Spotting signals without staring at charts all day? [Advanced]
Prologue & disclaimer, you can skip this:
[I am not talking about a strategy. I call this advanced because someone that has only been around for 3 months should be busy touching and looking at everything, soaking up info, someone around for 6 months should be busy backtesting and coming up with a decent method or strategy supported by a sufficient knowledge base.
What the focus is here is how to generate ideas without wasting time. You're profitable or hoping to be, you've got a few years doing this, you're going to keep doing it for the next 30 years, you're not going to be staring at charts all day long just to spot something.
Profitable strategies are complex, I seriously doubt something any idiot picked off the street can do will make money in the long run. An essential part of the strategy is knowing where to look. I guess most pro traders don't even do this step since they are hired to be experts at 1 thing and 1 thing only. "Looking for an Oil trader in the London region". I've heard of offers for FX & something, but those are portfolio managers, or managers for traders. I don't know how many people this applies to. What do equity traders do? Read the news, keep their ears open, and focus on companies they heard about? Day trading is still stupid.
I thought I had a huge amount with 35 (4 commodities + ~10 currencies total of 31 pairs), and here investopedia is talking about building a primary database that contains between 300 and 500 stocks and a secondary list that fits on their trading screens. Haha ye sure ok. Scram.
A site interviews a stocktwits troll "My stock selection preparation is done more on a weekly basis. 90% of my watch-list is created on the weekend, for the week ahead. At any given time I have 50–100 stocks I’m eyeing daily for potential setups.".
The fact that 90% get rekt within months and quit, 9% barely make it and don't really know what they are doing, and 1% are complete autists and paranoid about losing their edge, makes finding that kind of info pretty hard.
My watchlist barely changes, I always have 35 symbols in it. You want it big enough that you filter filter filter and go for the juiciest setups only, but hundreds LOL!!! netpicks "I day trade a watchlist of 10-25 names I spend 5-10 minutes 3 times a day scanning the whole list". Hedge funds hold hundreds of stocks currencies etc. What is this? It's like I am an OTP with a massive watchlist of 35. One Trick Poneys are always absolute beasts. Especially when they one trick complex high risk high reward things that others struggle with. And it gets worse the more abstract it is. I like it. I like it very much 😊
End of Prologue ]
This is a marathon not a sprint.
Have you ever been carrying a backpack or grocery bags and thought "hey this is quite light" and rushed forward only to get tired and have a hard time after 20 minutes, losing breath, losing your grip, and running out of energy?
What about these trolls that sprint in actual marathons and lead the race... for about 50 seconds...? Then finish in 4-5 hours (Eliud Kipchoge holds the world record with 2:01:39 man grandpa broke the record at 34 years old, and he set the london record at 35, it's never too late max heart rate goes down with age but that's all, plenty of top marathon runners and bodybuilders are like almost 40, and those are physical activities, so imagine for mental activities that rely on experience and rational thinking NOT impulses, but excuse finders will always find excuses "I am too young too young to invest yet, and I have all the time in the world, and should focus on studies" followed by "I am too old now").
Absolute 😂😂😂
Short bursts are so much easier. Quick explosion and then you're done. Sweat alot and out of breath for a while, but done.
Marathons are painful!
Feels easy at the start but it gets difficult over time. That's enough explaining.
What you want is to make it as simple and as easy as possible because your short burst motivation won't last.
Myself, I want to have a focus that is small enough to stay performant and not exhaust myself, but I don't want it to be so small I miss out a ton.
I'm going to go throught my thought process and come up with something at the end of this idea:
I have a large watchlist...
Would I miss alot?
Solution 1: I keep my 35 charts and quickly look at them visually to get ideas, to get a quick "feel" of where the price is compared to where I want it to go.
Solution 2: I go for 12-15 charts and spend more time on each thinking of all the possibilities and looking for more.
You absolutely have to make it as simple as possible.
I could remove some pairs. USDTRY I don't really ever touch. I don't remember ever doing anything with AUDCHF.
But even if I reduced it I would want to keep 25 to 30 tickers in there.
I can't be constantly scanning it. I don't look at indices much anymore, but still a bit, sorta need too I guess, and it's interesting.
Looking at US indices and Bitcoin and Tesla breaks the routine, it makes it interesting, so that's part of the solution not the problem.
I don't want to drastically reduce my watchlist, and I don't want to spend 2 hours a day looking at chart in a repetitive way.
"2 hours work a day isn't much". Doesn't work like this. First of all it is repetitive and extremely boring.
Check.
Mate.
Let's say I am looking for price reaction around support levels after an ABC. The strategy is advanced but I can divide it in steps:
There's pretty much all I can think of here, not sure what else one would look at, maybe I missed something.
When I have a potential setup I know how to analyse it, but the problem is in what order, more importantly how to get an idea?
I can't spend 20 hours a day 7 days a week analysing every currency in depth.
What is the simplest?
1- Draw supports on 35 charts once a week, set price alerts and go in more depth when an alert pops?
2- Look for reactions and then check it?
