Do you guys use intraday or daily chart? Intraday chart I find it has lots of noise, easily get stopped out and miss move... If you use intraday chart, how you can ignore the noise? any suggestions?
Any suggestions to avoid been whipsawed? meaning when u know it is fake down, fake shakeout, or when u know it is for real? Volume can be a good indicator. Anything else?
You have to use charts in several different time frames depending on the time frame your trading in. It is as simple as that. Everyone, even day traders, should look at the weeklies to see what the overall trend is and where the major support and resistance levels lie.. Other than that, choose time frames according to your trading time frame. Many traders myself included, use the 15 minute as the main time frame for intraday, but have to use a shorter time frame, usually 5 or 2 minute to supplement and assist with entry and exit. It's not rocket science. Scalpers are naturally concentrating on short time and the order book, the latter of which seems to get increasingly unreliable as the market makers find more and more ways to disguise their moves.
I should have included the very important daily charts in my post above. If you are trading intraday you always have to start the day looking at the daily chart to see where the high and low were on the previous day. These are important points of resistance and support for the current day. If price remains between the previous day's high and low you are having a so-called "inside day" which is essentially a consolidation or pause for the market to catch its breath. Otherwise you are trending higher or lower on the daily pattern. As far as avoiding whipsaws, you can't altogether. Being occasionally whipsawed is part of trading, but you're losses should be small if you're paying attention and don't let them wipe out your gains. Keeping an eye on market breadth on a 1 minute chart, which is the difference between the up and down volumes, is terribly important in avoiding major whipsaws. When the breadth is strongly positive, i.e., up volume greatly exceeds down volume the odds of being whipsawed, if you are long, go way down. As long as the market breadth does not contract there is less chance of a sudden major down move, but the minute the breadth starts to contract be vigilant for a down move. The magnitude of the down move will usually be proportional to the amount of contaction. For negative breadth,i.e., down volume being much higher than up volume, the opposite holds true. When the up and down volumes are close to the same you can expect price to move relatively little and you are in a consolidation phase. If you want to trade in a consolidation phase, you have to be quick, and be content with a few ticks profit. Its best if you are new to trading to avoid trading in consolidation phases and just look for opportunities when there is significant breadth. What you call significant is up to you. Use your experience with the issues you trade to decide. I usually look for breadth to have an absolute ratio of 1.6 or greater to trade long or short, but again that's an individual thing that you have to decide for yourself. I usually pay closet attention to the breadth on the NYSE because i find it a little more reliable than on the NASDAQ, but obviously if your trading on the NASDAQ the NASDAQ breadth is of interest as well. I hope this helps. Ultimately you experience will prove to be the most valuable teacher.
But too focus on intraday make u miss the big move of your stocks. I have missed some big move, taken away by whipsaw. Sometimes even profit taking too early. And miss the uptrend. That's why also want to focus on daily chart