Long term average is 2-3 trades a day. I am daytrader. Just taking the big moves, and depends of how trending the market is. Very trending is less trades.
It's not enough to simply follow a trend like a simple, silly tracing book...you kind of have to have a greater viewpoint picture...of why it moves...the way it moves. Have a certain degree of rationale and logic. Trading is really an art, and science. -- on any given day...this ratio/spectrum can vary greatly.
You can follow the trend, But not if you're unfamiliar with the tape. What matters is how the tape react to the trend. Trade the tape. Not the trend. Cause the trend ain't your friend. Even if we all wish to let our winners ride with the trend. But don't hope. If the tape tells you that the trend is over. Don't let the trend fools you.
'Trend is your friend' mostly applies to long term position trading & investing. There is a lot more noise in short term oscillations making it a lot harder to participate in short term trends (intraday basis).
Is that true? I think there is more noise in absolute value, but not % wise. Daytrader have not much room for error. They put stops at a few ticks, LT traders put stop further away because otherwise they would be stopped out all the time. So long term positions have a much wider range for error as the stops are further away. When a daytrader buys ES at 2050 he will put a stop at 2048-2049, depending on his strategy. A LT trader would buy at 2050 and put a stop at 2030. No wonder he has less problems with "noise". But if he is touched it will cost him 20 points. It is indeed a lot harder to participate in short term trends (intraday basis). But if you add up the trendwaves intraday, the theoretical potential is always higher than LT, because you take every move. Where as the LT trader only takes the difference between the open and the close. In non trending markets, intraday can generate easily 20 times more potential profit than LT in the same period.