Well, much better trader =/= successful trader. I have been trading for a very long time but exclusively trading options only since 2013, so it will be 5 more years before I can meet your standard. Besides, I won't confuse my competency as an option trader with a raging bull market.
It all depends on what you are asking about! Let's say a newcomer..no experience what so ever..maybe something like this. "What do I need to understand about the financial markets so that I do not throw away my money when I start to learn about trading/investing?"
You can not call yourself an option trader unless you are fully aware of the affect IV's have on option pricing..that is like saying I am an F1 driver but my car has a Mini engine Yes..to be blunt..do not confuse luck with skill..and..if you can not tell me..off the top of your head..what you Max drawdown can be..leaving out systemic risk..then you really are playing with fire! Just go back to the year 2000..not that long ago really..many trading millionaires were wiped out in a very short time..do you know the main reason why this happened?
Yes same method of chart reading... Like looking at the gold chart and saying its prime for a short now without knowing anything about gold but chart levels and price action.
Gold can be a hard one..as who knows if there really is any gold in Fort Knox! A quick glance at that chart shows price moving up from a low point..why do you think it should be shorted..have you seen any related news that would indicate gold should be sold soon..or are you basing your analysis on previous S&R levels?
I don't watch the news... Chart looks bearish because of Resistance zone and also decrease in momentum as we approach. Someone must be selling that resistance level looks like to me. Here is the 15 min chart with a MACD to show momentum shifting from bullish to bearish.
What is your objective..or to be more precise..what is your expected time frame for price to move by a certain amount? I would not short it yet as it might go up some more..which would be a better place to short than it is here.. note the "might"..which is the hard bit..of course
Well if I was to take a position somewhere in that distribution pattern, the closer to the resistance the better, the first objective would be around 1242ish and risk on the other side of 1260. In terms of time frame for it to hit target.. .that I have no idea.