Agree w/ the Whitster. if you've done your homework, you can identify the conditions and trade accordingly. Clearly, this also depends on your style of trading and the timeframes you use. While you may wait for a significant time for a trend to develop on the daily chart, another trader is making money following the intraday trends on the 5 min chart... On all timeframes, there are periods when the instrument you trade enters into a consolidation. While some consider this noise, chop, etc - with good money management practices, these periods can be quite profitable. A rather extreme scalping example could be found today on the ER2 between 11:49 & 12:34. ER2 oscillated between 825.3 & 826.3 like clockwork..... IMHO a good trader works to identify an edge for each type of market conditions regularly encountered. R
Always in the market... Some of my trading systems love the lack of a clear trend... Nothing like confused money floating around... Nothing like confused money floating around.... (Hey, where's my money... )
Just because there is no clear trend on the daily charts, doesn't mean you can't find a trend on a 15min, 5min or 2min chart. Lately I have cut my size and stick to mostly day trades and occasional scalp trades for this reason even though I'm primarily a swing trader.