Finding the best "personal" timeframe!

As i allready mentioned in some other threads i am quite new to this game.
Now before passing through my trading plan and testing what works or not i would like to get a clue what timeframe to go.

Maybe you could give me some advices. I could imagine following charts 8-12 hours a day maybe longer as long as i am still running own business.
Also i am located in Europe not in the USA (market times / liquidity)

Risk should be small/medium and as far as i am new to this market i don´t want to invest a huge budget (while learning), so i think i am not in the condition to become a position trader and hold out large stop-losses.

thx for help so far,

Hi there,

Usually the time frame come as one package with the system.So to try to find a TF first then try the system maybe will take more time.

Finding a TF to play is essential, but you have to look/decide it based on many factors ( cant just pick one because of someone advise or following the other fellow trader).So, as u mentioned,

"still learning",--- middle to higher time frame ( H1-daily)
"small account", and "Cant hold a large SL" --- not really a problem due to sizing position
"can watch the market for 8-10 hours"--- small TF to 4H
"Europe" means active market, this is tricky..active market can kill u if u dont get it right and vice versa, so it's not really the factor right now

As for u that still new to this business, a higher time frame (4h-daily) actually may fit your needs, but maybe not your style tho..what Im try to tell you that the very important thing you should try to achieve is consistency not the big money/profit. So put aside all the excitement of entering the market more and trade more , it will cost you bigger school fee in this business.4H and daily TF at some pairs will need for a bigger SL but that's not the matter as u can play it with the sizing lot.

Eventho u said u can watch the market for 8-10 hours, u can use it to another activity such as reading this forum ? etc etc.

Higher TF than daily will be a boring trade maybe for you right now and require bigger SL as well (maybe-- i mean depend on the method) as for the lower time frame usually will confuse u, not to mention again of excitement of trading to the new comer (market is a great advertiser u know..it's always "very inviting to enter"---pair with "reluctant to exit" usually ), so try to ignore the small tf, that a good way to ignore market invitation (no matter u right or wrong at the end u will fall as u still new)

Well, still remember I use 5M chart at my first time (damn that broker house lecturer) and it's not good at all.

Suggestion:4H to daily TF, fit it to your MM...with special note :consistency, not big profit...after gain some experience, you'll amaze that u maybe know your self at that time and begin to tweak your whole trading art include the TF

PS:IMHO

Hope it helps.Cheers

thanks for your good advice dude, 4H Daily should be fine, what you mean with :


Always thought high market activity is the best time to trade? i am a little bit confused now :-)

I did run a live account last year with a $ 5,000 disposit but i almost doomed it in 2 weeks because I didn´t have any proper mm or trading plan. Don´t want to pay this school fee again or maybe not as fast as 2 weeks like i did before.

i would like to refund and try again with Ooanda as my broker and micro slots with another 5k and pass the forex for some longer time even if i do make loss thats not the question but my new target would be to make good trades without getting panic even if a trade is a loser and maybe i will even make it to gain a small overall profit.

Anyway, before starting a new live adventure on mr. forex i will do my homework and design a trading plan with all it´s instruments as i left out in the past.

So far my intentions are to test my plan with it´s system at least 2-3 month on a demo and if it seems profitable to give it a try live.

I know many are testing their systems for years but honestly, i do not have the time to test everything years cause i have to survive daily business.

Also i don´t want to sit instead of my screens for the rest of my life, i am running a lot of online marketing projects and working as a programmer and having a 80-100h week. I don´t think that it´s done overnight and maybe i will burn some more live accounts but if there is a chance to make a financial reverse with this market i will learn and try so.

There are lot of information about the forex market and how to stand it. Tons of adwords ads, articles, ebooks, books and finally boards like this one (actually the most recommend i´ve found out yet)

But where to go with all this information?

So now you got a short impression of my personal needs and where i am for the moment.

Maybe you could give me some more filtered information relating to my position with your experience, what system may work for me better and which ones i should be aware of. I know this is a questions without meaning but what i wanna say is, that maybe you could hook me on with what system, maximal risk, position size to start with.

I read about damn much systems that are posted here but which one would fits to my position. If you say there are lot of systems telling me what timeframe to go, i will see that it fits to my time management as well. I don´t have problems with developing a system or do modifications on existing ones but i need to get a clue where the hell to start with.

There is so much information out there telling me what to buy, what to learn, where to go with, it´s not new to me but it´s confusing if you start with something and would like to do it seriously without believe in scam.

I´ve never seen so much scam in a market, forex shows me

Just for a few moments i heard about another system found on a blog it´s called "Pallada" and it´s a commercial system.

It´s getting quite good feedback.

