great to see some other people have this problem with watching too much stuff.... thanks for all your replies. still waiting for counter-arguments, though.
Good Thread, 2 Laptops (one for the DOM one for the charts) .....(ok - I've got a couple of external monitors on the charts Laptop ). One market - Index Futures..... if the day is fast like today, I use the S&P If the day is slow I like the Russell. No indicators, just some funny lines I like to draw. keeping an eye on the tape and tick of course. Waiting.....always waiting....until it jumps out in front of me. Go for it. I only have the ability of intense quality focus for a short while..... I trade for a while, then go do something else for awhile. I take lots of breaks....... I like to listen to good music. Life is good. .
Still makes me smile when I think that for 10 years I did my charts by hand while working on the floor. Had CQG at the desk, but it wasn't configurable to the way I saw the market. About a month before the chart paper company quit making 4 tic graph paper(4X8 for bonds), CQG realized that there might be a market for traders that want to customize charts to their own timeframe. I guess timing is everything. Since then my setup has been 2 PCs and 2 screens. PC1 has eight charts on page 1--1 and 5 min of 10s, 30s, Emini S&P500, NAS100. 10 more pages that support page 1(MP, my own S/R levels(cough), Daily, Weekly...). Seems like the stone age when I used to focus on one market with two pieces of paper....kinda miss those days But if you want a counter argument(and I'm a counter-trader), my trade location is based on what all four markets are doing, and is a whole lot more accurate
I've come to the Keep It Simple Stupid conclusion as well in my futures trading. First thing I did was turn off CNBC during the day. That alone helped my profits. NOTE: This is what "works" for me NOW. That's not to say it won't "work" for me in a month or six months, at which point I'll see what will work for me at that point. Second, I started to focus more on and trade off of the price action and index relationships than on indicators and such. Indicators took a secondary or tertiary role in my intraday trading activities and information flow. Right now, I trade the ES and ER2. My current setup is one chart with the following: - ES (or ER2) candles I also overlay the DAX futures contract on the top chart as a subconscious 'indicator' of sorts, and monitor the Dow cash index (not futures) just to get a "feel" for how things are going. And to confirm my price analysis, I use trend and momentum indicators at the bottom. I don't take them as signals or stare at them constantly, but when I sense a possible trade set-up, use them as confirmations - especially if there's a divergence. - ADX/DMI - StochRSI On some ranging days I'll throw up a Keltner or BB but most times I don't use them. I've given up trying to take signals from indicators, or such. Trading off of price action and market relationships is working well for me right now, and it's "real time" as opposed to "lagging." As a result, my charts are cleaner, there's less data and visual noise, and I can focus on the action in the here-and-now. Knocking on wood, I hope this continues to be a reliable trading strategy....
in the 80's charts were scoffed at and very few used them even less knew how to read them, you traded on feel and then sprd against your position when the move stopped,you sort of danced when the music started and then stopped and went back to your newspaper or crossword, it was simple,i've been trying to find that again but i think the mrkt has changed,avoid analysis paralysis