Chart ranges

[Splitlink]

The chart that I use starts the day's trading with the first bar range occupying the whole height of the chart. This may seem ok to lots of traders but it confuses me considerably and I believe that it affects my trading. The sight of a bar moving an inch at a time for a two pip move makes me jumpy. As the day proceeds, the chart improves but I feel that, sometimes, I have misconstrued the first bars and that my decision making could have been better.

Maybe this is a confusing ploy by the SB company ie, make the chart difficult to interpret. I make this observation with tongue in cheek but there could be some truth in it.

What I have done is to use a 300 point average with a Bollinger SD of 3. This band will be included in the chart and it spreads it out to a more manageable and readable height. A BB band of this size is, for me, of no use as an indicator.

Maybe this is a silly observation but I have noticed many times, at the EOD, that a wrong move should have been avoided. Stretching the range of the chart to get some relativity helps me a lot.

Apart from patterns and signals, I do suggest to new traders to look at the presentaion of their charts, especially at the beginning of the day.

Split

 

[BSD]

Hi Split mate

That sounds really odd indeed.

Why not demo some other platforms with better charting ?

Or have a look here:

Netdania Charts

Mainly FX, but also some indices and other stuff there these days.

 

[Black Swan]

There's no doubt that the SB companies 'employ' a lot of physchology 'in the charts'. For example substantial moves often look small and vice versa if the graph has been automatically scaled up or down when markets are volatile...I learnt early on that my charts didn't load too smoothly, or operate that well, when I'm in winning postions...I now trade with this in mind/expect it. I used to fear the odd spike and yet in a perverse way I now lick my lips, stretch fingers and Muhahahaha chuckle when I experience one... Am I paranoid? Fook that, they're out to get us all not just me...:cheesy: Don't hate the game or hate the players, play the game and PLAY THE PLAYERS

 

[Splitlink]

Hi BSD,

I think it's a question of knowing what you have and being able to handle it. I'm with Fins and have no problem with them. If I went somewhere else I could be worse off and, probably, what annoys me, others would wonder what I am going on about.

Hi Black Swan,

I have had no serious problems while I have been trading---no rude telephone calls, cancelling accounts, money removed from account because of disagreements, etc. All this seem to happen to other people. But, I am in full agreement with what you say.

You've got to watch'em.

It has occurred on me that while the charts can be accurate --they seem to be 100%-- messing about with the scaling can be confusing. Perhaps, it is the way the chart is constructed or, perhaps, it is an intentional, psychological, plan to trick the triggerhappy trader.

 

[Black Swan]

Hi BSD,

I think it's a question of knowing what you have and being able to handle it. I'm with Fins and have no problem with them. If I went somewhere else I could be worse off and, probably, what annoys me, others would wonder what I am going on about.

Hi Black Swan,

I have had no serious problems while I have been trading---no rude telephone calls, cancelling accounts, money removed from account because of disagreements, etc. All this seem to happen to other people. But, I am in full agreement with what you say.

You've got to watch'em.

It has occurred on me that while the charts can be accurate --they seem to be 100%-- messing about with the scaling can be confusing. Perhaps, it is the way the chart is constructed or, perhaps, it is an intentional, psychological, plan to trick the triggerhappy trader.

Same here bud, no serious issues (nothing I can't cope with/don't anticipate) with IG, but if FXCM did indices/shares as well as forex I'd be off in a heartbeat.

I'm comparing the charts of IG/FXCM 'back to back' constantly on forex and there's no great difference, the odd spike on IG, but TBH I see that in 1 in 30 of my trades (not always against me) and as mentioned earlier spikes get me V. interested - LIKE A FULL MOON TO A WOLF . :whistling

If you're a scalper/v.short TF player then a couple of points diff. on the charts may be crucial, but for me it's not an issue. To this day my IG charts often freeze/are 2 minutes behind if I'm ahead, took 18 mins to load when I came back from the gym the other day, but if I'm working on/trading off 1 hour/4 hour TFs my heartbeat doesn't even go up a pip whilst the trade goes up 40...

If you're swinging (ooh matron) then you can relax over all of their misbehaviours/misdemeanours and tbh I take all of it in my stride these days.

** EDIT: Sorry meant to add that the job is hard enough to learn, and it's fine for experts to opine that you must get your MM/discipline/edge/emotions/winners mentality right etc., but you also have to adopt a coping mechanism in relation to poor execution, trades rejected, platform freeze, spikes...good as they are the likes of Mark Douglas never touches on the subject that your broker, or SB may be out to stiff you. It is not a fair game, the deck of cards is loaded in the dealers favour...

 

[Rossini]

I can fix the scale on my charts, on Gbp/jpy I have fixed to 20pt boxes, where as eur/usd is only 5. If you look at the same scale every day then I find it really helps as you can see what the days volatility has been relative to other days.
If you have a chart that automatically changes the scale then even small moves can look like major trends or the other way around.

 

[Splitlink]

I can fix the scale on my charts, on Gbp/jpy I have fixed to 20pt boxes, where as eur/usd is only 5. If you look at the same scale every day then I find it really helps as you can see what the days volatility has been relative to other days.
If you have a chart that automatically changes the scale then even small moves can look like major trends or the other way around.

Yes, that is what I am trying to get at. You are fortunate being able to fix your scale.

 

[barjon]

............. I'm with Fins...........

split

I use fins sometimes and your problem seems very odd and not one I recognise. Default chart (5 mins) always looks not bad, but if the range is too limited I just zoom out to get the wider perspective.

jon

 

[Splitlink]

Yes, I know that you can do that but the overnight movements usually produce a flattish chart that don't produce much range then, when the day opens , there is a distorted impression of the price movement that keeps getting better as the price forms a trend. However, later, when the chart looks "nice", the first bars look different.

The thing is that the chart scale should be able to be fixed to the preferences of the trader but it is not. It is relative to the total range of the price visible on that chart.

Anyway, not to pursue the point too far, but I think that that is part of the reason for the question

"Why the hell didn't I see that forming before"? It's not, always, hindsight but that the chart is different.