NQ, seriously?

NQ should suit you fine then as most of the money is made by sitting back and knitting while letting it do its thing.

 

Sounds enticing, but it's too wild for me. What time frame(s) do you use?

 

Day trades are closed by the RTH close at 4 PM or soon after. Swing trades I'll hold for days or sometimes a few weeks.

 

Thanks, but I meant what chart time frames are you using.

 

Top down monthly, weekly, daily, 4 hour, 1 hour for overall expectations (trend/range/support/resistance. When day trading I watch the 5 minute most of the time, though I rely on faster tick charts when looking for an entry at an anticipated level.

 

Sounds like a lot of variables and detail. But if it works for you, then more power to you.

I'm just wondering how much monthly and weekly charts factor into intraday trading decisions. For instance, if the daily, or even the 5-minute gave you a solid "signal" but the higher time frames did not, would you forego the trade? Conversely, if the shorter time frames gave you a wobbly signal but the higher time frames supported the trade, would that be the right time to take the trade? Just wondering.

 

Most days very little ...

 

The NQ and CL are the only 2 markets I trade. I agree NQ can be quite squirrely at times. I find use a 2500 tick chart which helps tone things down a little. I basically just look for a pullback in an established trend and jump on board. It takes a while to get used to trading that way but it works for me

 

One of the best approaches, imo. Many traders seem to have one or more problems with the approach. First, many think every pullback is a reversal, so rather than looking to buy the dip, they short the dip, get stopped out, and wonder what they did wrong (or blame "The Market"). The other problem is that trading this way requires knowing how to distinguish a trend from a trading range, and trending behavior from trading range behavior. Most cant, or won't learn to do this. So on trend days they do well, but the rest of the time they, and their accounts, get chopped to death.

 

Agree. I use a modified EMA to give me direction and then use a short term adx to help me judge the trend strength. It does take quite a while to get used to that type of trading. It's hard to jump on a trade when it appears to be reversing