How Long Does It Take You to Analyze Your Chart?

[GlassOnion 12]

How much time do you spend a day or week analyzing your charts?

[Tradewinds 12]

Are you asking how long it takes from the start of the analysis to deciding to enter a trade? I'm day trading, so I'm monitoring charts non-stop. As of this moment, I've never stopped wanting and trying to improve my trading charts and trading set up, and maybe that will never end.

 

Are you talking about analyzing charts, deciding on a stock to pick, and then entering a long term trade?

[TheDude 10]

Im a day trader too, and I never look at charts during the day. I may note a few key levels before the open, but thats it.

 

Charts simply dont tell you whats going on. A chart is a handicap. Its nothing more than an aggregation of what the buyers & sellers did. Not what they are doing now, and where their pain points are. Utterly useless.

 

I also position trade some stuff. I use a chart a bit more for this as Im more interested in longer term flows - so the aggregation of data that a chart represents may be more meaningful, but I dont spend that long - perhaps 5 mins - just to understand the momentum. I dont use the chart to analyse or decide the trades. thats mostly looking at the numbers against historical data for relationships/ where the edge works. There is no edge in using a chart, as it's too subjective. An edge by its very definition can NEVER be subjective of course. You need an edge to win. So therefore charts are of little value.

 

Of course, if I see a chart that screams reversal, then I may take a punt - but thats quite rare.

 

For my investments, again, I dont really use a chart either. Thats mostly numbers. Maybe a glance to make sure Im not buying in a screaming down trend - Im playing for yield of course when investing. Famous last words....

[TradeRunner 10]

Charts simply dont tell you whats going on.

 

Aren't you bored flogging this dead horse? You don't use charts - message received and understood. Thanks for telling us (again).

[TRADEZILLA 10]

5 min the night before, and 5min prior to the opening.. The entire day's strategy is formed from that.. Future decisions depends on what and how the day develops..

[ntrader 10]

I need more time analysing a stock chart, because i have to take several variables under consideration, in forex charts i spend less time as i am using my trading strategies, so a couple of minutes are enought o make a trading decision

[TheDude 10]

Aren't you bored flogging this dead horse?

 

 

nope.

 

 

....because it always amuses me that no one ever seems to be interested in learning or exploring other ways.

 

Everyone seems to rely on charts despite the overwhelming evidence retail traders lose on the whole, and retail traders use charts.

 

Whether it's herd mentality of the fear of doing something different, or indolence is probably the cause.

 

Rest assured, you'll now have a break as I'm off on a short holiday

Edited April 22, 2013 by TheDude

[clmacdougall 11]

Im a day trader too, and I never look at charts during the day. I may note a few key levels before the open, but thats it.

 

Charts simply dont tell you whats going on. A chart is a handicap. Its nothing more than an aggregation of what the buyers & sellers did. Not what they are doing now, and where their pain points are. Utterly useless.

 

I also position trade some stuff. I use a chart a bit more for this as Im more interested in longer term flows - so the aggregation of data that a chart represents may be more meaningful, but I dont spend that long - perhaps 5 mins - just to understand the momentum. I dont use the chart to analyse or decide the trades. thats mostly looking at the numbers against historical data for relationships/ where the edge works. There is no edge in using a chart, as it's too subjective. An edge by its very definition can NEVER be subjective of course. You need an edge to win. So therefore charts are of little value.

 

Of course, if I see a chart that screams reversal, then I may take a punt - but thats quite rare.

 

For my investments, again, I dont really use a chart either. Thats mostly numbers. Maybe a glance to make sure Im not buying in a screaming down trend - Im playing for yield of course when investing. Famous last words....

 

I do agree that you must remove subjectivity in order to find tradeable structure that is repetitive in nature, but how are you sure that your key "pain points" aren't subjective as well?

Are you sure that the behaviour of traders found on a chart when studied objectively can't reveal an edge?

All time based charts offer an almost infinite number of possibilities and become nearly impossible to quantify as you are right, they merely show momentum, but nobody said that was the only type of price chart you had to draw conclusions from!

[SIUYA 11]

How much time do you spend a day or week analyzing your charts?

 

20 years of study and thought so that it only takes 5 mins a day or even less if there is nothing to see.

 

(and for the Dude, yes there are different ways of seeing and doing things as its not what is shown its how you see it that is important. Nice of you to want to save people from themselves but i reckon the problem is people are constantly searching for new ways to see things as opposed to learning how to see.

All very zen BS in a never ending roundabout - welcome to Monday, horoscope for the day says sell in May and go away.)

[BlueHorseshoe 10]

nope.

 

 

....because it always amuses me that no one ever seems to be interested in learning or exploring other ways.

 

Besides which, your message isn't really aimed at the likes of TradeRunner, is it?

 

Apart from a couple of dozen cynical and jaded TL members who've been here for years and probably never hear anything they haven't heard before, you never know who's reading . . . Someone who just started trading last week, perhaps . . . whose whole learning path could be positively (or negatively) directed by a post such as this.

 

I'm happy enough to hear the same stuff repeated on the off-chance someone else might benefit.

 

BlueHorseshoe

[wrbtrader 10]

How much time do you spend a day or week analyzing your charts?

 

I'm primarily a full-time futures day trader that works from 9am to 5pm est. I do not stare at the charts all day because charts are just part of my trading plan. I spend a lot of time reading, listening to key market events from around the world via the help of social media to get my "market context" so that I can better understand the price action on my charts.

 

In my typical 8 hour work day, I'm probably trading (entering/exiting trades) about 1 1/2 hours per trading day, 1 hour analyzing charts while not in a trade, 3 1/2 hours gathering market context and about 2 hours doing personal stuff not related to trading (e.g. exercise, eating lunch, resting).

 

Don't misunderstand the above, that's me today. In comparison, 20 years ago, I didn't care about market context although I was aware that it was a big deal for a relative that was a floor trader at that time. Also, I didn't take time-outs from trading, had very little social life and devoted myself to studying charts as a newbie trader. Then again, when you're young...it didn't seem like a big deal to be staring at charts all day looking for trades or investments with a tunnel vision.

 

For me, social media makes trading a lot easier and its basically free.

Edited April 22, 2013 by wrbtrader

[onesmith 10]

indolence is probably the cause

 

TD might be the only one that will get this.

 

Indolence? There are plenty of failed traders that aren't lazy. People that have attained success in other areas and have the absurdly obvious work ethic required for success in any endeavor.

 

It's ironically amusing to speculate about a circle of posters on Traders Laboratory parroting laziness while the odds of other circles mentioning laziness are as astronomically off the wall as anyone within another circle being on a locally ecentric path different from anyone else.

 

Cost of incorrectly blaming laziness as the reason traders fail = insignificant. Other cost = beyond putting a price on but not necessarily bad if your emotional quotient is sufficent to enable your intellect to parse the differences implied by the choice of paths.

Edited April 22, 2013 by onesmith