How many markets do you trade?

[Nowler]

Hey folks,

I have been trading FX for the last 6 months and am considering narrowing it down to a select number of markets. Perhaps hearing the views of you folks might help me better guide my decision.

I use both technical analysis and fundamentals when I trade but considering I will trade all the major pairs and a handful of the exotics, keeping up with fundamentals is kinda difficult. At least at the 6 month point of trading.

I am a discretionary trader would typically execute anywhere between 1 and 8 trades in a day. Though this varies as I am still finding my feet.

How many markets do you trade?
Do you use Fundamentals?
How many trades would you have per day on average?

 

[Quantt]

Hey folks,

I have been trading FX for the last 6 months and am considering narrowing it down to a select number of markets. Perhaps hearing the views of you folks might help me better guide my decision.

I use both technical analysis and fundamentals when I trade but considering I will trade all the major pairs and a handful of the exotics, keeping up with fundamentals is kinda difficult. At least at the 6 month point of trading.

I am a discretionary trader would typically execute anywhere between 1 and 8 trades in a day. Though this varies as I am still finding my feet.

How many markets do you trade?
Do you use Fundamentals?
How many trades would you have per day on average?

Hey Nowler, I am trading only one market, not really using fundamentals per say, e.g. I would not read news or company statements, I just can't be bothered with such a boring stuff and I am trading on average 2.5 trades a week...

 

[brewski1984]

Mainly Indices and for some reason I like to trade Oil, I'm usually only in 1 trade at a time. I'm aware of news but pay absolutely no attention to any of it.

 

[tomorton]

I trade mostly FX. I watch 26 pairs from the 8 major currencies, plus FTSE100, Dow, NAS100, S&P, DAX, Brent, Gold, Silver and Natural Gas. Plus occasionally equity positions when they and their indices are also trending really well. All trades are long-term trend-followers, that's why I need a long watch-list.

I never ever use fundamentals. Except to say I tally up whether each currency is bullish or bearish against all the other majors at the end of each week and that gives me an extra bias towards trades in line with that for the following days. I figure that I can’t get news earlier than the professionals and I can’t analyse it better than them, so best just let them do the hard work and follow where they put their money.

I often have 15-25 trades running at a time but, say, a third or half of these would be pyramid trades on top of initial positions. I always enter a pyramid order when a new position is opened. 20 trades isn’t hard to manage, as I’m not actually managing them – that’s to say I’ve already entered the initial stop and I move the stop along each time a pyramid order triggers so I just can wait for the outcome. I will sometimes exit earlier if price closes in a very contrary location but hasn’t hit the stop yet, or of the basket has made a really strong profit I intend to close the lot regardless.

 

[Dowser]

I trade one market, I spread bet the DOW. There are a couple of news releases every few weeks that I keep my eye on and I normally sit, wait and watch rather than trade during these times. So, I would say I'm over 90% a technical trader and I'll place between 1 and 3 trades per day.

 

[Nowler]

Thanks for the replies folks.
It is interesting to see the variation of approaches.

Mainly Indices and for some reason I like to trade Oil, I'm usually only in 1 trade at a time. I'm aware of news but pay absolutely no attention to any of it.

Does your indices trading go beyond the Dax and Dow? I am in the same boat as you in regards to the oil. I don't know why I trade it, but I am drawn toward it. I was also fooling around on the Silver but with a mini account, the Silver eats up my margin even at just 1 unit, so I stopped that. The oil is 4% of my account at 1 unit, so I should probably either stop trading oil or deposit some money...2 guesses which one that will be

What broker/platform are you using mate?
You seem to be able to trade indices with relatively little? Or is your leverage turned right up?

Hey Nowler, I am trading only one market, not really using fundamentals per say, e.g. I would not read news or company statements, I just can't be bothered with such a boring stuff and I am trading on average 2.5 trades a week...

Why do you only trade 1 market mate?
And only 2.5 trades per week? Is it a time constraint thing?

I trade mostly FX. I watch 26 pairs from the 8 major currencies, plus FTSE100, Dow, NAS100, S&P, DAX, Brent, Gold, Silver and Natural Gas. Plus occasionally equity positions when they and their indices are also trending really well. All trades are long-term trend-followers, that's why I need a long watch-list.

I never ever use fundamentals. Except to say I tally up whether each currency is bullish or bearish against all the other majors at the end of each week and that gives me an extra bias towards trades in line with that for the following days. I figure that I can’t get news earlier than the professionals and I can’t analyse it better than them, so best just let them do the hard work and follow where they put their money.

I often have 15-25 trades running at a time but, say, a third or half of these would be pyramid trades on top of initial positions. I always enter a pyramid order when a new position is opened. 20 trades isn’t hard to manage, as I’m not actually managing them – that’s to say I’ve already entered the initial stop and I move the stop along each time a pyramid order triggers so I just can wait for the outcome. I will sometimes exit earlier if price closes in a very contrary location but hasn’t hit the stop yet, or of the basket has made a really strong profit I intend to close the lot regardless.