3- Do an analysis on 35 charts then set price alerts on the few levels I am interested in?
4- Look at the central bank calendar, and only pay attention to currencies moving (there's periods with certain currencies offering lots of trades and other ones doing nothing, no point looking at the ones not doing anything special or predicatable)
It takes time but it is less boring than other ways. Imperfect.
5-
This looks like the more viable direction, so let's dig into it more...
==>
So then the question is, how often do I watch, and what alerts do I use?
Better look at another now.
Other examples of "dirty" ABC:
And another question? How to know what the macro trend is etc?
Can read news often but most Forex "news" is, going to use the correct word for it, retarded.
And boring too. Absolute load of rubbish. Just read central bank announcements?
I have yet to find an interesting media. Tried to post ideas myself but it's too much.
I don't know if this is clear but it doesn't matter anyway.
Just wanted to show the thought process.
I did plenty of backtesting (I just posted a couple of charts here but I did hundreds more, not counting those I traded and those I backtested without this particular problem in mind in other words my experience).
Basically I think the optimal lazy/reward ratio is with scanning my watchlist twice a week.
More is greedy and I just won't do it (and end up missing out more), less is starting to be a little too little and I might miss out really often.
You're not here to go and chase every little move. But you do want to grab some!
At some point maybe we're all supposed to tire of it all anyway and go long term hold, or hire people.
Going to fry my brain with too much thinking.
So anyway I think I came up with this:
This would make a decent template.
Then all you have to do is fill the box with your method, system, strategi(es), preferences.
What I need to keep in mind out of this:
Step 1: Have clean charts with fib drawn (make a copy before vomitting all over it - I know I won't do it but I like to pretend)
Step 2: Sunday & Wed: When it's not Bitcoin tier and actually resembles something ⚠️, spot the area of interest (10 sec top chrono 🚨). Price alert early into.
Step 3: When I get an alert, that is a price alert ===> Then I go full TA. I have time. And it will take time. 90% filth ignored, rest gets a "reaction alert".
Step 4: When I get an alert, that is a reaction alert ===> Verify, and well I know what to do w/e. Very few to keep an eye on at this point.
If I spend too much time looking for an area to buy in then it's trash. The quicker I see it, the higher quality it is.
If I can't do this correctly, a solution is to rent an office. Easier to do pointless boring stuff regularly with an office. Just need to go twice a week.
But I really like this process. The NAZI lockdown makes it harder tbh, but with a semi normal life, following a process this simple is not a problem.
I don't even see how I can make it smoother and simpler I think I reached the limit.
That's all folks. Make it as simple and clean as possible. Good luck.
The best system in the world is the one you stick to.
[I am not talking about a strategy. I call this advanced because someone that has only been around for 3 months should be busy touching and looking at everything, soaking up info, someone around for 6 months should be busy backtesting and coming up with a decent method or strategy supported by a sufficient knowledge base.
What the focus is here is how to generate ideas without wasting time. You're profitable or hoping to be, you've got a few years doing this, you're going to keep doing it for the next 30 years, you're not going to be staring at charts all day long just to spot something.
Profitable strategies are complex, I seriously doubt something any idiot picked off the street can do will make money in the long run. An essential part of the strategy is knowing where to look. I guess most pro traders don't even do this step since they are hired to be experts at 1 thing and 1 thing only. "Looking for an Oil trader in the London region". I've heard of offers for FX & something, but those are portfolio managers, or managers for traders. I don't know how many people this applies to. What do equity traders do? Read the news, keep their ears open, and focus on companies they heard about? Day trading is still stupid.
I thought I had a huge amount with 35 (4 commodities + ~10 currencies total of 31 pairs), and here investopedia is talking about building a primary database that contains between 300 and 500 stocks and a secondary list that fits on their trading screens. Haha ye sure ok. Scram.
A site interviews a stocktwits troll "My stock selection preparation is done more on a weekly basis. 90% of my watch-list is created on the weekend, for the week ahead. At any given time I have 50–100 stocks I’m eyeing daily for potential setups.".
The fact that 90% get rekt within months and quit, 9% barely make it and don't really know what they are doing, and 1% are complete autists and paranoid about losing their edge, makes finding that kind of info pretty hard.
My watchlist barely changes, I always have 35 symbols in it. You want it big enough that you filter filter filter and go for the juiciest setups only, but hundreds LOL!!! netpicks "I day trade a watchlist of 10-25 names I spend 5-10 minutes 3 times a day scanning the whole list". Hedge funds hold hundreds of stocks currencies etc. What is this? It's like I am an OTP with a massive watchlist of 35. One Trick Poneys are always absolute beasts. Especially when they one trick complex high risk high reward things that others struggle with. And it gets worse the more abstract it is. I like it. I like it very much 😊
This is a marathon not a sprint.
Have you ever been carrying a backpack or grocery bags and thought "hey this is quite light" and rushed forward only to get tired and have a hard time after 20 minutes, losing breath, losing your grip, and running out of energy?
