Right, day trading today. People are very interested in the concept of day trading. And i think there are at least few reasons for this. Before i will go into details, let's define day trading, what it really is.
On Forex day traders are guys who make a lot of trades (like over 10) in a single. Each of the trade is closed by the end of trader trading session, on Forex it usually means turning your computer off. Note that this is not the same as scalping. The only similarity between scalping and day trading is that, a lot of traders fail there.
Main resaon for this is that traders are tempted with huge profits, when doing day trading people are almost always using huge lavereages, like 100:1, it means buying 10 Lots with 10 000$. I think you can easily see how much one PIP is worth then, yeah it is 100$. It seems great at first, looks like a quick cash, but consider the fact that you only need 100 PIP move in the wrong direction to meet mr. Margin Call.
In reality when you trade on such high leverage it looks like everything is happening with a speed of light, while in fact it all happens with a normal speed, it is this ridiculous leverage that makes things harder.
Next thing you need to consider when you want to do day trading on forex currencies, is that not every broker will be happy with what you are doing, they may close your account or limi your leverage if ... you will start making money. So chose your broker wiseley checkout Forex forums and read brokers reviews make sure they allow day trading.
You may now think, wow day trading is hard. Well in fact it really is harder then you think. I am not saying it cannot be done, i am not saying you cannot earn like 200% a month. I am just saying that success with day trading want happen overnight, if you focus on it and commit to becoming day trading the success will come with time and experience.
Showing posts with label Forex Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forex Education. Show all posts
Monday, July 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Standard Deviation Channel
I recently read article about, about standard deviation channel, (which as you may already know is one of my favorite indicators), and I was shocked, although author of this article explained what standard deviation channel is in mathematics but it had very little to do with Forex or any other financial market. Furthermore, I read other articles about standard deviation channels and what I found out is that they all were giving useless information to readers, so here is the right way to use standard deviation channel.
First of all, authors suggest that, when price will reach upper line, it is time to take SHORT position and vice versa, when price will reach lower line you should take LONG position because market is oversold.
This is true only if market is trending. It is quite safe to treat then lower line as support line and upper line as resistance line, and more over (depending on your standard deviation channel settings) 95% of price movement will happen between this two lines, as long as market is trending. The obvious question here is how to tell if Forex is trending, but this question is beyond the scope of this article, at least for now J.
What I like about standard deviation is that it allows to easily determine trend, you just need to draw channel over the selected period of time and that’s it, you have detected trend. However to use this indicator efficiently you need some experience, ideally you should see channel on the chart before you draw any lines on it. If you don’t see it, then do not worry it is all about experience.
How to use correctly Standard Deviation Channel
If market is in uptrend, you should take ONLY long positions, when price will reach lower line. Never take SHORT position in uptrend when the price will reach upper line, that do NOT mean that market is overbought, in uptrend price can easily go waaay over upper line and hit STOP LOSS, of trader who was stupid enough to take SHORT position in bull market.
Obviously, the opposite goes for market in downtrend, do not take long positions on lower line, NEVER.
Most importantly, this indicator is called standard deviation channel and you should use it only with CHANNELS not with any random piece of chart, below is the stock market chart with two correctly drawn channels.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Economic Calendar
Earlier, actually in the last post i wrote about importance of knowing what economic data that affect Forex market will be relased and when. This information alone can save you a lot of pain, because, after some key economic indicators are relased, prices in just few minutes can go +200 pips up, and then out of sudden 300 pips down.
This mainly affects day traders or scalpers, and the EUR\USD currency pair. I belive there are many ways you can deal with market moving indicators, but i will list two of my ideas i have came up with:
More over important economic data dictates trend of the market, so you can use it for simple Forex fundamental analysis.
But the most important question here is, where do i get this data and how will i know which is important and which is not? My all time favourite source for economic data is bloomber economic calendar, which you can find here: ECalendar.
I like this calendar because, it places icon next to particular event, which tells me how important this event is, so i do not have to make my own research on every single event.
From my experience i can tell you that, two events responsible for the biggest moves are: Employment situation and FOMC meeting.
