Saturday, October 17, 2009

How To Select Trading Window Frames? (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

When you are planning for a trade, the first step is to identify the type of trade into which you will enter. Do you want day trading, swing trading or positions trading? It all depends on your trading strategies. What matters most to a trader or an investor is how to create a positive cash flow.

It all depends on the profit targets that you want to achieve. Once we acknowledge what our goals and objective are than we can narrow our expectations. Is it a day trade? Is it a swing trade or is it a long term positions trade? Day trading has a different profit potential than swing trading. Both are different trading styles. Day trading requires a lot of active participation on your part. In swing trading, when you set up your trade, you can monitor it once a day.

Suppose I am a day trader. My expectations are for X amount of a given range. I will expect that if I miss 20% of the bottom and 20% of the top then I can expect to capture 60% of the average daily range. I will generally be able to identify what the average range for the day is.

For that I will have to structure my computer and charts to a format that is conducive to day trading. Day trading can be stressful for some people. You need to know all these things before you decide on a trading style for a trade. So how do I start? How many pips you want to make in a specific time frame like eight to six bars from entry? Say 30 pips or 40 pips! This is what you should expect in day trading. In swing trading the profit targets can be higher but the time frame is also much longer.

If you trade Euro, Yen or Pound, then for day trading, use the 15 minute time frame for the dominant trend. Use the 5 minute time frame as a shorter time frame trigger to go with the 15 minute signal. Use the 5 minute time frame to exit a position in day trading.

How do you make your entry and exit decisions in day trading. First look at the 15 minutes chart than take a look at the 5 minutes chart to make your trading decision. The key to remember is when the 15 minute time period is in the buy mode, take the 5 minute buy signals. Similarly when the 15 minute time period is in sell mode, take the 5 minute sell signals.

The most important time frames for a day trader are the 5 minutes and the 15 minutes. If you are in a trade based on the 15 minute and the 5 minute time periods, these are the time frames you need to monitor for that specific trade. However as a day trader you can watch the 60 minute time period.

Keeping an eye on the 60 minute time period will help you identify the current trend and a potential change in the trend if a moving average crossover occurs. Keep in mind your profit targets and where you are in range.

Suppose you are trading EUR/USD currency pair. Suppose the Euro is already down 50 pips when a sell signal is triggered, the odds are that your profit potential is in the range of suppose 30 pips or less if the average true range (ATR) is 80 pips based on the past 14 trading days. How do you calculate these things?

Using good forex charting software will help you automatically calculate all the daily, weekly, monthly pivot points as well as the daily range, support and resistance, S-1, R-1 and other stuff.

You should learn how to calculate pivot points. Using pivot points in day trading can give you an edge. For day trading use the 60 minute time period for calculating the monthly pivot points, 15 minutes time frame for calculating the weekly pivot points and the 5 minute time frame for calculating the daily pivot points.

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