How many charts to look at?

[manfan]

Hi All,

I was just wondering what people think is the best way to scan for trading opportunities?

Would it be best to have ALL charts of the major pairs open and keep checking for trading set-ups?

Or would a better approach be to go with which markets are open at the time you are trading and check for set-ups in the relevant pairs?

Any advice/pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[tomorton]

There surely can't be a single right answer for this but that just makes it a fine question. I have tried (and failed) to restrict all my trades to a single strategy on a single instrument. To make money from a single instrument, you actually need to run several strategies in parallel so that you can be sure of adequate trade opportunities and to hedge against one of the strategies running through a dry spell, which they inevitably (and unpredictably do). This diversity should reduce risk but does moderate potential gains.

Running a single strategy on multiple instruments is a viable alternative but beware of imposing such a work load through multiple charts and multiple markets that you can't efficiently identify opportunities, assess risk or manage open positions. Which comes down to a question of balance.

 

[Bint_Crusher]

I am assuming its Forex you refer to here. After you check fundamentals usin forexfactory, fxstreet etc, If you are trading the Majors have the co-related currencies to hand. Also have oil and the futures quote board within reach. There are merits in trading one chart against the other (so I am told) but its not a strategy I use. Have a go at strategies on a demo first but make sure you wrap some rules around your actions.
As an obvious extra, make sure you are only running that trading platform for the duration. Not gmail, recreation sites et al. Either have a dedicated computer or at least a dedicated partition to take your trades.

 

[manfan]

Many thanks for the responses guys, much appreciated, I will definitely take these things into account

 

[ph_trader]

that really depends on your way of trading, there are time that you only focus on one, and other times you have to check other pairs, some good traders only need a 1 screen setup others really have like a 6 monitor set up well its up to you really, but for starters it would be safer to just forus on 1 or 2 pairs and maybe you'd like to try swinging