Only after was stopped out, noticed that made the same mistake again, moved stop arbitrarily to b/e instead of using natural levels and risking some more ticks...
I basically use just one chart (because don't like to draw channels on several screens at once), but very often switch between timeframes (it's done very easily in Quotetracker, literally one press of the button, thats among what I like it for) of 1min, 3min, 5min and several times a day take a look at bigger picture (15, 30min). It allows me to "look inside the bar" or wise versa - see what it looks like "from distance".
ah ok. If you keep the 1 hr open I'd have thought your technique would show a big swing was due... acting as your "hold" button. On the 5 min there were 9 swings... all very tradable on the 1 min but the direction was a pretty easy call from the 1 hr. You could have ignored the early swings because it was a no-brainer if you had the certainty of a big swing. When you say natural levels, do you mean Gann Levels? And are you using pivots?
Yes, holding for bigger trends while fine tuning entries on small levels is what I yet have to learn... For now I strongly tend to realize profits quickly, because fear is still here, though clearly understand that having a good entry on small timeframe and riding the bigger trend can yield not 4, but say 40% on one trade if done correctly as you advice... By "natural" i mean S/R levels shown by PA directly. In other words, common S/R, channels etc.
Good stuff - you know where you want to tighten things up. If you don't mind, I'll offer a few suggestions tha might help. Your use of S&R is fine, but you didn't mention pivots. On currencies pivots are essential. The big boys use them, so I don't mean like stock indicies where it's not a must have - in currencies it's a must have. Entries off the 1 min chart are hit and miss. Try running a 25T candle alongside your 1 min. It can get you in earlier than the 1 min at times. Start with obvious reversals first before getting too clever with it. If it's too noisy for you try a 90T. In any event run tick with your min charts and you'll pick up more entries. Some things for you to experiment with. These allow me to get very close to the extremes of the reversals and take the minor swings with a view to the bigger trend.
Thanks for these advices Yoohoo! As you were so kind to advice, I'll ask you some more questions about what you wrote: it was a big surprise for me to know that in FX pivots are even more important than in SIFs. Seriously I thought situation is exactly the opposite! But as I am sure you know what you're talking about, considering your experience, I'll have pivots on my FX charts as well. So the question is: what OHLC times of the day you take when calculate pivots? FX is 24h market and it's pretty hard to decide which hours are "right".