What about these trolls that sprint in actual marathons and lead the race... for about 50 seconds...? Then finish in 4-5 hours (Eliud Kipchoge holds the world record with 2:01:39 man grandpa broke the record at 34 years old, and he set the london record at 35, it's never too late max heart rate goes down with age but that's all, plenty of top marathon runners and bodybuilders are like almost 40, and those are physical activities, so imagine for mental activities that rely on experience and rational thinking NOT impulses, but excuse finders will always find excuses "I am too young too young to invest yet, and I have all the time in the world, and should focus on studies" followed by "I am too old now").
Absolute 😂😂😂
Short bursts are so much easier. Quick explosion and then you're done. Sweat alot and out of breath for a while, but done.
Marathons are painful!
Feels easy at the start but it gets difficult over time. That's enough explaining.
What you want is to make it as simple and as easy as possible because your short burst motivation won't last.
Myself, I want to have a focus that is small enough to stay performant and not exhaust myself, but I don't want it to be so small I miss out a ton.
I'm going to go throught my thought process and come up with something at the end of this idea:
I have a large watchlist...
Would I miss alot?
Solution 1: I keep my 35 charts and quickly look at them visually to get ideas, to get a quick "feel" of where the price is compared to where I want it to go.
Solution 2: I go for 12-15 charts and spend more time on each thinking of all the possibilities and looking for more.
You absolutely have to make it as simple as possible.
I could remove some pairs. USDTRY I don't really ever touch. I don't remember ever doing anything with AUDCHF.
But even if I reduced it I would want to keep 25 to 30 tickers in there.
I can't be constantly scanning it. I don't look at indices much anymore, but still a bit, sorta need too I guess, and it's interesting.
Looking at US indices and Bitcoin and Tesla breaks the routine, it makes it interesting, so that's part of the solution not the problem.
I don't want to drastically reduce my watchlist, and I don't want to spend 2 hours a day looking at chart in a repetitive way.
"2 hours work a day isn't much". Doesn't work like this. First of all it is repetitive and extremely boring.
Check.
Mate.
Let's say I am looking for price reaction around support levels after an ABC. The strategy is advanced but I can divide it in steps:
When I have a potential setup I know how to analyse it, but the problem is in what order, more importantly how to get an idea?
I can't spend 20 hours a day 7 days a week analysing every currency in depth.
What is the simplest?
1- Draw supports on 35 charts once a week, set price alerts and go in more depth when an alert pops?
2- Look for reactions and then check it?
3- Do an analysis on 35 charts then set price alerts on the few levels I am interested in?
4- Look at the central bank calendar, and only pay attention to currencies moving (there's periods with certain currencies offering lots of trades and other ones doing nothing, no point looking at the ones not doing anything special or predicatable)
It takes time but it is less boring than other ways. Imperfect.
5-
This looks like the more viable direction, so let's dig into it more...
==>
So then the question is, how often do I watch, and what alerts do I use?
Better look at another now.
Other examples of "dirty" ABC:
And another question? How to know what the macro trend is etc?
Can read news often but most Forex "news" is, going to use the correct word for it, retarded.
And boring too. Absolute load of rubbish. Just read central bank announcements?
I have yet to find an interesting media. Tried to post ideas myself but it's too much.
I don't know if this is clear but it doesn't matter anyway.
Just wanted to show the thought process.
I did plenty of backtesting (I just posted a couple of charts here but I did hundreds more, not counting those I traded and those I backtested without this particular problem in mind in other words my experience).
Basically I think the optimal lazy/reward ratio is with scanning my watchlist twice a week.
More is greedy and I just won't do it (and end up missing out more), less is starting to be a little too little and I might miss out really often.
You're not here to go and chase every little move. But you do want to grab some!
At some point maybe we're all supposed to tire of it all anyway and go long term hold, or hire people.
Going to fry my brain with too much thinking.
So anyway I think I came up with this:
This would make a decent template.
Then all you have to do is fill the box with your method, system, strategi(es), preferences.
What I need to keep in mind out of this:
Step 1: Have clean charts with fib drawn (make a copy before vomitting all over it - I know I won't do it but I like to pretend)
Step 2: Sunday & Wed: When it's not Bitcoin tier and actually resembles something ⚠️, spot the area of interest (10 sec top chrono 🚨). Price alert early into.
Step 3: When I get an alert, that is a price alert ===> Then I go full TA. I have time. And it will take time. 90% filth ignored, rest gets a "reaction alert".
Step 4: When I get an alert, that is a reaction alert ===> Verify, and well I know what to do w/e. Very few to keep an eye on at this point.
If I spend too much time looking for an area to buy in then it's trash. The quicker I see it, the higher quality it is.
If I can't do this correctly, a solution is to rent an office. Easier to do pointless boring stuff regularly with an office. Just need to go twice a week.
But I really like this process. The NAZI lockdown makes it harder tbh, but with a semi normal life, following a process this simple is not a problem.
I don't even see how I can make it smoother and simpler I think I reached the limit.
That's all folks. Make it as simple and clean as possible. Good luck.
The best system in the world is the one you stick to.