Anyway, my reply to James was perhaps a bit too vague. Things I look at: News, macro, ES, NQ, YM, ZB, EUR.USD, BTC. On charts: size of candles, speed, cci (slope mainly) Moving averages (and the way candles interact with MA's) if 3 or so candle open and close above a MA (like rest on or get support from a MA), that's normally a bullish sign. Comparing 30second/1 min charts with 3 min and 10 min charts. Support/ Resistance. Yesterday's high and low. How other traders are positioned. Moves that fail. Those are the main things, off the top my head.
Ok went on holiday for a bit now, a new year i'll try to post a bit more here but life can be pretty hectic as it is my new year's resolution is: to only take the best trades i can possible can!
Normally don't trade the first hour on a monday, because it's too confusing decided to have a look at 9:05 selling into the 'ramp' went for a short, and set a tight stop too tight in hindsight but always good to start the week with a win and i was not 100% stable mentally, because i saw the easy sell that i just missed and i started to beat myself up about it, which is dangerous recognizing that, and dealing with it, is for me a very important evolution, which i made mistakes against in the past, and want to avoid. entered a small swing short in the cfds at 4310.0 that i want to keep until tomorrow, so that softens the pain a bit (i daytrade the futs)
just wanted to post this chart and add: a bounce at that double bottom, that could be a bounce to sell into and i added a stop to my swing trade, and the bounce was already over. looks weak now