|
The Fibonacci Arc, Gann's Square of 9 and for some very game traders,
the timing of the movements of planets as they orbit the Sun.
And
then there is the problem of choosing a Time Frame to trade; intraday,
daily, weekly, monthly or yearly charts? What Time do you want to
trade? The SPI opens in Sydney at 9:50am, and a few minutes later
the Nikkei opens for trading in Singapore. The Hong Kong and Taiwan
markets are other exchanges that are open during the Australian trading
day. If you are fortunate enough to make it to the trading screen
during your working day, you will find plenty of trades available
if you have selected an intraday Time Frame. For those that can't
make it to the screen through the day, there is the German DAX that
opens at around 4:30 in the afternoon, and many other tradable instruments
available on European exchanges. For late night traders there are
the US markets. So really, if you want to trade 24 hrs a day, the
global markets can facilitate this.
Most
traders are not intraday traders. Here in Australia, Intraday traders
represent as few as 1 or 2% of all traders. Most of Australia's traders
are trading using daily charts as their minor time frame to determine
the trend. That's a good start, as long as we know that the trend
grows from daily to weekly and so on.
The
difference between an intraday trader and a daily trader is Time;
the length of time that a trader spends in a trade. Apart from some
obvious money management differences, such as stop losses and lot
sizes, the short- term trader and long-term trader have much in common.
But length of time in a trade is a very significant thing. It may
seem easier to make a trading decision and act on it once a week as
opposed to 4 or five times a day. Indeed many intraday traders describe
the use of daily charts as a form of retirement in comparison with
active intraday trading.
Some
long-term traders may only trade once a month to get on to a big move.
But when they do trade they trade intraday 4 or 5 times in a day.
This way they are put into a trade that may last days or weeks. Depending
on the number of markets you choose to look at this way, intraday
trading can become a full time job.
Most
traders have software that draws the price movement of the markets
that the trader is watching. However, I still know of traders that
are spending all their time drawing charts, leaving very little or
no time at all to develop their trading skill. These chartists become
expert market analysts, leaving the trading to those with the facility
to study the charts and make trading decisions daily. With a simple
spreadsheet these traders can manage their time and trades with more
than adequate efficiently.
Trading
is an activity that, once started, cannot be left alone. Whether you
pay a broker to manage your stops or whether you are managing your
own trades, the market is active all day everyday. So, unless you
are trading for long term-profits, the job of trading is unlikely
to afford you the freedom that you might expect as its result. All
of these things take a little time to work out. Most aspects of trading
are exciting enough in the beginning to warrant 100% time commitment.
It isn't until you need to take a break that the real responsibilities
of the job at hand become apparent. It is important not to be in a
rush, to take your time and enjoy the journey. Study Gann, Fibonacci,
Elliot, even the planets, whatever intrigues you. While you may come
to enjoy a new lifestyle, it will be the hard work and expert analysis
that demands much of your time and energy and that will bring you
your rewards.
Happy
trading,
Solomon
Thallon
HotTrader, Australia
|
