Learing to Trade on Short Time Frames

[captjoe 10]

Looking at changing my trading time frame from daily set up's with hourly signals to intraday trading the 5 min and 15 min charts. Currently I use a combination of indicators, LR 30-30, MACD, and RSI. MA's. I have a system to look for snap back's up and down for a 2-3 day move.

Now interested in the YM and ES and paper trading it now. It is taking some time to get in the flow timing my entries. I set up my pivots day before and look for zone of confluence. I like to watch the first hour and attempt to spot a trend before I enter. I can't see any short term MA that work consistently and look for S & R at pivots with candlestick signals with confirmation. My issue as price moves away from a possible entry I wait to pull the trigger and miss a trade and if I commit to the signal as soon as it triggers I'm missing a more favorable price. I'm sure most of it is due to the fact I don't have much time behind me watch price action in this short time frame and looking for suggestions how accelerating my learning curve.

Greta Forum Thank You

[sevensa 10]

Look at the 20 EMA thread here in the Candlestick forum. Unfortunately, there aren't any short cuts. You will just have to spend a lot of time looking at charts. This is the only real way to learn.

[Minis Trader 10]

Be open to different time frames as well as indicators. When you go from an end of day trader to an intraday trader it takes some getting used to.

 

Dont discount the power of tick charts (I am partial to the 89 tick) or even 1 or 2 minute charts.

 

There really isnt a better or worse one for the masses it is what works best for your personality and lifestyle.

[jimbob42 10]

re tick charts

I assume that an 89 tick chart is faster than say a i minute chart. Correct.

Does this work for other contracts? What time frame do you use for other contracts?

 

Right now I am attempting to learn about the ES, YM and NQ.

thanks

[Minis Trader 10]

re tick charts

I assume that an 89 tick chart is faster than say a i minute chart. Correct.

Does this work for other contracts? What time frame do you use for other contracts?

 

Right now I am attempting to learn about the ES, YM and NQ.

thanks

 

The 89 tick chart forms a new candlestick after 89 trades have gone off on the stock or other position. During the busier market times an 89 tick on the YM could be the equivelant of 3 to 10 (or more) bars. In the evening session the 89 tick could take quite a while to form one bar.

 

I also trade "RIMM" and I use the 89 tick for it as well.

[jimbob42 10]

Thanks for the answer

[OAC 10]

The 89 tick chart forms a new candlestick after 89 trades have gone off on the stock or other position. During the busier market times an 89 tick on the YM could be the equivelant of 3 to 10 (or more) bars. In the evening session the 89 tick could take quite a while to form one bar.

 

I also trade "RIMM" and I use the 89 tick for it as well.

 

Is 89 a Fib number ?

[Kiwi 16]

21+34= + 34 =

 

(teach a man to fish )

[Minis Trader 10]

Is 89 a Fib number ?

 

89 is a standard number in a fib sequence.

 

Bump:

21+34= + 34 =

 

(teach a man to fish )

 

Thanks Kiwi I didnt see your post when I had answered.

 

OAC here is the sequence that gives us 89 tick.

 

0+1=1

1+1=2

1+2=3

2+3=5

3+5=8

5+8=13

8+13=21

13+21=34

21+34=55

34+55=89

etc

 

Happy Trading

[BlowFish 10]

81 is the secret sauce number :hmmmm:

[OAC 10]

81 is the secret sauce number :hmmmm:

Square of Nine ?

Or is square root the secret sauce ?

 

In a paper Albert Einstein published in 1905 called Brownian Motion, he found that a particle suspended in a liquid tend to move randomly and that the total range of the particle's movements would expand according to the square root of time.

Similarly, the brightness of a star diminishes in proportion to the square root of one's distance from the star and the influence of gravity diminishes according to the square root of the distance from the gravitational object.

[CandleWhisperer 10]

OAC, you should start a thread with more of this type of stuff.

[Hlm 10]

Let's not kid ourselves...we all know the answer is always the Golden Ratio!! Hence the mystical 5/3/3 slow stochastic on any time frame for confirmation via movement in relation to price . For any of you who have never really studied any of this, it's really quite interesting how it all fits together and is related. Wikipedia such items as golden ratio, fibonacci numbers, brownian motion, stochastic process, etc.

[Minis Trader 10]

Let's not kid ourselves...we all know the answer is always the Golden Ratio!! Hence the mystical 5/3/3 slow stochastic on any time frame for confirmation via movement in relation to price . For any of you who have never really studied any of this, it's really quite interesting how it all fits together and is related. Wikipedia such items as golden ratio, fibonacci numbers, brownian motion, stochastic process, etc.

 

And it all starts out by adding 0+1.

[Hlm 10]

And it all starts out by adding 0+1.

"It's not where you start, it's where you finish."

 

....or something like that.

 

Going back to the original poster...

 

I have a system to look for snap back's up and down for a 2-3 day move.

Maybe you could post a couple of snap shots to give us an idea at what your style is like.

 

I have found that picking a few spread out fib numbers for time frames work well for getting an idea of the forces at work (same idea with SMAs on one time frame). It's not that the fib numbers are magical, but they do a decent job at naturally seperating themselves. One way is to also use ticks (like 55 or 89) for reading the pure PA, and then a 3m, 5m, or 15m for the middle time frame. Market Profile is also very useful for determining bias in the larger time frame for day trading.

 

But again, it's hard for anyone to make any real suggestions without first knowing a little bit more about your strategy and personality.