Trading 1m PA only

Hi,

Has anyone managed to do this? and make consistent profits? Just want to know. Im trying just by using previous levels of S&R. See how it goes...

Oz

you're onto a winner here. Hint-check volume levels to provide further confirmation as to whether these s/r areas will hold. (this is what I do, it works!)

One difficulty is that transaction costs are relatively larger for short moves. For example, if you're looking to catch, on average, 5-pip moves on a 1-min chart, and if the spread is 1 pip, you only get to keep 4 pips of the 5-pip move. So your transaction costs are 20% of the move. If you are trading on a longer time frame, say 1-hour charts, you might be going for 50-pip moves, on average. Then the transaction costs are only 2% of your move. This is just an example with rough numbers, but that's the general idea.

Just make sure you're trading the 1-min chart for the right reasons, i.e. because it's the way you see the market, it makes technical/structural sense to you. Don't trade the 1-min chart just because you're impatient.

P.S. It can be difficult to determine your true motives behind what you do in trading.

Short term trades do cost more.

And scalping does not work as good as it used too. I think the dealers have adjusted their system with more spreads and stop hunting and etc.......

Therefore, scalping can make you lose eventually. And yes, I know
about ECN which is basically a dealer desk with cosmetics and all
the dressings. They may or may not do straight thru processing.
They will see your order flow and bankers will probably scalp against
your positions.

Thanks for the advice.

It dont always mean to catch only 5 pips. I sometimes use 1min for entry on longer tf as in checking 5/15/30/1hr charts. The best I have done is an 120pip profit looking at 30min and entry on 1min.

Emios how do you check volume etc?

Thanks

Oz

spot volume is off no matter who provides the information but i did tests volume is correctly displayed by range of bar in fx

Totally lost me lol

what do you mean range of bar?

Oz

The VSA thread is all about volumes and spreads (ranges) of bars. The idea is to read into what is happening with order flow by seeing what is happening with volume at certain places/prices. For instance, new highs accompanied with low spread low volume bars may indicate that the market is weak and further increases in price are not sustainable without more heavy buying. That would be when you are looking to go short. It's an informative thread if only for making one think about the mechanics of the market (i.e. why and specifcally how price is going to go where it is going to go).


Not to be rude, but no one who matters cares about our positions.

Trading 1M is doable, I think it's very difficult though without a good working knowledge of order flow/price action/mojo/whatever you want to call it. And points about spreads/commissions are valid, but depending on how you are trading they may not be a big deal. For example if you are basically swing trading but using 1M for entry, it's not a big deal, but if you are actually trying to capitalize on the legs of moves on a 1M chart then they certainly will be a big deal, because for example a 'move' may consist of 5 bullish bars that only banked 10 pips before reversing hard.

why not allow the 1m chart to be your bigger TF, and 5 secs chart, ticks e.t.c,
be your smaller TF's. NO? Yes?

For the reasons listed above. Basically it's extremely difficult and probably not worth it. Even a 1-pip spread is relatively expensive for such short moves.

smittens, I take it you're familiar with that thread. I checked it out a while ago, but I haven't been back since.

I remember there was some discussion about how to accurately estimate volume in the forex. I think there was a method that basically just counts the number of times a bar changes before it closes. Of course that's just an approximation of volume.

Can you tell me if this issue has been resolved on that thread? Is the approximation good enough? Are there better ways to estimate volume?

I came to the conclusion that the volumes that most brokers provide are fairly accurate 'in principle.' The actual volumes themselves are garbage numbers that mean nothing (they are tick changes, I believe), but they accurately portray when there is heavy or light market participation. As far as I know the only more accurate way to look at volumes in FX is in the futures market, and even then I believe the consensus was that in terms of appearance, tick volumes in the spot market mimic real volumes in the futures market relatively closely.

I don't trade VSA the way they do in that thread but like I said in my previous post, I think the concepts are grade A stuff and very helpful in understanding the way the market moves; I definitely intuitively apply the concepts in my trading.

I actually trade 1min charts and do well, it does take getting use to.
Here are a few points that I think will help you make it.

Only trade 1 pair and get use to watching how the action respondes to the support resistance ares you have marked.
Be aware of candlestick patterns and whats happening on the larger charts, so work your way down, I like to call it getting inside the action
For me I only trade the GBP USD.

Have a very good money management plan and stick to it.
Start trading with a micro account as small as you can, forget demo real money will keep you honest to yourself and if you can,t afford to start trading this style with a $500 micro account you shouldn,t be trading at all.

Keep a very good record of all your trades so you know what your hit rate is and also down the track it might help improve your trading.

If you get 2 or 3 trades wrong in one of your trading sessions turn your computer off and walk away, you are not in tune with what the market is doing and it is better to try another day.

Be aware of when announcements are.

Move your stops to break even as soon as possible

My approach on the GU is that it is not uncommon for it to move 20 or 30 pipis oneway then do a complete u turn, so once I,m up in the plus 15 to 20 pips I move my stop to break even or set the stop to protect 10 pips.
the other thing I noticed is that the chances of making a profit of more then 40 pips without a total retracement are uncommon, so I tend to just close out at that point or tighten my stop right up.

Do not wait forever for your trade to play out, if you have entered and the action just starts to hit a slow ranging area it is better just to close out for a small profit or loss, don't wait to get whipsawed out for a bigger loss.
So the longer you are in the position without it moving your direction the more likely you are to lose.

Don't give up on yourself without having a fair go so be prepared to stick with it for at least 50 trades then look at how you are going, most people give up to easy.
I actually think 100 trades give a good idea of how you are going.
My hit rate is around 60 winners and 40 losses and the account is growing nicely.

Hope this all helps as I,m someone that does trade 1 minute charts.