I don't use any indicators, I don't really even use volume now that I think about it. I understand what you mean though. Looking at gaps/gapdowns that are not making all time highs they are around very key areas but maybe that is just confirmation bias. Will probably have to do more research on this stuff should be easy to pull data and do some basic stats on these. How would you define noise? The biggest problem when I was intraday trading was identifying ranges/trends you can't catch em all really so I tried to trade the range too and got punched a lot. I sort of had a method but it was more so based on price events? Not sure how to explain it well since everyone holds different meanings for certain words. Pretty interesting though, the markets that is.
Actually I already know what needs to be done but because I was trading one instrument I had to stay put in my chair when I didn't want to but now that the realm of equities has opened up I don't have to deal with sitting unless I am in a position. Talking to myself, quite helpful .
All this stuff has been discussed a million times. Use search / google. It is, make notes to yourself. But be aware of biases, ie confirming false information.
They say when you trade, you are predominantly trading against yourself, ie you are your own enemy. IMO, trading is a battle in the sphere of your own psychology. Trading is good for the soul if one digs deep enough.
A big problem with equities is screening stocks. I am probably going to develop that first on my free time. Also in order to reduce risk I need to diversify my position. I guess I got pretty lucky buying JPM even if it was near the highs but it still follows my thesis of the stock until that changes that is. I am going to only trade EOD and probably start having positions in more than one stock, because right now I am gambling on JPM not gapping down. If I have multiple stocks in different sectors the gap will probably not appear in all of them unless it is a COVID-19 like catastrophe. I could probably further diversify into industries, but for now I will have positions in N different sectors of the SP500 to reduce the impact of the event of a gap down. Will place positions slowly over the days until I have N positions. I could even do it by industry, but I probably need more time for that so I will start with the sectors and filter stocks manually for now until I develop a program that can give me a daily report and save time. Once I have that report I could further expand my positions to industries. Maybe this is putting the cart before the horse though.
Adding to increase your number of holding positions will not magically transform your account into profit. Diversification is not a magic pill. In actual fact a detriment as you add complications. Money is made on selling. Buying is easy, selling in a timely manner is not.
I understand. A big concern for me when I started to swing is gap risk. Which is what I am trying to solve in my previous comment by diversifying away the gap risk. In a sense I am putting the cart before the horse. In this case the horse is being a profitable trader and the cart is the gap risk. Which is why I said "Maybe this is putting the cart before the horse though." What I am trying to say is that I am aware of what really needs to be solved first.
So to be a profitable swing trader, what would be some of your main criteria for candidates? And what would be some of your main criteria for exclusion?