Yes, that was what I said - longer term is ok when employing wider stops and less leverage. However, it is more difficult to predict longer into the future - especially when the condition/situation is more complex, as the outcome becomes murkier. "Noise" is just many factors adding to the system simultaneously, separately each of them are not noise - but in practical terms it is close to impossible to consider them all. Therefore it becomes "easier" to consider the longer term - by being more discretionary and simplifying/quantifying compounded/accumulating effects/influencers. I prefer long-long term and scalping, but not so much the in between of single-/multi-day trades off support/resistance. But those are the types of trades I feel I can be successful with, and that I have some grip on doing.
yeah i do have different values for distances in my stop losses and my limits in different time frame tho i still like to keep the same 1:2 ratio no matter what window im in ... like in 5 min itd be pur/sale price -15 stop loss with 29-30 limit which is now that i think about it my possible problem with accuracy.. i may need to tighten my ratio for quicker trades to make sure i get out before reversal. i can see what you mean about the news being released, high volatility now, and quick market corrections.. i tried 5 minute and papertrading over a week or so i got murdered. i tried 10 minutes and got destroyed 30 minutes i tended to grind out a slow profit 2-4hr i become very profitable even in this volatility backtesting daily/weekly profits are very good accuracy increases for me alot the longer the time frame... but i want the perfect balance of time-length of trade, accuracy, and Egain +Eloss/N ... for my best compounding and accuracy setup
You need to go longer term for bigger moves on the currencies with wide spreads to give them a chance. USDJPY and EURUSD seem to have the lowest spreads. Cable (GBPUSD) has bigger spreads but often bigger moves so the vol is clearly a factor in the spreads equation, not just liquidity.
I day trade the EUR.USD on the 4hr window/1min bar with 10/20 pips risk/reward. I am getting stopped too frequently these days though. Been thinking about increasing risk/reward to 20/40 until volatility drops back to normal.
Good info as usual, Cable. I have dropped my timeframe significantly to allow for a) better risk control and b) more profit through increased opportunities. OP would do well to work out the math on that. Like Cable pointed out, most people only think about the first half of the equation, that you have smaller targets...well you also have a much higher trade freq. At this point, you'll probably also want to check to ensure the market you're trading has enough volatility that you'll be able to justify the increased commission/spread you're paying. IOW be careful trying to scalp the shit out of a slow mover or some crazy exotic pair with a 15-20 pip spread.