Back to school...

[Alexbabwa]

Up untill now i have been day trading, or more specifically scalping with much success. Just buying and selling off support and resistance during oversold/overbought conditions, whilst avoiding any news announcements.

Now however i would like to swing trade, or at least hold a trade for hours at a time. I am a student who doesnt have a lot of time to day trade ("No time!?" yeah i know but it is final year after all). So i am back to paper trading and learning again taking into account the bigger picture, elliot wave, weekly pivots instead of daily, longer term support and resistance etc.

The purpose of this post is that i would like to know your thoughts. Perhaps where i should start, some good sources of information, your opinions from personal experience (when the market does not conform to expectations). Anything at all that might be useful, im a spounge for knowledge I am of course doing my own research but if just one reply helps me discover something new, or otherwise left unventured, then this thread will be well worth the effort.

For the bitter folk out there who would like to post, just to tell me they are under no obligation to do so. Or for the generally spiteful people who think i am outrageous for even asking, your posts will not be acknowledged.

 

[foredog]

Not really swing trading but may be helpful if you're short of time

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/forex-strategies-systems/76304-gbp-usd-breakout.html

 

[Tarhini_Trade]

read "Profiting with Forex" by John Jagerson and S. Wade Hansen. It's focused more on longer term currency movements and has a nice section (ch 6-12) on fundamental drivers, it also has a section on technicals. It depends on your current level of knowledge though to gauge how helpful the book will be, nonetheless its an easy read so might be worth getting back to basics.

 

[shadowninja]

Search for Jacko's thread on forexfactory and "live with oscar" on google. They both offer slightly longer-term strategic trading ideas. Then customise to suit.

 

[The Artist]

Hey buddy,

I have a question for you actually; if you can successfully scalp, why would you want to stop and start over on a larger timeframe?
As you say, to radically change TF implies going back to square one. Also, from my experience, trading psychology on a 1/5min TF is widely different from trading psychology on a D/W TF, and a difficult endeavour for an aspiring trader is to find that which suits his/her style best.
So Im just curious at to why you would want to change now although you have already found one at which you can excel.

As for tips, if like me you believe in fractals to some extent, you will find that the strategies you have been using can be replicated on bigger TF. Only you may need to adjust to new money management techniques and volatility statistics.

Good luck!!

 

[Pippy5000]

Up untill now i have been day trading, or more specifically scalping with much success.

Honestly, I would just stick with what you're good at.. You can setup your trades in 5 minutes per day and they will either be filled or not filled while you are at school. There's no reason you need to watch the screen all day.

You can predict ob and os conditions using math..

IF spot reaches X price within Y hours the indicator will read Z .. Setup your trades and go on about your daily business.

 

[Daniel Webb]

Up untill now i have been day trading, or more specifically scalping with much success. Just buying and selling off support and resistance during oversold/overbought conditions, whilst avoiding any news announcements.

Now however i would like to swing trade, or at least hold a trade for hours at a time. I am a student who doesnt have a lot of time to day trade ("No time!?" yeah i know but it is final year after all). So i am back to paper trading and learning again taking into account the bigger picture, elliot wave, weekly pivots instead of daily, longer term support and resistance etc.

The purpose of this post is that i would like to know your thoughts. Perhaps where i should start, some good sources of information, your opinions from personal experience (when the market does not conform to expectations). Anything at all that might be useful, im a spounge for knowledge I am of course doing my own research but if just one reply helps me discover something new, or otherwise left unventured, then this thread will be well worth the effort.

For the bitter folk out there who would like to post, just to tell me they are under no obligation to do so. Or for the generally spiteful people who think i am outrageous for even asking, your posts will not be acknowledged.

Search for Beginner's Forex Training Course. Try forextradingtradingfortune.com, it will be a good start.

 

[Alexbabwa]

Thanks guys some really good replies here! this will keep me busy for at least a week.

The reason i want to trade on a longer TF is because as i said, i have little time during term time. Most of my profit is made during breaks where i can sit in front of the screen all day. I will still be scalping where i have the time. But if i can have a bigger picture of where the market is heading, not only could i place a swing trade as well as scalp, but it may even improve my scalping by knowing the longer term bias. What i mean is i may get caught out less by unexpected moves.

Another motivation for a longer TF is the experience i have had over the xmas holidays. Nothing like the summer holidays, daily support and resistances being demolished reguarly whilst swing trade analysts are taking profits. Im still up by a mile, but im not used to or comfortable with incurring daily losses.

Pippy thats a good idea, only i could not take advantage of temporary S/R formed during the day. I would be limited to pivots and S/R derived from it and previous days S/R. Not to mention, i am not smart enough to work out the math each morning and predict how the stochastics may look later in the day. Think i will do that though for the more solid S/R. Suprised i havent been doing that already!

 

[The Artist]

Thanks guys some really good replies here! this will keep me busy for at least a week.

The reason i want to trade on a longer TF is because as i said, i have little time during term time. Most of my profit is made during breaks where i can sit in front of the screen all day. I will still be scalping where i have the time. But if i can have a bigger picture of where the market is heading, not only could i place a swing trade as well as scalp, but it may even improve my scalping by knowing the longer term bias. What i mean is i may get caught out less by unexpected moves.

Another motivation for a longer TF is the experience i have had over the xmas holidays. Nothing like the summer holidays, daily support and resistances being demolished reguarly whilst swing trade analysts are taking profits. Im still up by a mile, but im not used to or comfortable with incurring daily losses.

Pippy thats a good idea, only i could not take advantage of temporary S/R formed during the day. I would be limited to pivots and S/R derived from it and previous days S/R. Not to mention, i am not smart enough to work out the math each morning and predict how the stochastics may look later in the day. Think i will do that though for the more solid S/R. Suprised i havent been doing that already!

From what you've said, it looks like your methods are quite standardized, as in you have a S/R based system with rules you seem to stick to. So why not try to automate it? Write down your intraday trading rules and if it is mostly based on pivot points, local extremes, and stochastics, it may not be too difficult to build an algorithm which you can then automate. That would allow you to trade while at school.
Obviously it takes some time to get yourself comfortable with the idea of having your money being traded without you monitoring it, but after you have developed a mechanical system and used it on demo, just a couple glances a day from the library should suffice.