I always start my commodity research/study with a look at the longer-term trends (eg. Monthly) and drill down to the weekly/daily charts. I may use intra-day charts to refine my entry.
Commodity trading longer-term can net really big profits for patient position traders, since they trend longer and better than other markets. This is, amongst other reasons, because they are physixal products with underlying commercial interest and hedging.
I start with a view to identifying the bigger moves( lasting weeks/months) and have a separate SB account specifically for these trades (IG INDEX - since wide spreads become less significant the longer the trade, and tax-free status kicks in on any significant profits.)
However, in recognition of the periodic nature of such moves (and the time scales involved in set-up and trigger), I also trade shorter-term (up to intermediate trend). I use another account for these.
It does help, when analysing shorter -term trades (a few days to 2-3 weeks, say) to remember that you SHOULD always position yourself in the direction of the intermediate or longer-term trend. (Since rallies will be larger in an intermediate bull market and declines stronger in an intermediate bear market.)
I always like to familiarise myself with the fundamental make-up of the commodity in question, whether short ot longer-term.
For short-term trades (5 days to 2-3 weeks) I use mainly daily support/resistance, trendlines coupled with momentum studies (MACD/Slow stochastic or RSI) for entry/exit signals.
For longer-term position trades, I look at Monthly /Weekly support/resistance, trendline + Weekly MACD studies. Also Fibonacci retracement levels as guidelines. Then drill down to refine entry.
So I have 2 distict strategies for 2 separate trading models. As they are executed in 2 different accounts, there is no conflict between the two.
I would never day-trade the commodites markets.
