Time Frames

tradingteacher

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A lot of people who I speak to that have had heavy losses in FX trading I usually find have suffered these losses due to one thing - they were action junkie.

They were wanting to trade on small time frames and have FAST results.

I am not saying this can't be done, I have a few friends that are very good scalpers getting in and out trades rapidly, using tight stops and they just love and can profit from this fast paced trading style.

Most can't.

I ALWAYS trade on the 1hour+ time frames.

It is best to trade on the day chart really, but I trade the 1h one most often as I do like to see results a bit faster.

If you are a patient person, you will do well in FX with a little knowledge and education - FACT.

If you are willing to trade on the 1day chart and wait a week for that perfect set up, you are going to be getting into low risk/ high reward trades most of the time you take a trade.

When trading on any time frame always, always remember we MUST wait for the candle to close (and use candles not line charts), if you have any experience in trading you will know things can happen in SECONDS.

It might look like the price is shattering a support/resistance 5 mins before the candle closes and it may seem like that direction will continue and you might as well get in now at that slightly better price than it will be in 5 min - I have done this in the past and then there has been a rapid change in direction, the candle has shot down and it has formed a candle that is a strong reversal candle ... and guess what happened then, the price shot against the direction I was trading in dramatically - BURNED.

Be patient, never feel like you CAN'T MISS THIS TRADE, you can miss 1000 trades, there is always going to be more. No one ever went broke missing a trade.

This leads into another thing that I am always trying to grain into the people I teach forex trading to.

If you are trading on the 1h chart and you know you have to wait for the candle to close to do the analysis ... do you have to sit and eyeball these charts all day?

Of course not.

All you have to do is come back and check it at about 10 to the hour each hour, check out the correlating pairs too and if there is a nice reversal or continuation setting up, wait for the candle to close and get in then (or wait for pullback on the new candle for a better price if you want).

I have spoken and discussed forex with all kinds of traders, some extremely successful and others who have lost their shirt.

I find the ones who do the best, generally think about it the least. They get the education and a good trade plan, and they only spend a little while trading and watching charts. People who lose a lot sit and stare at the screen all day, heart rising and falling with each tick.

I make nice profits trading and I take very little time out each day to trade.

It takes me no more than 20 mins to do analysis (and this for trading 5-7 pairs) and I only check it once a hour, if that. Sometimes I just set the trade, set the stop/limit and won't look at the trade again all day.

Trading is not hard and stressful - don't make it so, if you do you will be more likely to be a loser than a winner.
 
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