Hey mate, thanks for the reply.
Do you use a market scanner? I ask because that's a LOT of markets to watch manually. Or is that just over all but you suss out where the biggest disparity of strength is and then largely only trade those the following week. If that's the case, on average, how many of these higher potential markets would you focus on during an average week?

Also, what way do you pyramid? Do you enter with less and increase size, or start with more and decrease with each addition to the position?

I trade one market, I spread bet the DOW. There are a couple of news releases every few weeks that I keep my eye on and I normally sit, wait and watch rather than trade during these times. So, I would say I'm over 90% a technical trader and I'll place between 1 and 3 trades per day.

Why do you just stick to one market mate?

 

[tomorton]

Hey mate, thanks for the reply.
Do you use a market scanner? I ask because that's a LOT of markets to watch manually. Or is that just over all but you suss out where the biggest disparity of strength is and then largely only trade those the following week. If that's the case, on average, how many of these higher potential markets would you focus on during an average week?

Also, what way do you pyramid? Do you enter with less and increase size, or start with more and decrease with each addition to the position?

I have a set of criteria I look for on each chart and allocate a bullish or bearish point to each.
e.g. "Which way is 50EMA sloping?": upwards = 1 bullish point, downwards = 1 bearish point
e.g. "Where is 20EMA in relation to 50EMA?": above = 1 bullish point, below = 1 bearish point.

Its crude stuff. The chart with highest number of points gets priority for a new trade. Of course your strategy would drive you to different criteria. And some would be more important to you than others so some might deserve 2 points etc. etc.

I have 3 mandatory criteria which must be visible, the remaining 7 or 8 help but are not essential. This way you can both confirm but also quantify trends. Every high-scoring chart gets a trade as soon as I can make an entry that isn't a new high/low.

Entry is always through orders. As soon as an order is triggered I enter a new identical order the same distance ahead, with the same capital risk. So if I enter long at 10,000 with a 103pt stop-loss at 9897, I set a new buy order at 10103 with a stop at 10000. At 10103, the pyramid order triggers and I move the stop on the first trade from to 9897 to 10000. When the second order triggers I set another order 103pts ahead. When this triggers, I set another a further 103pts ahead and move all existing stops 103pts up. So exposure to profit increases parabolically, but at no additional risk to account capital.

The only real issue I have had lately has been when to bank the profits.

 

[Dowser]

Why do you just stick to one market mate?

I like the idea of specialising in one market, I've tried applying my strategy to other indices but they are different beasts, even though they are all highly correlated - they have different 'personalities'! It was always my intention to branch out into other markets but the DOW presents plenty of opportunities so I'm staying put for the moment.

 

[brewski1984]

Does your indices trading go beyond the Dax and Dow? I am in the same boat as you in regards to the oil. I don't know why I trade it, but I am drawn toward it. I was also fooling around on the Silver but with a mini account, the Silver eats up my margin even at just 1 unit, so I stopped that. The oil is 4% of my account at 1 unit, so I should probably either stop trading oil or deposit some money...2 guesses which one that will be

What broker/platform are you using mate?
You seem to be able to trade indices with relatively little? Or is your leverage turned right up?

Just Dow and Dax, Gold/Silver have always cost me so I avoid those but I have had some good luck in the past with Oil so I have stuck with it. I will have a dabble on some forex but they don't tend to move as much (as in dow +/- 1000 points happens often, usd/jpy not so much). After years of trading you will find what suits you.

I use CMC only because I found their iPhone app to be better than the rest although I haven't used others for 2-3 years so I don't know if others have improved since.

 

[Quantt]

Thanks for the replies folks.
It is interesting to see the variation of approaches.

Why do you only trade 1 market mate?
And only 2.5 trades per week? Is it a time constraint thing?

Well, I am trading the US stock market, so I have few thousands stocks to chose from... The choice was easy, it is the largest in the world with most volume - one day I am looking to test my systems against the Chinese stock market, but I am yet to do something about it...

The average is based on my stats for the past years - it's just an average, 1 trade every 2 days, 2.5 a week, 10 trades a month (4 weeks), I am working on a variants of my system to have more trades, because logically speaking my edge is making me money, so more trades should result in more money, but that's not always true unfortunately

 

[Arbu]

Hey Nowler, I am trading only one market, not really using fundamentals per say, e.g. I would not read news or company statements, I just can't be bothered with such a boring stuff and I am trading on average 2.5 trades a week...

Funny, I only use fundamentals. Technical analysis is really boring to me. I guess there must be room for both approaches.

 

[Quantt]

Funny, I only use fundamentals. Technical analysis is really boring to me. I guess there must be room for both approaches.

Absolutely, I am sure there is more than one way to skin a cat

 

[Nowler]

I have a set of criteria I look for on each chart and allocate a bullish or bearish point to each.
e.g. "Which way is 50EMA sloping?": upwards = 1 bullish point, downwards = 1 bearish point
e.g. "Where is 20EMA in relation to 50EMA?": above = 1 bullish point, below = 1 bearish point.