This mainly affects day traders or scalpers, and the EUR\USD currency pair. I belive there are many ways you can deal with market moving indicators, but i will list two of my ideas i have came up with:
- Few minutes before economic data announcement hedge your position.
- Not all Forex brokers allows to hedge, if yours not, then you can close your position before data release and open a new one after market will "calm down".
More over important economic data dictates trend of the market, so you can use it for simple Forex fundamental analysis.
But the most important question here is, where do i get this data and how will i know which is important and which is not? My all time favourite source for economic data is bloomber economic calendar, which you can find here: ECalendar.
I like this calendar because, it places icon next to particular event, which tells me how important this event is, so i do not have to make my own research on every single event.
From my experience i can tell you that, two events responsible for the biggest moves are: Employment situation and FOMC meeting.
7 signs of bad investment
Buying stocks on stock market or taking positions on Forex, often involves great deal of emotions, especially when you invest a lot of money, or you are starting out with trading and you are not comfortable with putting your money on the risk.
When it comes to money emotions are hard to control however, before you make decision to put money into some stocks, you can try to determine if there are any deadly signs of bad investment behind your decision. (For a full article visit ASXNewbie website, i will just list quickly those signs and make my comments on it).
Here they are: 7 signs of bad investment
When it comes to money emotions are hard to control however, before you make decision to put money into some stocks, you can try to determine if there are any deadly signs of bad investment behind your decision. (For a full article visit ASXNewbie website, i will just list quickly those signs and make my comments on it).
Here they are: 7 signs of bad investment
- Research, lack of research is probably one of the greatest mistake you can make, if you make good research, then you can get at least some confidence in your trade, which is important when it goes bad at the beginning.
- Hesitation on fundamentals, this mainly applies to stock market, Forex traders rearly have to focus on fundamental data
- Buying stocks for long term with no end in mind, it speaks for itself.
- Not being aware of important announcements, on Forex it is useful to know when important economic data will be released, such as employment situation which is responsible for a big price changes in short time.
- Sometimes investment needs care, especially if you trade long term
- It is not a shame to get rid of bad investment or position, this goes back to the do not risk more then 5% of your capital on the single trade.
- Doing what everyone else is doing, this is often mistake of unexperienced trader, be your own guru, do not look at other to know what to do, especially if they are losesr.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Simple Forex strategies
I havent't recently updated this blog because, i am currently more focused on Stock Market, and system for sports betting which i recently created. When i will finish it, i wil give you link to this system, i suppose it will be free till the end of the season.
Anyway, simple forex strategies, what i mean by that? In my mind these are strategies that are very simple :). I often see guys with super advanced entry strategies. They use MACD, RSI, ADX, 10 different MAs and EMAs, Fibbonaci retracement, Elliot Waves to predict the best entry point.
I think it's funny.
Because often these guys do not realize that actually there are only two types of indicators.
How many oscillators do i use? I use none or zero, so in my mind forex strategy with 2 indicators is still complex strategy. Traders often say that you need a lot of indicators to get rid of false signal. But what i found out when i started using many tools was that i got as many signals that i should take LONG position as for SHORT position. So, keep in mind the old saying: sometimes less is more.
After eliminating all oscillators we are left with very simple tools:
Determine trend, but do NOT try to predict future, it is impossible. determine trend based on what you already have on the chart. There are at least three types of trend: up, down, consolidation, i think i already said it, but it is worth repeating over and over.
Determine Take Profit and Stop Loss, GO IN. That's it.
Ok so to sum this up. You can build a very complex strategy or system if it works for you, it didn't work for me at all. But remember, do not underestimate value and importance of very simple tools like trend lines, fibbonacci retracement and standard deviation channels.
Anyway, simple forex strategies, what i mean by that? In my mind these are strategies that are very simple :). I often see guys with super advanced entry strategies. They use MACD, RSI, ADX, 10 different MAs and EMAs, Fibbonaci retracement, Elliot Waves to predict the best entry point.
I think it's funny.
Because often these guys do not realize that actually there are only two types of indicators.
