What we do when we sit down in front of the chart, what’s the primary function as a trader, well, you as a forex trader you want to be finding your way through price.
As a new trader I can understand how daunting this task maybe because there are so many different timeframes you have, you know monthly, weekly, daily, 4 hours, 1 hour, 15 minutes….. etc. and you even may have tick charts.
All these time frames are sometimes very bewildering sometimes if you don’t understand really what it is you need to be doing and breaking down the price in a uniformly structured way.
So this first thing I am gonna really counsel you on is your primary objective is to know the timeframe that you are trading.
And it's getting back to what type of trader are you going to be.
Are you going to be a position trader, are you going to be a swing trader, are you going to be a short-term trader, are you going to be a day trader or a scalper.
I cant teach you how to find the correct style trader that’s it within you that’s all part of your personal makeup.
What is it that you need to focus on finding the most optimal way of trading for you yourself because each of us is going to be different as you grow and you mature as a trader you may be a multi-timeframe trader?
It would be my advice for you is that if you can try to trade short term the day trading in the beginning because this gonna give you the most immediate feedback and this going to give you the confidence you need to be you’re sticking to a plan because obviously as a position trader you don't have all of the opportunities materializing you that frequently.
Swing trading again says capacity it’s going to be a little bit wide between each setup so it’s going to be harder for a new trader looking to find themselves to wait between the signals and stick within that specific framework for trading.
So short-term trading and day trades, if you are brand new to price action those are very rewarding because they give you the immediate feedback new traders sometimes need.
So let’s talk about what the professional perspective is when we’re applying market structure.
Well obviously for position trades, this is going to be anywhere between three to as many as six months to a year in terms of duration.
If you are that type of trader, obviously the three-time frames that you would utilize to break down the market structure for your particular market, would obviously be monthly, weekly, and daily.
Monthly being your highest timeframe, weekly being your midline or mid-level timeframe and you have your daily that will be your short term.
- position trades: MN — WK — D
- Swing trades: D — H4–H1
- Short term trades: H4–H1–M15
- Day trades & scalps: H1–M15 — M5
