what chart time setting do you trade the eminis NQ,ES,YM etc. off of and why?1,5,10,15 etc...only for daytrading the eminis...
55, 89, 144, 233, 376, 608 tick, pc, or volume charts. 15, 30, 60 minute charts to watch the big picture for the day (draw price channels, look for major s/r areas).
ES and ER2. 1,5, 15 and daily. Use daily for major supp/resis levels. Generally use 5/15 min for making my decisions, and 1 min for entry. I shift to one min exclusively when markets are moving really fast after reports, etc. I don't use indicators except for a trailing stop. I use price action, trendlines, FIBs, and volume for entry.
Funny that's the third person to say that this week.....I only just started playing with TA but already realize it's VERY easy to get overwhelmed with 'indicators' and such.
For scalping purposes, I recommend tick or volume based charts. For normal day trading purposes, I use 1min, 2min, 3min, 5min and 15min charts. Mark
I decided some time ago to always keep a daily chart on the screen even though I focus on intra day trading. It just seems to keep me from developing trading myopia. In addition I'll keep two intra day charts, one intermediate time frame and one shorter which is the primary trading time frame. The intermediate and daily are primarily to keep me aware of S/R levels I would other wise not notice if I only looked at a very short term intra day chart. For the minis I treat 09:30 - 16:15 ET as RTH. This is 405 minutes a day. The time frames I use depend on the current volatility. Earlier this year for example a 15 minute YM bar averaged around 15 - 17 ticks. Then I was using 81 mins (5 bars a day) for the intermediate and 15 min for the trading time frame. Now a 5 min YM bar averages over 20 ticks so I'm using 45 mins (9 bars a day) for the intermediate and 5 mins for the trading time frame. No indicators except for measuring the average volume and the appropriate AD line applied to the intermediate intra day chart. As well as keeping an average bar range to aid in determining what constitutes a WRB. Over the years I've experimented with nearly every charting method available to the average retail trader. For RTH I prefer traditional constant time charts. This allows me to compare/use volume as well as WRB's. With CT, and CV bars you don't have too many WRB's. And of course CR bars have none. For after hours I tend to keep coming back to constant range bars. Choosing a range setting one tick less than the current average range of the trading time frame average range. In some respects I would rather use a CT or CV bar for AH. But since the average range per volume compared to RTH tends increase and average trade size per tick tends to decrease in AH it's hard to find settings that roughly replicate the intra day trading time frame. Not that that is necessarily necessary but it is a preference of mine. Now before the CT and CV guys start throwing vegetables I'm neither poo pooing those charting methods or promoting constant range bars. I'm just answering the thread starters question. And besides, fortunately I do not suffer from the insatiable need to convince or convert every one else into my way of thinking. An affliction that seems to run rampant these days. I'm a big believer that the individual has to find what works for THEM. After that, why would you even care what any one else says?