- Trend following - indicates whatever Market is in up or down trend (MACD for example)
- Momentum - tells you if Market is overbought or oversold (RSI)
How many oscillators do i use? I use none or zero, so in my mind forex strategy with 2 indicators is still complex strategy. Traders often say that you need a lot of indicators to get rid of false signal. But what i found out when i started using many tools was that i got as many signals that i should take LONG position as for SHORT position. So, keep in mind the old saying: sometimes less is more.
After eliminating all oscillators we are left with very simple tools:
- trend lines, as well as support and resistance levels
- Fibbonacci retracement
- Andrews' Pitchfork
- Standard Deviation Channel
Determine trend, but do NOT try to predict future, it is impossible. determine trend based on what you already have on the chart. There are at least three types of trend: up, down, consolidation, i think i already said it, but it is worth repeating over and over.
Determine Take Profit and Stop Loss, GO IN. That's it.
Ok so to sum this up. You can build a very complex strategy or system if it works for you, it didn't work for me at all. But remember, do not underestimate value and importance of very simple tools like trend lines, fibbonacci retracement and standard deviation channels.
Friday, September 14, 2007
The "95% of all Forex traders fail" Lie!
I refer 95% lie to sentence: “95% of traders fail”. Although this are calculations made by brokers, based on their account history. I suppose those are accounts that were blown out by newbie traders.
Anyway I have to admit that it is true that 95% of account ends up empty within less then three months. But hose who were trading them … were they really traders? I think not, in my opinion they were gold diggers or just uninformed fools.
It happens often that after forex success story in newspaper or magazine, people without knowing anything about forex think: “Hey this is easy way to make money! If that guy in the newspaper made millions, I can make at least few thousands I am not stupid”. I don’t have to tell you how wrong this guy is. He takes loan, and starts trading, within 3 months he has got no money but a big loan to pay.
I believe this are the people who goes by 95% rule. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can make money, but you have to understand it is not going to happen overnight. Probably not even within two years. But it is possible.
What it takes to become trader? In my opinion the only difference between successful and unsuccessful trader is … experience. All you need to do is trade and get some experience.
But there is something more important. As you may lack successes within this two years it is crucial to believe that you can really do it, that it is possible to achieve success. If you have problem with that then, do yourself a favor and buy Anthony Robbins “Awaken the giant within” great book on positive mindset.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Detecting trend reversal on Forex
I know that: "How to detect trend reversal?" maybe a thought question with very complex answer but I will try to make my take on it, and keep it very simple and understandable.
So let’s get started, obviously when trying to detect trend reversal on Forex you have to use tools that were designed for it. You can’t predict it with MACD or RSI because they are trend following indicators. Indicators designed to predict trend reversal are … candles. Japanese always traded reversal strategies, European and US traders are almost always trend following traders.
If you don’t know how to interpret forex candles then do a search on web and find some info, reading correctly candles is easy and you have to know it. Although keep in mind I do not recommend using them on charts smaller then 4H.
Of course … relying only on Japanese techniques can be quiet deceptive so we need something more reliable, we need to have an angel. Trend reversal candles can happen anywhere on the chart, will they always mean end of the trend? … No, the really important candles are those which can be found near support and resistance levels. We want to know if this particular level will be broken or not.
Let’s pretend we have reverse candle near support, is it time to buy some lots? Again the answer is NO. Take your time, the next candle should be white which is confirmation that trend was reversed, there can also be consolidation period near resistance level, which is usually another sign that trend is reversing, in this case I would put long order at the resistance of consolidation block.
Where to put stop loss? I put it about 100 – 200 pips below my order depending on situation. I mean if important resistance or support line is broken and price move fast in opposite direction (eg. 100 pips) then there is really no point in holding this position any longer, trend wasn’t reversed.
Well, I hope this helps some of you, but if you are going to use this techniques then keep in mind they apply to longer timeframes! I use it with 1D charts, if you will use it with 15M chart you are going to blow yourself out.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
How to make perfect entry point on Forex
If you find out that you make trades to early and before price starts moving in your direction the stop loss is already hit. The source of this problem is you are probably using to big timeframe. Don’t get me wrong on this one it is not that you need to change it, but you need to focus more on last candles, you are to concentrated on overall picture.
Anyway if you find yourself doing such trades then do not worry, this is easy to handle I had the same issue when I started trading.
Let’s break it down.
