How many pairs is considered too many?

I am wondering if anyone has this issue, of looking at too many pairs, does everyone agree that aud and nzd are very much correlated? Just like Eur and Gbp?

Lately, i have been immersing myself into the world of pairs....lol. Im starting to find it very straineous but i just can't remove the thought of not looking, coz i might just miss a setup. I trade the daily, so setups on pairs are very rare which would probably reasons my hawking over various pairs.

I would like to have a reccomendation from you guys. How many would be enough and what are the reccomended pairs?

I have been tinkering and i find these to be best...please advise
NZDJPY - carry favor
AUDUSD - better price action than NZD
EURUSD
USDJPY

Pairs thats in my mind all the time no matter how much i try to negate them, i just cant
GBPUSD
GBPJPY
EURJPY
AUDJPY

Pairs that i wondered i should trade
USDCHF
USDCAD
GBPCAD

Hey Jest, though I think you are a more read and experienced trade than myself, I will give my input.

The reason why you cant help but look at those other pairs is that you have currencies that you do not trade. Look at the ones you have; EUR, AUD, NZD, USD and JPY. It is true that GBP and CHF are often very correlated with EUR ... that doesn't negate the fact that these currencies go on great runs and provide great returns. You also do not have CAD, look what a money machine that has been so far this year.

I have struggled with the same thing and now this is what I use: AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, NZD, USD (JPYs), very rare that I trade others ... but if the 4hr is so nice I may not be able to resist. If you trade these currency pairs, you will not miss any big trend by any currency. It may seem like it, EUR/CAD goes down 1400 pips, you just got your money out of CAD/JPY.

To actually answer the question, I would say more than 15 pairs is too many. Though I trade off a 4hr chart so I have time to look at them. Though even then I would get distracted, that is why I cut it down to just JPYs.

If you are trading on the daily and not scalping then you have the time to analize all these pairs and even more, and if you find the right set up to enter a trade it shouldn`t matter what pair it is, as long as you feel it will go in your direction. As for the number of pairs to have depends on the number of trades per week you do. If your trading multiple times per day then its best to have no more than 2 pairs, for me I can have 10 to 15 pairs at one time (but not all the time) but I average only 2 trades per week so I have the time to analize all of my open positions and look for more oppertunities and go to various forums to see what other peoples opions are.

If you have the account funded safely, the sky is the limit. I trade between 11 to 12 currency pairs. I stay away from 8 or more in spread.

Go for it!

I find it easiest just to keep an eye on the 4 majors + USD/CAD, Aud/USD, and EUR/JPY; then if something starts heating up (say USD/JPY) go look to see what's going on the related crosses. Must admit I've spent an inordinate amount of time with NZD/JPY lately....The one I focus most on however is USD/CAD.

I think for traiding more useful four majors.

GBP/JPY very volatility too, but it trade with big spread.

I'd say keep an eye on all pairs, and only Focus on those that show favorable trading conditions for your trading system (no news, trending, channel, etc). This allows you to trade only under the best circumstances.
Don't be blinded by the ~150 daily range of the GBP/JPY. With a higher daily range your stops will be higher aswell. Making 500 pips with 200 pip SL is just as good as a 50pips trade with 20pip SL (EURGBP for instance), if you risk a set % / trade.
However, the spread can make a difference. Say your spread is 8 for the GBPJPY and 2 for EURGBP. This means there are about 19 spreads in a daily range of the GBPJPY. There are only 12 in a 24pip daily range EURGBP.
You might want to filter out pairs that offer unattractive spread/dailyrange conditions; but this differs very much from broker to broker.

I think it depends on how simple/complex your system is.
I watch all pairs but use a simple system where I can spot opportunities at a glance.
If you have to continuously update fibs, pivots and trendlines for 19 pairs it could be a handfull.

Well, heres how i see it,, and this is just me but im a FIRM believer and follower of the KISS method first and foremost. The technical portion of my trading strategy consists of only a couple of indicators (i luv trendlines) therefore i guess i could watch a bunch of pairs. I have tried that in the past and found that my trading (mostly rule following) suffered during that time because i was simply trying to absorb too much information.

That being said, i only look at 2,, sometimes 3 pairs. EURUSD, GBPUSD, and USDJPY.

The PRIMARY reason is,, i can get more information on things that impact the USD faster and easier than i can on any other currency. Those pairs are fairly stable (minus the last few weeks) and thats what im comfortable with. I dont know if i could properly keep up with the market orders for 5 or more pairs if i happen to have positions in on all of them.