Thank you all for your responses. Please give me your honest opinion: How useful is chart reading to your trading, by that I mean reading the price chart, not the other TA stuff. I have been staring at the price chart for a while. Short term charts, i.e., 1 min, 5 min or even 30 min, seemed just noise to me, reminded me of random walks. Longer time frame, especially, weekly and monthly did show some useful trends for me, e.g., my trade on GILD. Regards,
I trade strictly from charts. It takes time, often a lot of time for the fog to lift and being able to see through the noise. The amount of time will differ as to the individual and his or her efforts.
I'm strictly using chart. You need a reference to start w/ and that depends on the time frame you want to trade within. For me, my reference is the last 2 days & today. I also have hr chart w/ weekly & daily range & swing hi-lo up so I am aware whether I trade counter trend or not that I can act appropriately. The 1hr & 15min chart is swing chart reference, the 5 min chart is pattern line & vol chart & the tick chart is for entry & exit. Reference: Ask yourself a question w/o a knowledge of said, how food tasted, how do you know which restaurant is good & which one is bad, given recipe a collection of personal bias. Of course, you need some basic understanding of ingredients which I think you have plenty. It's the time for you to cook your own food.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Good to know that chart reading actually worked for many of you. Give me hope to continue staring at charts. Best wishes.
Trading is not like gambling..as to be successful at trading requires a lot of skill and concentration..pure gambling is a game of chance and requires no skill what so ever! In my time on this site..I have not seen any post by any person to lead me to believe that they have acquired this immense skill (the closest I have come to it was reading some posts by a member called @Redneck, as he appears to be very close)..as for the concentration part..that we can never really know about another person unless we actually sit down beside and trade with the person! If you are trading options without using IV's, then you really do not know what you are doing..and this I know as I used to do it myself. Of course you can still make money..like your GILD trade..but you are gambling..it was pure luck..and if you wanted to own the stock..would you not have been better off selling some puts to reduce your cost basis..instead of buying some calls!! You should not "like" every person who replies to your post or question..and that goes for me also..you must ask yourself if you are really learning anything from the posts..if not then do not be afraid to say it straight out. I will tell someone exactly what I think of them..as I have no reason to do otherwise..if someone gets offended then that is their problem..as one should not be talking about things as if they know a good deal about same..and really know very little. To me..and a very small few more..it is very obvious who knows what..in fact..the minute a person opens his/her mouth we can tell "exactly" what they do not know! So Mr ironchef..you need to ask yourself a few questions..do you want to stay an average trader/investor..who will more than likely do OK when the bulls are in control..or do you want to become a very skilled trader/investor..who really does not worry too much about what the markets might or might not do..and knows exactly at all times how much risk he has taken on board..and what he needs to do if/when the shit hits the fan The next time someone says they know how to read charts effectively..then just ask them to post a screenshot of an instrument they are trading..and if they refuse..then it should be very "obvious" that they are trying to hide something..like maybe they don't really know that much about chart reading skills
I will ask the question again!!!!!!! When you look at options..do you use implied volatilities..and if you do..what are you looking for when you look at IV's!
Anyone smart enough to prove you wrong is probably also smart enough to know better than to post the full details of what they know in a public forum. All the best with your misguided assumptions.