First of all your chart interpretations are ok. You make good trades but to early. So next time try this simple strategy.
After selection of new trade, find smaller trend in opposite direction and wait for reversal, when you will be sure that smaller trend is reversed make your trade. Sure you will loose some pips by getting late in to trend, but trust me there is no better point of entering the trade.
But what is the trend reversal confirmation?
Basically it is when you have more evidences that trend is reversed I won’t talk more about it now because this is covered in my other article, besides you probably have some techniques to determine trend reversal on Forex.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Forex easy success
When i started trading, i had two months in a row when i made about +20% on my capital every single month. I thought i was already good at trading, but i didn't started to trade real money because i remembered the old rule: you need at least two years to get good at it, and that was a great decision because next months brought me nothing but loses.
Despite i made a lot of (virtual) cash i didn't learned a thing, i was just enjoying my profitable trades and thought to myself how good i am at this. Don't make the same mistake i made, try to learn from all your trades.
Think about:
- why you made a trade
- what market did
- what you should do next time when similar event will occur.
I keep all my positions open for at least few days, so it is not a problem for me to remember them, but if your trading style requires you to make several trades a day then you should start a journal, you may think they are for 13 year old girls but they are not, all highly successful people write and update their journals. Alternatively you may try starting a blog it is free and you can share with other traders your ideas, thoughts and what you are doing. People are generally nice and will be happy to help you with trading.
I also realized that effortless success is worthless success. It may be good in a short run but in the long run, the problem is no one ever learned from easy success. After few good trades people tend to think: hey i know this stuff, and they start to bet big bucks and what they bet on is nothing more then luck.
Some time ago i knew a guy who took 10 000$ loan from bank to trade on forex, when i first met him he had only 4 000$ left. He told me then that he read an article on internet about a man who made millions on stock market and he thought that trading is a fast and effective way of making money. So like i said he borrowed cash and started trading. After just two months he lost 4 000$, so he decided to buy automatic system ("magic pill") which will trade for him. First month of robot trading was great, he recovered some cash and everything was going straight, but the disaster was still to come, suddenly out of nowhere robot started losing, poor guy didn't knew why and what to do with it, because he bought this robot and let it work, without looking into sophisticated algorithm robot was built of, the only thing he knew was: robot is losing. When he finally decided to turn off automatic trader, he was already down additional 2 000$ and of course profits that this robot made were also gone.
When you first look at this story it seems there is no "easy success" embedded, but i assure you there is. It's an article about a guy who made millions from stock market, but often it can be short sentence like "You can make easily 200$ a day by trading forex market".
I am not saying that making big cash on forex is impossible, i am merely saying that road to success is not as easy as it looks like. You have to make a lot of trades loose cash (better to start with virtual money), learn from your trades, analyze them, search for patterns on charts and develop your own style which will feet you, not your need of money.
The most successful forex traders i know are not the ones who made money very fast, but those who lost their deposits twice before they started to make money month by month and yes it took them about two years to get there.
But again don't get me wrong on this, you don't have to lost 20 000$ to start making money. I am just saying you should be prepared for it, trade for at least six months on demo account, then when you will get comfortable with trading demo, start trading real cash with oanda, marketiva or fxsol. This are brokers who will let you trade with small amount of units this also means small deposit, as low as one for oanda and marketiva
Despite i made a lot of (virtual) cash i didn't learned a thing, i was just enjoying my profitable trades and thought to myself how good i am at this. Don't make the same mistake i made, try to learn from all your trades.
Think about:
- why you made a trade
- what market did
- what you should do next time when similar event will occur.
I keep all my positions open for at least few days, so it is not a problem for me to remember them, but if your trading style requires you to make several trades a day then you should start a journal, you may think they are for 13 year old girls but they are not, all highly successful people write and update their journals. Alternatively you may try starting a blog it is free and you can share with other traders your ideas, thoughts and what you are doing. People are generally nice and will be happy to help you with trading.
I also realized that effortless success is worthless success. It may be good in a short run but in the long run, the problem is no one ever learned from easy success. After few good trades people tend to think: hey i know this stuff, and they start to bet big bucks and what they bet on is nothing more then luck.
