For those who trade on the daily chart, do you often find yourself waiting on the sidelines for a new opportunity to arise?
I’ve had some success with my system and am up 30% over December (having risked only 3% on average per trade) but now the opportunities have seemed to dry up based on my system, and I’m waiting for a new wave of opportunities.
How do you resist the temptation to over trade? I’ve caught myself a few times starting to overanalyse things and try to justify departures from my trading system
Yes I trade daily charts and honestly its more like 4-6 trades max a month.
Thats totally fine by me but occasionally i do feel like Im twiddling my thumbs.
Think of yourself as a cheetah - waits around for large amounts of time doing nothing but waiting - then it chooses the weakest prey out of the herd - this is despite the fact the cheetah is the fastest animal on earth.
Learn to love wait and dont be drawn into this daytrading nonsense that only workers for gamers and quick reaction types.
Another tip is to start a business - or at least look into it.
Hell it doesnt even have to make money - all it needs to do is preoccupy your mind.
But the bonus of another income source will make you a better trader.
I trade only off the daily charts. Its frustrating that trading is so lumpy on this time-frame but I think its easier to accept and live with if firstly you’re very strict with entry criteria and secondly you understand why your preferred set-ups periodically dry up.
The first I’m sure you’re OK with, your ROI sounds great.
As far as trading in general is concerned, I find my opportunities come in waves. This I put down to changing risk tolerance of the financial sector as a whole as the primary global factor. As my trades are trend-following, a change in risk tolerance tends to disrupt virtually all of these simultaneously, or to generate a new wave of entry set-ups simultaneously. Still frustrating though.
Thats good to hear! Gold’s been having a good run! I was a little late on that so unfortunately I’m sitting out on it, but I managed to get a decent run out of Silver as consolation
Ok that’s good to know. I guess the other view is that even if I didn’t trade for the rest of the year, 30% return in a single year is a good outcome.
I like swing trading on the daily because I’m less glued to the charts, and I don’t have less to worry about from the risk of holding trades overnight, but it’s frustrating when you’re sitting out of the market for a week or 2 at a time waiting for the right setup
This has been a major issue with me. Especially on demo.
It croaked me on a live account years ago
Now, when I’m looking at the charts, I ask myself does this position fit my daily chart parameters? And, if it doesn’t I can’t take the trade. There is discipline involved as folks have said.
You just have to be honest with yourself. Does it fit your entry parameters? If not, you have to pass.
The losses from over trading will simply fill you with regret when you look at your historical statement.
This is a great way to think of it! I love the description! It is so true!
Put on your cheetah suit and go lie on a branch as you watch the “trading with strong weak analysis” thread. It seems like there’s always easy prey over there!
Congratulations on making profits. That’s really great to hear.
I also trade from the Daily Chart. Yes I agree there are not as many opportunities as the lower time frames but I find that I trade less but win more. I’m not actively looking for trades on the close of every 1 or 4 hour candle.
In order to avoid over trading have you considered testing out alternative systems? You may find a second system can give you the additional scope for more trading , but as always, Demo trade first.
I trade the daily timeframe because the signals are so much more reliable. But, it does require patience and crystal clear entry/exit criteria.
I trade the majors and their crosses, or 28 pairs in total, which might seem like I am spreading myself too thin. However, I rarely trade all pairs simultaneously. Instead, I look for “stand-out” opportunities. For example, if the Euro is in play it can trigger multiple signals, i.e. EURUSD, EURJPY, EURGBP, and so on. I will select the one (sometimes two) that offers most clarity and opportunity.
Nice post. Your approach just illustrates how two people with the same objectives can get there by different routes.
I also trade off D1, but I try to enter every trend-following trade indicated by charts - so I might find I’ve set buy orders on 3 or 4 AUD-based pairs and 2 or 3 NZD-based, with sells on 4 or 5 EUR-based pairs. The idea is that as I have little success in identifying the best of the bunch I enter on minimal size on all - the worst pairs don’t even reach the order trigger level, the next worst trigger but get stopped by a trailing stop, while the best continue and I pyramid them.
I have one account to trade only large periods, weekly, daily and sometimes 4h charts I usually make between 5 to 8 trades a month and have been doing great so far, but its really not my style, have been doing this just to test with a small account
I am a curious forex trader. I keep looking for ways that can help me improve the way I trade forex. When I decided to trade forex, I promised myself that I won’t stop and do everything that will make me a good trader in all manners.
I too trade only the daily chart. The lower time frame for me just has too much noise. I would only zoom down to the hourly chart once a potential setup is already formed on the daily chart. Looking at the hourly chart only allows me to be more precise in my entry.
