me. After that, I have to wait a while for the next set-up. Boring…
So, just as a test, I reviewed all the charts and made a list of upcoming setups.
I would like to focus on this list. There’s 20+ pairs on that list. I won’t be necessarily trading all of them, but I’ll be watching them.
I could get set ups anywhere between now and the next month.