Some time ago i knew a guy who took 10 000$ loan from bank to trade on forex, when i first met him he had only 4 000$ left. He told me then that he read an article on internet about a man who made millions on stock market and he thought that trading is a fast and effective way of making money. So like i said he borrowed cash and started trading. After just two months he lost 4 000$, so he decided to buy automatic system ("magic pill") which will trade for him. First month of robot trading was great, he recovered some cash and everything was going straight, but the disaster was still to come, suddenly out of nowhere robot started losing, poor guy didn't knew why and what to do with it, because he bought this robot and let it work, without looking into sophisticated algorithm robot was built of, the only thing he knew was: robot is losing. When he finally decided to turn off automatic trader, he was already down additional 2 000$ and of course profits that this robot made were also gone.
When you first look at this story it seems there is no "easy success" embedded, but i assure you there is. It's an article about a guy who made millions from stock market, but often it can be short sentence like "You can make easily 200$ a day by trading forex market".
I am not saying that making big cash on forex is impossible, i am merely saying that road to success is not as easy as it looks like. You have to make a lot of trades loose cash (better to start with virtual money), learn from your trades, analyze them, search for patterns on charts and develop your own style which will feet you, not your need of money.
The most successful forex traders i know are not the ones who made money very fast, but those who lost their deposits twice before they started to make money month by month and yes it took them about two years to get there.
But again don't get me wrong on this, you don't have to lost 20 000$ to start making money. I am just saying you should be prepared for it, trade for at least six months on demo account, then when you will get comfortable with trading demo, start trading real cash with oanda, marketiva or fxsol. This are brokers who will let you trade with small amount of units this also means small deposit, as low as one for oanda and marketiva
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Forex correlation
When treading stocks traders can take advantage of volume which is very usefull when trading technically, forex do not have volume, you maybe saw tool which shows volume on charts for example meta trader has such option but it is only diffrence between close and open price, but fortunetly when trading forex, we can use something diffrent and even more usefull then volume, currency correlation.
Most (if not all) currencies pairs are correletated in some level, it is mainly because of Forex structure, in fact it can be called dollar and anti dollar market, face it dollar (despite it is getting weaker and weaker every day) is still the most important currency, so US economic news has impact on all currencies, but that is not even a point.
When trading forex we trade two currencies, let's make it EUR/USD for sake of example, if we predicted it is going up and we are always right :> then what about USD/CHF? If there are US news that move dollar price down, then at the same time when EUR/USD is going up USD/CHF MUST go down, i think it is logical no more explenation needed.
So how to take adventage of currency correlation?
First of all go to www.mataf.net and checko out how much and which currencies are the most correleated ones (i can tell you know that it will be EUR/USD and USD/CHF but shhhh check it out by yourself) at the diffrent days diffrent cross pairs can have diffrent correlation value, pick the ones with value about 80 or -80, and remeber to use timescale which is suitable to your trading style, if you trade intraday then it will be stupid to look at 20 day correlation are you with me here?
Second, egzamine the charts. If you choosed XXX/USD, YYY/USD and USD/ZZZ and from your technical analysis it looks like first to will go down and third will go up then ther is very high probability that very strong and quick move in your direction wil occur, enough said.
Now you proboably know what to do, check correlation, check charts and set your positions :)
Most (if not all) currencies pairs are correletated in some level, it is mainly because of Forex structure, in fact it can be called dollar and anti dollar market, face it dollar (despite it is getting weaker and weaker every day) is still the most important currency, so US economic news has impact on all currencies, but that is not even a point.
When trading forex we trade two currencies, let's make it EUR/USD for sake of example, if we predicted it is going up and we are always right :> then what about USD/CHF? If there are US news that move dollar price down, then at the same time when EUR/USD is going up USD/CHF MUST go down, i think it is logical no more explenation needed.
So how to take adventage of currency correlation?
First of all go to www.mataf.net and checko out how much and which currencies are the most correleated ones (i can tell you know that it will be EUR/USD and USD/CHF but shhhh check it out by yourself) at the diffrent days diffrent cross pairs can have diffrent correlation value, pick the ones with value about 80 or -80, and remeber to use timescale which is suitable to your trading style, if you trade intraday then it will be stupid to look at 20 day correlation are you with me here?
