How do you prepare for your intraday trading?

cashclay

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JUst wondering what you guys look at and how you guys prepare for your intraday trading? Do you look at the weekly monthly, yearly charts to get a better feel of the days trading?
 
JUst wondering what you guys look at and how you guys prepare for your intraday trading? Do you look at the weekly monthly, yearly charts to get a better feel of the days trading?
Hi cashclay,
An interesting question and one which - I imagine - will elicit very different answers from every trader. I think the two key drivers - or common denominators that will unite most answers - will be the market(s) traded and the beliefs the trader has about the way the markets function.

Markets
The market traded is likely to influence the preparation a trader does (or doesn't) undertake.

For example, equities traders will take a keen interest in the sectors that the instruments that they trade are in, along with the relevant equity index. E.g. someone who trades Google will follow the tech sector and the Nasdaq.

Someone who trades futures - such as the ES - will probably take a good look at the cash index (S&P 500) to see if it offers any interesting clues about the day ahead.

Beliefs
Primarily, this boils down to whether the trader is purely TA based and only ever looks at charts, or whether they factor fundamentals into their trading. At the moment, there is little doubt that just about every market is influenced to some extent by the Greek debt crisis. So, some traders will study what's going on there and analyse the reports coming out of Brussels for some clue that is positive or negative and then position themselves accordingly.

Most traders, especially intra day traders will be aware of scheduled news announcements for the day ahead. This is regardless of whether they are TA based traders or fundamental traders as, for example, an unexpected nonfarm payroll number can send the markets crazy - albeit not for very long - usually!
Tim.
 
Cashclay,

What you are looking for depends on the strategy you use. I as an example look for certain chart patterns to appear and I want them to appear on stocks with a lot of volume. So I look at the previous day top gainers and losers and look at their daily chart patterns. The chart´s range is usually 6 months to a full year. When I see a stock that has a similar pattern to what I am looking for, I put it into my watch list. I usually have 5-10 stocks there before the pre-market trading begins. Now I will be looking for the 1 minute chart in order to time my entry. I base my decisions on the the 6-month daily and on the intraday 1-minute charts. But this is all based on my strategy. If you would be a swing trader, you might not even be interested on the intraday stock chart, the daily graph might be good for you.
Now in order to answer, where to find stocks that have moved, check http://finance.yahoo.com/market-overview/ if you don´t have a brokarage account or a good trading platform, I use my broker´s trading platform to scan for gainers and losers from the previous day and also intraday.
 
i too am starting to look for patterns and trend breakout. but how reliable are these? And also do they apply to intraday trading?
 
i too am starting to look for patterns and trend breakout. but how reliable are these? And also do they apply to intraday trading?

They are not reliable, they need to work at least 50+% of times, if your risk reward ratio is 1:1 and less if RR is higher. I would say that they mostly apply to intraday trading, as emotions are more in play than with longer term, where different fundamental factors might come into play. The market efficiency increases if looking at a longer time period and also vice versa.
 
Well this trade need lots of practice and brain. I actually learned a lot from my beginner's tutorial. You too might find it useful. Anyway its up to you! Cheers!

I personally don´t like forex. There are 100 million factors in play. I tried forex a while ago and felt like a boat with no paddles. Also it´s super easy to lose all your capital, as you have it leveraged 1:100 or more.
 
JUst wondering what you guys look at and how you guys prepare for your intraday trading? Do you look at the weekly monthly, yearly charts to get a better feel of the days trading?


I watch Bloomberg from 6.45am for a macro view, and then leave it playing in background.
I read relevant RNS's ( from 7am)
I read the Alliance news news feed from my data provider
I get a lot of brokers research via email service so I scan this for any relevant research of any stocks on my research list.
I wait for the opening then scan my "watch list"
and finally using Yahoo and iMessage I chat with people also trading to see if any idea swaps trigger any "light bulb" moments!

Hope this helps

CT
 
Hi... i would say at first, you need to have basic fundamentals of the market, how it works etc. You first need to have a broader view about the economy and the industry your target stock is trading into.
Then, specifically for intraday trading, you need to keep a watch on the stocks you are targetting for a couple of days to see the trends. Then, after gaining some confidence, you can take a bet on the stocks.
Cheers!
 
After a year of trading, I consider myself still new at it but I've learned to look at different factors before applying my strategy, such as the time I'm trading and the volatility of the assets on which I trade, and also what the economic calendar says .. these are the minimun details I analyze everyday before I start trading.
 
After a year of trading, I consider myself still new at it but I've learned to look at different factors before applying my strategy, such as the time I'm trading and the volatility of the assets on which I trade, and also what the economic calendar says .. these are the minimun details I analyze everyday before I start trading.

im still learning after 18 months..
but in answer to the OP, weekly view for the long term then daily for support levels and then bring those into the lower time frames. Look for breakouts above or price action for signs of reversal
 
I just trade and step aside during news. I used to have a laborious routine but found it interfered more than it helped.
 
As a forex scalper I need to be mindful of news events in the day to come and what support / resistance levels have been seen in the key currencies in the Asian session preceding London......especially the usd as that's my main currency in scalp pairs

After that I don't tend to worry to much about market chatter and noise ....it's all about price action and going with the flow

Price is all.....

N
 
1.- During the weekend, general overview of all things that interest me, Forex, Indixes, shares, etc.

2.- By Sunday I have selected which of the above I think will be the best moving (specially volatility wise) contracts the following week. Normally I only take the best, sometimes if it is low volatility I take two. Rarely three or more.

If it is high volatility atmosphere like nowadays, one is plenty, more than enough to make a trade a day if you wish to do so.

3.- Every morning from Tuesday onwards (preparation for Monday is already done on the weekend) quick update of the overview, levels, update marks in the charts if necessary.

If and when my goals are met for the week (not every week happens of course) I quit. I keep looking at charts just to keep my feeling fresh. If I am too bored because by Monday or Tuesday I am already done, I trade a bit on a demo account to keep practice.
 
I'm still at using dayle levels.. so, every morning I prepare my graphics inserting all the daily levels I take from some sites.. they help me with my strategy
 
I'm a futures and futures options trader. I look at 30 minute charts for the last 10-15 trading days, in 27 markets, and identify price and time inflection points. I then project those forward for the next 1-2 days. Basic Newtonian laws of motion, reaction/retracement levels. I identify the clearest trading opportunities, based on the price action, risk/reward, and the expected time in the trade.
 
I daytrade a mix of fx and indices using technical analysis.

Get to my desk between 6:30-7am.

Prior to the session:
complete physical/mental state review (today I failed, so am not allowed to trade - hence why I am writing a T2W post!!)
I listen to my squawk service and review overnight news.
I plot pivot levels, review support/resistance levels from 1h&4h on my charts.
Take note of Tier-1 news events for the day
review trend/sentiment on 15m & 1h for the few instruments that I trade.
Note strength/weakness across currencies

Normally I am ready to go sometime between 7:15 and 7:30.
 
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