Its crude stuff. The chart with highest number of points gets priority for a new trade. Of course your strategy would drive you to different criteria. And some would be more important to you than others so some might deserve 2 points etc. etc.

I have 3 mandatory criteria which must be visible, the remaining 7 or 8 help but are not essential. This way you can both confirm but also quantify trends. Every high-scoring chart gets a trade as soon as I can make an entry that isn't a new high/low.

Entry is always through orders. As soon as an order is triggered I enter a new identical order the same distance ahead, with the same capital risk. So if I enter long at 10,000 with a 103pt stop-loss at 9897, I set a new buy order at 10103 with a stop at 10000. At 10103, the pyramid order triggers and I move the stop on the first trade from to 9897 to 10000. When the second order triggers I set another order 103pts ahead. When this triggers, I set another a further 103pts ahead and move all existing stops 103pts up. So exposure to profit increases parabolically, but at no additional risk to account capital.

The only real issue I have had lately has been when to bank the profits.

Cheers for the insight to your process. I have come across point awarding systems before and it sounds like something i'd like to try out. It's difficult to find the time to try out some of these things I have noted down to come back to at some point. I'm still in the early stages, so there's so much that I want to look through, but at the same time I must try these things out for a period of time. As opposed to jumping from one thing to the next with no real testing validity.

I have only as early as last week started out trying to add to longer term positions (short-NZD/JPY) as opposed to scalping. It seems to be something i'd like to add to my arsenal and i'd like to try it with varying levels of risk/money management. I reckon I will enter the world of stocks one day. I like scalping and short-term trading but I also like the thoughts of a diverse portfolio. Property too perhaps

I like the idea of specialising in one market, I've tried applying my strategy to other indices but they are different beasts, even though they are all highly correlated - they have different 'personalities'! It was always my intention to branch out into other markets but the DOW presents plenty of opportunities so I'm staying put for the moment.

Sound logic.
It's why I am considering dropping down to just 1 or 2 markets myself...build up a level of expertise and then expand it to more markets later on if required. It might be a while before I try trading indices though! I have my hands full with currency and oil... been increasingly looking at the Nat Gas market too but not traded it yet. Different markets certainly do have different personalities! I have already built a foundation, or at least a partial foundation with currencies. Would be a shame to switch it up now after all the hard work. Though most of it is transferrable at least to some point...

Just Dow and Dax, Gold/Silver have always cost me so I avoid those but I have had some good luck in the past with Oil so I have stuck with it. I will have a dabble on some forex but they don't tend to move as much (as in dow +/- 1000 points happens often, usd/jpy not so much). After years of trading you will find what suits you.

I use CMC only because I found their iPhone app to be better than the rest although I haven't used others for 2-3 years so I don't know if others have improved since.

Cheers for the input.
I've had some good times with the oil myself. Had some not so good times also though
I'm sure you're right...that i'll zero in on what suits me best.

I've had a little look at CMC before. Seems decent enough.

Well, I am trading the US stock market, so I have few thousands stocks to chose from... The choice was easy, it is the largest in the world with most volume - one day I am looking to test my systems against the Chinese stock market, but I am yet to do something about it...

The average is based on my stats for the past years - it's just an average, 1 trade every 2 days, 2.5 a week, 10 trades a month (4 weeks), I am working on a variants of my system to have more trades, because logically speaking my edge is making me money, so more trades should result in more money, but that's not always true unfortunately

Ah yes, I understand.
Good luck with the Chinese stocks! That should be interesting for you! I do short the USD/CNH from time to time, but that's not really much of a comparison :smart:

I guess there must be room for both approaches.

I would go as far as saying that using both would make you far more profitable than using only one. At least if you are doing them right...surely...
Particularly in forex

 

[gerryg]

Ah yes, I understand.
Good luck with the Chinese stocks! That should be interesting for you! I do short the USD/CNH from time to time, but that's not really much of a comparison :smart:

Hope there would be less days as past Friday... 3% slashed in 45 minutes before session close, so many stops triggered and unpleasing surprises brought to traders.

 

[Raynold]

Funny, I only use fundamentals. Technical analysis is really boring to me. I guess there must be room for both approaches.

I like this method you follow. Thank you!

 

[Flash8]

Technical my only way to analyse. But I spend a lot of time to learn fundamentals. Why? Coz trading forex you should know all of it sides and understand about different types of market movements.
I trade only FX and I'm going to join with crypto.

 

[piphoe]

forex only because you can trade with a small account but one day ---ONE DAY--- i'll trade FUTURES ---DOW, Nas---with the Big Dogs in the tall weeds

bui;ding my account up in forex first

 

[shadyee]

I feel many stick to one since this is what they can control or properly oversee, for instance in my case; am into forex trade and crypto trade.
Am comfortable with these and wouldn't want to complicate things more by adding others, at least till the time is right for it.

 

[Nowler]

Wow...
I posted this thread back in 2017.
How things have changed!

I trade nothing like I did back then

 

[Henow1969]

I do not use so much markets and i use technical analysis for my trading. But I still thinking that how much markets we should use to trade?