Second, egzamine the charts. If you choosed XXX/USD, YYY/USD and USD/ZZZ and from your technical analysis it looks like first to will go down and third will go up then ther is very high probability that very strong and quick move in your direction wil occur, enough said.
Now you proboably know what to do, check correlation, check charts and set your positions :)
Friday, May 12, 2006
SilverTrend Indicator
When trading Forex i had a big issue with entry points i though: is retracement confirmed or is it not, is it time to enter or better wait for a while, my Forex entry strategy wasn't good, until i found simple to use SilverTrend Indicator, actually he is not doing a lot but helps me big time, it gives objective entry signals, and ofcourse it works best on trending market
Let's look at the picture. It is ofcourse 4H EUR/USD chart, i drew there two trendlines which form a channel, we have got bullish market no doubt about it.
Now look at blue arrows the ones very close lower trend line are giving very strong LONG signal, you can chceck it by yourself, look arrow in the middle between two trendlines (5th arrow) is giving false signal well may be it was opportunity to make few pips but i wouldn't risk there, on the other hand last signal (last blue arrow) which is nearly on trendline gave more then 160 pips in few hours.
You proboably also see orange arrows but i do not think it is wise going short when market is definitely going long, but when market is going down we ofcourse do the opposite, enter when signal is given by orange arrow.
I know it looks great and you may be thinking "hey, let's write an mechanical expert who will go long and short when signals are given!" this proboably isn't bad idea where market is going up or down, but be aware that when Forex is moving horizontal this mechanical strategy would wipeout your account in no time, because silver trend alert when trend change is confirmed on trading market when confirmation occurs it usually end of the trend.
Now for the price of this indicator ... just kidding it is free and comes in two versions.
Silver Trend standad silver trend indicator
Silver Trend Alert this version of indicator comes with popup and sound alert so you will never miss a trade :) but when using it for more then a week it gets boring so i am not using alerts right now.
Last word of warning, you can also find other indicator with word "trend" in their namess which look better then silver trend and cost more then 100$ dollars, most of them are nothing more then silver trend modified a bit and presented by vertical lines or something equal, do not throw your money on it.
Let's look at the picture. It is ofcourse 4H EUR/USD chart, i drew there two trendlines which form a channel, we have got bullish market no doubt about it.Now look at blue arrows the ones very close lower trend line are giving very strong LONG signal, you can chceck it by yourself, look arrow in the middle between two trendlines (5th arrow) is giving false signal well may be it was opportunity to make few pips but i wouldn't risk there, on the other hand last signal (last blue arrow) which is nearly on trendline gave more then 160 pips in few hours.
You proboably also see orange arrows but i do not think it is wise going short when market is definitely going long, but when market is going down we ofcourse do the opposite, enter when signal is given by orange arrow.
I know it looks great and you may be thinking "hey, let's write an mechanical expert who will go long and short when signals are given!" this proboably isn't bad idea where market is going up or down, but be aware that when Forex is moving horizontal this mechanical strategy would wipeout your account in no time, because silver trend alert when trend change is confirmed on trading market when confirmation occurs it usually end of the trend.
Now for the price of this indicator ... just kidding it is free and comes in two versions.
Silver Trend standad silver trend indicator
Silver Trend Alert this version of indicator comes with popup and sound alert so you will never miss a trade :) but when using it for more then a week it gets boring so i am not using alerts right now.
Last word of warning, you can also find other indicator with word "trend" in their namess which look better then silver trend and cost more then 100$ dollars, most of them are nothing more then silver trend modified a bit and presented by vertical lines or something equal, do not throw your money on it.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Forex Candles
Lately i sterted to wounder, candles where made for stock market which is open only 8 hours a day, so every daily candle on stock market has it's own meaning it is seperated timeframe, on the other hand Forex is never close (except weekends) so what is the value of Forex daily candle?
My doubts became even bigger when i found out that Steve Nison (world class candlesticks expert) has a seminar on diffrences between Forex and Stock Market candles, so there must be something on it.
Anyway I am not Steve Nison but here is my take on it.