But as i read so far in this forum it´s not recommend to buy systems.
Also some people telling that such systems are profitable as long as you trade them with much disciplin and without emotional behaviour, others tell me that it´s bullshit, so a newbie like me start thinking about who´s right, who´s wrog?

My uncle is trading a system long-term his broker gave him and he did make a good revenue for the last 3 years now to life from till the end of his days but in effect as an much more bigger investement than my boring 5,000k could make in this time. He also did business for over 40 years and knows well about market dynamics and management at all and he had years of contacts to bank managers and so on before decided to trigger any trade. Ok i don´t want to become a hundret years old to become successful in trading cause i couldn´t enjoy the money maybe made on it if i am dead, you agree with me?... And i do not have that much money to open a depot with that i could say... come on we do a few pips da month lay back and go long-term, have a nice day.


thanks for your great help so far!

"Europe" means active market, this is tricky..active market can kill u if u dont get it right and vice versa, so it's not really the factor right now <--- My point on this: being a newbie, with active market will tend to hurt you since u cant avoid of being in a loss trade..no one can avoid it.the only way to minimize the damage is to take less trade (at the beginning stage of trade).as I mentioned, as the market will always invite you..a good active market can produce a good profit--if you trade it good of course but if you dont..it's another school fee.For now just focus on get the feeling..find a comfort zone and understand your self on this business.building an arsenal if you may call it.after u gain some experience..then active market is good for the sake of trading.btw on this term/case, active market means volatile market.

Finding the Nemo--Method ..I cant pin point to a method here but this forum come with a good review with all the system that already posted here.For example, if you interest on 4h macd by philip, read the thread and the comment posted by other people..you'll get a rough picture of that system at first even so that a success system to other is not a guarantee to success for you or vice versa.It's just like asking a meaning of a song to a diff person, you'll get a diff feedback.So to say..try it, then see the result and then tweak it to your personal..it's always been like that.

about buying a system..dont..period.IMHO

About testing a system, to my personal view, the backtest always just to know all the rule that system come up with, not to prove that system really working. even a forward testing (on demo) wont prove it a decent system after all..well dont be confuse here..the main prove is always when you trade it on live since the trading it self consist mentality factor that u'll only find on live trade.So it's a continuation of journey if i may call it you have to evolve each day..each experience..getting sharp and better.dont stop at some point.Sound very huge and hard task? yes it is for that not so many success ..but come up with a reward..i can tell u that.

Sooo.. out of many things to start with ( system,MM, mentality, knowledge) which one should come first ? I say MM first..it start with review your financial resources, goal etc etc..then read about Mentality..just read it..coz u nt get the real meaning until you face a live trade right? then work on system..dont forget to apply MM of your personal review..( this far still on demo maybe )..after know all the rule of that system and the your MM working with it..then try to get a mentality experience with live..then review all the log of your journey.

a good book of MM:Van tharp special on MM report, Van tharp- financial freedom

good book on Mentality:Trading in the zone by M douglas, M.Douglas-Disciplined Trader

Book on TA : Steve Nison japanese candlestick

System: err kinda hard to suggest since I dont trade with one full system that mention here on this forum..I mean I take a look at the system for ie:4h macd by philip, jacko, vegas etc etc and after that I take what I need for me.But as a good start it wont hurt you to try one or two system then review it. and dont forget all the knowledge that u gain from reading that material/book above..apply it..then getting better and better..dont stop just because u can generate a 100% in a month.All moment just a pit stop

Beyond all that..you should try to learn how to trade good..not to trade a system.I mean its a diff thing.James 16 thread (the free one) show you how to trade good but it's not a system.

Hope it helps sorry if my english too perfect here and there.

Ok thanks for your detailed answer again, i think by now i know where to start on with and what makes more sense than other things.

about the market times / you say this shouldn´t mattet to me for the first time so i should trade whenever i feel comfortable regardless to the actual time this will be?

Hi

We can say that for now (later will be a matter as u will try to take more profit as your experience grow ) but dont hold to it 100% as when u try a system on some pairs and on asia market maybe u'll find it slow and boring, so sometimes trade on europe+US time is ok too to feel the market. so be smart to upgrade your trading art exponentially.

Ok trade well then .

I tried some kind of system method/strategy/system for a month now that was mentioned on this forum too, it´s a simple hedge if i picked it up right

Every 5.00PM - 5.00 PM I go long on EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, USD/CHF.

Exactly close all positions regardless of winners of losers every 24h and reopen them.

Sunnday - Friday

i don´t know why but i hadn´t any big drawdown with that yet, overall profit for the last 3 weeks is about 320 Pips, could it be that easy? Any one knows that method and tested it for some longer time?