from one to ten... ten being the least important and one being the most important rate these factors: trend, mkt direction, pattern setups (head shoulders, cup and handles etc.), support/resistance levels, volume, sector trend, time of day, NEWS, risk/reward ratio, and of course our favorite Charts...
I prefer not to rank things but prefer to have all things to in place... taking the example of Space Shuttle Columbia, probably 99.9% of things were in perfect operational order... it was the 0.1% that caused the disaster... I don't take time out to rank my criteria, I need em all...
1. mkt direction 2. sector trend 3. trend 4. support/resistance 5. pattern setups 6. volume 7. time of day 8. risk/reward ratio 9. NEWS 10. favorite charts But what do I know?
dg, i regard all those as very important. imo, you need to develop the ability to be aware of those factors at the same time. for me, any decisions i make generally are as a result of the combined analysis of all those factors, not any one particular. although i hold them all as important, i, personally, don't really look at volume much (i trade the higher volume stocks), i don't pay attention to news on stocks (but look at economic annoucnemtns, more to know when to stay out than anything), and i rarely look at sector trends (as most of my stocks are usually the higher 'tier' types..) time of day isn't a big factor for me (and it's pretty easy to keep track of isn't it)...i'll take the same trades any time of day really .. i'd put market direction (as measured by the futures) as #1, support/resistance #2 and risk/reward #3, but that's a pretty arbitrary assessment really... they're all too important to neglect..
well the reason for this thread was b/c there was an excerice today that was passed around the office and they asked for everyone to put those things in order of importance... and i felt it was a pointless activity that resulted in arguments and etc... however what i did get out of it was that the ppl who tend to be profitable a majority of the time as opposed to the ppl on the flipside had totally different views and opinions on what was important and what isnt...
that sounds like a "loaded" question...If the instructor defined the actual time horizon or strategy(micro vs macro trading) then I would think that it would be easier to categorize, or at least, focus on the more important factors...
to be upfront with you i felt that it was a waste of time and loaded with bs... these "managerial" types just like to hear themselves speak... if they were any good at trading then theyd be trading not telling ppl how to trade... "those who can do, those who cant teach..." <sorry if anyone in here hold this type of position and im trying to generalise all of you, just reffering to the ones that ive encountered from my time in this industry>