1. Diffrent people can have diffrent candles on their monitors, for example when i see doji, someone on the other side of the globe can see "hammer" or any other candle, why? Anserw is simple no one can tell you when one day on forex market has passed, it can be diffrent hour in Europe, diffrent in America and diffrent in Asia, more over traders in one country can have diffrent candle patterns on their charts, it is very subjective, everything comes down to defined hour of the day when new candle is open.
On the other hand there isn't such problem on the Stock Market everyone has got the same daily candle.
2. I said it before but i will reapeat it here, Forex market do not close, actually it do not have such a thing a session (unless you threat time from monday to friday as a session). On Stock Market yesterday candle has got nothing common with todays candle, hard to belive it but this is the way it is and that is why there are so many gaps on stocks charts, don't get me wrong i am not saying that trend do not exists i'm just saying that daily candles on Stock Market are "self dependent", unlike Forex candles they are almost always close to each other, one cadle close price is next candle open price, it is very common you have to agree.
3. As for gaps, you will hardly see them on Forex, but sometimes they occur, espacially after weekend it looks like "something" had to happen to move open price far away from last close price, on Stock Market it happens daily on Forex weekly, in fact it can be even monthly.
These are my thoughts, but i have got one question for you. What is the point in using candles on 5M charts? They can't even make a simple formation, even if they do it is pointless to use it You proboably saw 5 or more doji in a row on charts less then 5M is there any interpretation for this, each of them means trend reversal? I do not think so.
My doubts became even bigger when i found out that Steve Nison (world class candlesticks expert) has a seminar on diffrences between Forex and Stock Market candles, so there must be something on it.
Anyway I am not Steve Nison but here is my take on it.
1. Diffrent people can have diffrent candles on their monitors, for example when i see doji, someone on the other side of the globe can see "hammer" or any other candle, why? Anserw is simple no one can tell you when one day on forex market has passed, it can be diffrent hour in Europe, diffrent in America and diffrent in Asia, more over traders in one country can have diffrent candle patterns on their charts, it is very subjective, everything comes down to defined hour of the day when new candle is open.
On the other hand there isn't such problem on the Stock Market everyone has got the same daily candle.
2. I said it before but i will reapeat it here, Forex market do not close, actually it do not have such a thing a session (unless you threat time from monday to friday as a session). On Stock Market yesterday candle has got nothing common with todays candle, hard to belive it but this is the way it is and that is why there are so many gaps on stocks charts, don't get me wrong i am not saying that trend do not exists i'm just saying that daily candles on Stock Market are "self dependent", unlike Forex candles they are almost always close to each other, one cadle close price is next candle open price, it is very common you have to agree.
3. As for gaps, you will hardly see them on Forex, but sometimes they occur, espacially after weekend it looks like "something" had to happen to move open price far away from last close price, on Stock Market it happens daily on Forex weekly, in fact it can be even monthly.
These are my thoughts, but i have got one question for you. What is the point in using candles on 5M charts? They can't even make a simple formation, even if they do it is pointless to use it You proboably saw 5 or more doji in a row on charts less then 5M is there any interpretation for this, each of them means trend reversal? I do not think so.
Swing trading vs. Intraday trading
My story. When i started trading forex i thought intraday is the way to go, make few pips close position and make next trade, but i remember one day when i looked at my forex account and saw that i made 20 pips i thought it's great but when i looked at chart i realised that when my take profit was hit, price moved more then 50 pips in my direction, needless to say i felt like a looser despite i made 20 pips, so i started to wounder maybe swing trading is better then intraday...
Well since then it is almost a year now and here is what i have learned about trading Forex intraday and Swing trading.
Let's egzamine Forex Swing Trading.
First of all when we look at any educational chart we can see that most of them are made on 4H or 1D interval, why is that you may ask? The anserw is simple all this technical indicators works best in long intervals, longer the interval is, more accurate indicator will be. We can also look at it from statistical point of view the more data we have, more reliable our tests are.
Trading long term means ofcourse less trades, and less trades means less spread. Face it spread is killer of most profitable intraday strategies, but when "swinging" you don't have to care about spread it if you make between 50 and 150 pips in single trade why care about 2 pip spread?
