Just registered the largest volume on the 5-min chart. What gives? Well, duh, the pit just closed. How time flies when you trade, eh?
The 1-min chart can be a wonderful thing as long as you don't start confusing it with your long-term (5-min) goals After the news settled in, I was using the DOM and 1-min chart to position myself for a breakout. It looked ripe and I jumped in, scratch, jumped in again, scratch, jumped in again, scratched needlessly, then chased another entry, scratched again, got frustrated because if I'd just left my initial trade, stop and min tgt in place, I'd have booked a profit instead of giving commish to my broker, of course you know what happens when frustration sets in, you lose your mind, I take another entry, but not at the price I should've been prepared for, then I start trading off that damn 1-min chart. I place my stop at a silly 1-min bar level instead of the reasonable level, took a loss for no reason, chased an even worse entry, scratch, (had I simply got in with my order ready in advance at the initial trigger price, and left a proper stop and min tgt, again would've book a profit), and at that point I should've just stepped outside and taken some deep breaths, but no, I had lost my mind by then, and I then short a tick before the test of the previous low and instead of scratching like I'd been doing all along when it was a clear failed breakout, and then prudently flipping long because it was a failed breakout, I instead decided that this thing was not going to foil me again in my quest for 104.76, and I placed a wide stop (not dreadfully wide, but more than my max 20 ticks) and of course it was hit! So I'm almost 40 ticks in a hole instead of the 40 ticks green I'd already have been if I simply used the 1-min chart for my entries, left my initial stops at normal places based on the 5-min chart, then locked in my .20 gains when the momentum failed to provide follow through to the next level. After all that, I did regain my mind and took a proper short trade off a proper 5-min chart, with a proper stop and a proper target, followed up for the next push and brought myself back to green in two trades. So back to the original subject at hand: 1-min charts are great for entries, but use a 5-min chart for stops and targets don't mess with the trade until the target is in view!
trying to get handle on Libyan events with these notable points to understand where things are headed .. Libyan events ----------------- http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/25/libya.war/index.html?hpt=T1 U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said -------------------------------------- - he has seen no signs of the cease-fire called for under U.N. Resolution 1973, which was hurriedly passed March 17 as Libyan forces were closing in on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. "To the contrary, fierce battles continue in and around the cities of Ajdabiya, Misrata and Zinan," Ban said Thursday, adding his envoy told Libyan authorities that if the government did not comply with the cease-fire resolution, "the Security Council was prepared to take additional measures." NO-fly zone plus ( beyond no-fly zone ) --------------------------------------- Gen. Carter Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command said "When we see regime forces attacking civilians, we will do everything we can to stop those attacks." NATO attacks on Libyan tanks ----------------------------------- - Meanwhile, coalition fighter planes in a 24-hour period took out seven Libyan tanks it claims were threatening civilian populations, including in the city of Ajdabiya, authorities said Friday. - British Tornado fighter jets identified Libyan tanks with their weapons pointed north toward Ajdabiya and destroyed them, Air Vice Marshal Phil Osborn said Friday. Although Gadhafi is feeling the pinch of more than 850 air sorties, the "regime is still able and still determined to reinforce their positions," Gortney said. Arab country support to NATO ------------------------------------- - The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, announced it will send 12 aircraft in the coming days to help patrol and enforce the United Nations-mandated no-fly zone. - And Turkey, once wary of military operations, agreed to the use of an eastern air base in Izmir as a sub-command station. - Other Muslim nations participating in the Libya mission include Qatar, which will begin flying planes this weekend, and Kuwait and Jordan, which have agreed to provide humanitarian or logistical support. Ajdabiya city what is happening ------------------------- Refugees streaming out of Ajdabiya described chilling scenes. - "I couldn't even begin to describe to you the horror that I have seen," one man told CNN. "Leaving Ajdabiya we saw dead bodies in the street. No one would ever dare go to recover them." CNN is not identifying Libyans it has interviewed for their own safety. - Another man said Gadhafi's troops were going house to house in Ajdabiya, hunting for opposition members. He said the troops took away five men from his neighbor's house. He didn't know what happened to them.
What a great forum. There seems to be great input from experienced traders. I must admit getting sucked into shorter term charts for me can be my undoing. More often than not I'll see signals in a one minute chart and fall into a trap that doesn't correspond with the longer term charts, such as 5 or 15 min. Example; this am on a 15 min chart there was resistance @ 105.32 off not only a 15 min but a 60 min chart also. I was soooo tempted to get long when the first 15 min bar broke to a new high but held off, luckily so as it broke down to a LL. At that point I was done for the day and headed into town. Looking back now it broke higher, almost touching 106. Anyway, my 2cents. Have a great weekend.
Well, what looked like a clean technical levels like S/R on the 1-minute chart looked damn chaotic on the 5-minute. I should post a chart for clarity but I'm feeling rather lazy at the moment. I'll see about posting one either later or tomorrow. But considering that Fifteen 1-minute bars equal three 5-minute bars, this was what I saw earlier: - I saw 15 beautiful bars etching out some clear demarcations on the 1-minute chart (read: Hey, that's a trendline!). - I saw nothing but 3 meaningless candles with long wicks and tails on the 5-minute (read: WTF is that?!).
so many scratches and not get hurt, you did awesome job. if I were you, I would lose big! I shorted it at 105.26 (overnight low with slippage), did not short the 105.89 double top at 105.66 ( I was busy with my kids for daycare/sending school), stop at 105.58(resistance), limit order at 104.6(thought at 104.76 low, there are stop loss, may overshoot a little bit, initial target is 104.3,but the gdp number looks good,made me conservative) after exit accordingly, saw 104.8~104.95 take off platform in my 1'chart, the morning drop move make me bearish, passed thesetup, did not trade the breakout of 105.3 either, since I headed to GYM, and did some home chores, when I was back,saw crude is climbing at 105.6from105.33 (dropped from 105.9), that reminds me the morning double top, wrote a limit at 105.89with stop at 106.09 and waited like20minutes, the sell got hit, and it immediatelty fell back to105.8 under, that confirmed my failed breakup setup,wrote a limit at 104.9 ( I am not so excited about 30ticks profit, only 50ticks +potential in the horizon attracts me, support/resistance, normally1point move the market hesitates or reverse ), I thought it will take a while, at least till closing the market might bail me out, but it is a quick. after that,did not trade first afraid of closing messing up to ruina weekend's mood , second pretty happy about the results I used 1'chart, it is pretty neaty and clean. 5'chart to me is useless, crude moves too fast. just for10/20/30ticks quick profit, I use quote/gut feeling,that is very hard for me,soI gave up, often I wrote a limit order with several tick's miss, did not get fast enough to remove my order, I get filled in the big move and lost, that drove me nuts. those small fish are hard to catch (looks they are easier to catch,but not),better avoid them totally.
Very relevant to our trading "Sheer pride of opinion has ruined more speculators in the stock market than all other causes put together." -William Hamilton