How many Pairs Should a Trader focus on

There is a school of thought that the more pairs you analyze the better your chances of catching opportunities because you are not " living and dying" with one pair.

One the other hand some believe that less is more and the more focused you are; on a few pairs even one..the greater the likelihood that more opportunities will be caught.

How many pairs should a trader focus on?

I think this depends on your time frame as well. I focus on about 14 pairs. However, some are interrelated. I like having a basket at times though, as losses can be offset. From my stats though I can clearly see that about half of my profits come from the GBP/USD. so maybe I should just focus on that one and save the trouble.

-Liz

I believed in the look at them all theory for several years. Lately I changed to just two pairs, g/u and e/j. That covers all the majors and makes my life easier. My suggestion: Master one or two first, then trade them all.

Lizard that's a lot and how many pips do u capture per month looking at 14 pairs?

Pip Pirate those two happen to be my favorite pairs

I guess the less complicated your entry strategy is..the more pairs u can monitor. I look at EJ,GBP, JPY and Cad 90% of the times..if I can't find anything on them then I look at the Eur and Gbp/Jpy

1.

If you can't beat the market trading one pair you sure as hell can't do it with 20.

Each pair has it's nuances... learn them and you'll be a better trader.

m

Acumen..how many pairs do u trade?

Both schools of thought will have their merit within their context, therefore "what is best" must always stand in relation with the one most important factor: YOU
Because there are so many ways to slice this cake.

I went from watching 30 pairs and that rather gave me a headache, down to 12 down to 1 at a time and then up to 7 again.

Right now I watch 7 pairs but mainly trade 2 (EU & GU) their high liquidity makes their relatively regular patterns & movements more suitable for my short term intraday type of trading. (Though GU can be a bit rock 'n rolly sometimes but good short term trender for London open trading)
Sometimes I trade CHF or EURGBP as well but I watch 8-9 pairs, just to see what's going on and looking for correlations bewteen the pairs.

E.g. If I play a Support/Resistance reversal and the set-up and signal lines up on my trading pair I check the others out if they are hitting a S/R level as well which would be a confirmation to my trade.

Correlation therefore helps me gauge the quality of my trade signal, but not necessarily to find more opportunities. Because if EURUSD goes up and USDCHF down I wouldn't take a long on one pair and a short on the other because of their correlation it's the same opportunity to me and I'd be just doubling my risk if I automatically played two counter trades.

I have to add here that watching one pair mainly is the ultimate way to give you a feel for the "character" of the pair to the point where ones understanding becomes almost intuitive.

My rule of thumb has always been to focus on one any only one pair. Give that one pair my full attention and learning its ways.

Yes, to clarify, I look at 14 pairs, but only one at a time. To literally watch 14 pairs at once would drive me batty. I find that each pair does have its nuances, especially on the lower time frames, but as one zooms out, so to speak, all markets are tradable. When trading more than 4 or 5 pairs at once, I set stop and TP orders as a set-it and forget-it method. Its worked very well for me, but I can certainly see the merit in focusing on a few key pairs. And Acumen makes a great point....if you can't profitably trade one pair, there is no point in seeking others. I think the GBP/USD is the king of the currency pairs that one should begin with.

-Liz

The EURUSD.

m

I trade only it........Why? the reason is it gives less pips than others and as well as less loss .........My per two months target is only 800 pips and it is giving me that..........
Cheers

One pair, learn everything about it and that's all you will need.

There is obviously a great deal of merit in focusing ones attention a few pairs if not one. I believe in the salesforce principle and as such I treat my pairs as salesman. I have four main or primary and two reserves on my team. If one or two not generating business opportunities then i look to the others.

It also helps that I am a pure technical trader and as such once I see my set-up on multiple pairs I take the one(s) ( usually I don't trade more than 3 pairs at a time) with the most convergences and thus the highest probability.

Eventually when I have $100K in my account then I'll trade only one pair..lol,lol,lol

i don't focus on any particular pair.
I look at all pairs, and when I see an opportunity I enter a trade, doesn't matter what pair it is.

That's the idea. I dont see the point of neglecting other markets, as amazing opportunities can arise.

... and you are right. Which is why I focus, not only on the retail fx market, but the equities market, futures, and emerging markets. I can never see myself placing all of my eggs in one basket (i.e.: only retail fx). I focus all of my time on E/G because it's benefits me and my monitary goals. It's a pair that works and have been working for quite some time now. If I divi up my time and energies between multiple pairs, profitability and focus would be loss. By focusing on one pair, I learned the in's and out's of it's behavior; and that is what makes learning and trading one pair profitable.

The ultimate Ford vs Chevy vs Dodge debate for forex?

I think a big factor may be larger spreads and liquidity in the lower tier pairs.

Interesting question. My answer 5-6 pairs. I used to work with a lot of currency pairs. If doesn't trade with the help of EAs, trade with hand control of all transactions is quite difficult.

I like to focus only on one or two pairs .A trader should fully concentrate on trading for it too many pairs are not suitable. Much pairs with open positions are confusing. it had two draw backs one is that they use more capital in trading . Trader feel difficulty to manage them properly.

It all depends on the number of currencies you can trade without getting confused; personally, i can monitor and trade 10 pairs at a given time.