You don't have to make decisions right on the spot and don't have to click fast to get best price.
Once technical analysis done for 1D chart you have at least one week free of technicals.
Now for disadvantages, sometimees even when trading more then 10 currencies you don't have a single position open for a week or even month, that it is without a doubt bad. We trade Forex to make money not let them sleep and do nothing.
Trading quick currencies may be risky (when you do not set up take profit) i many times saw price moving 70 pips in my direction and then turn around and hit my stop loss in no time. and i couldn't actually do anything about it because i left my trades open, it doesn't matter that my prediction was good stop loss was hit and that is a fact.
More over when stop loss was hit and you have no open trades left there is always this feeling: "i want to get back there, i want to recover" but when swing trading clear GO signals do not happen often.
Now it is time for Forex Intraday Trading
It is somewhat like being a partizant, when opportunity occurs you attack take profit and run, i am not saying it is bad or good, it is just my feeling. Anyway i found out that intraday trading strategies easy to follow i mean you just look at 30M chart identify trend and place transaction, on the other hand when "swinging" you trade longer timeframe trend, it sometimes happens that when yor realize that trend has changed you already lost 10% of your account.
You can trade any day and any time it rarely happens that market is so slow that you can't even make 10 pips from it.
In fact trade signals are very often on 5M chart and unlike swing strading you don't have to worry that your money will be doing nothing at all, your money are working from monday to friday and that's the way it should be.
Ofcourse a lot of signals can mean a lot of transactions, but when you start losing then a lot of transaction means a lot of looses, it is often that when trader takes a loose he want to quickly recover unfortunetly when Intraday trading it almost always means another loose.
Last disadvantage, the biggest enemy when trading intraday is spread even if it small you have to pay a lot of it.
So this is it if you have any comments feel free to post it.
Well since then it is almost a year now and here is what i have learned about trading Forex intraday and Swing trading.
Let's egzamine Forex Swing Trading.
First of all when we look at any educational chart we can see that most of them are made on 4H or 1D interval, why is that you may ask? The anserw is simple all this technical indicators works best in long intervals, longer the interval is, more accurate indicator will be. We can also look at it from statistical point of view the more data we have, more reliable our tests are.
Trading long term means ofcourse less trades, and less trades means less spread. Face it spread is killer of most profitable intraday strategies, but when "swinging" you don't have to care about spread it if you make between 50 and 150 pips in single trade why care about 2 pip spread?
You don't have to make decisions right on the spot and don't have to click fast to get best price.
Once technical analysis done for 1D chart you have at least one week free of technicals.
Now for disadvantages, sometimees even when trading more then 10 currencies you don't have a single position open for a week or even month, that it is without a doubt bad. We trade Forex to make money not let them sleep and do nothing.
Trading quick currencies may be risky (when you do not set up take profit) i many times saw price moving 70 pips in my direction and then turn around and hit my stop loss in no time. and i couldn't actually do anything about it because i left my trades open, it doesn't matter that my prediction was good stop loss was hit and that is a fact.
More over when stop loss was hit and you have no open trades left there is always this feeling: "i want to get back there, i want to recover" but when swing trading clear GO signals do not happen often.
Now it is time for Forex Intraday Trading
It is somewhat like being a partizant, when opportunity occurs you attack take profit and run, i am not saying it is bad or good, it is just my feeling. Anyway i found out that intraday trading strategies easy to follow i mean you just look at 30M chart identify trend and place transaction, on the other hand when "swinging" you trade longer timeframe trend, it sometimes happens that when yor realize that trend has changed you already lost 10% of your account.
You can trade any day and any time it rarely happens that market is so slow that you can't even make 10 pips from it.
In fact trade signals are very often on 5M chart and unlike swing strading you don't have to worry that your money will be doing nothing at all, your money are working from monday to friday and that's the way it should be.
Ofcourse a lot of signals can mean a lot of transactions, but when you start losing then a lot of transaction means a lot of looses, it is often that when trader takes a loose he want to quickly recover unfortunetly when Intraday trading it almost always means another loose.
Last disadvantage, the biggest enemy when trading intraday is spread even if it small you have to pay a lot of it.
So this is it if you have any comments feel free to post it.
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