By: Solomon Thallon
The element of Time in trading has been, and continues to be, a leading subject for most traders to study throughout their trading career. Gann's secret Time Factor has sent a lot of traders on a 'wild goose chase' through time. Expansions and contractions of Time Ranges have also sent a few traders into a studying frenzy using all sorts of Time analysis tools.
The Fibonacci Arc, Gann's Square of 9 and for some very game traders, the timing of the movements of planets as they orbit the Sun.
And then there is the problem of choosing a Time Frame to trade; intraday, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly charts? What Time do you want to trade? The SPI opens in Sydney at 9:50am, and a few minutes later the Nikkei opens for trading in Singapore. The Hong Kong and Taiwan markets are other exchanges that are open during the Australian trading day. If you are fortunate enough to make it to the trading screen during your working day, you will find plenty of trades available if you have selected an intraday Time Frame. For those that can't make it to the screen through the day, there is the German DAX that opens at around 4:30 in the afternoon, and many other tradable instruments available on European exchanges. For late night traders there are the US markets. So really, if you want to trade 24 hrs a day, the global markets can facilitate this.
Most traders are not intraday traders. Here in Australia, Intraday traders represent as few as 1 or 2% of all traders. Most of Australia's traders are trading using daily charts as their minor time frame to determine the trend. That's a good start, as long as we know that the trend grows from daily to weekly and so on.
The difference between an intraday trader and a daily trader is Time; the length of time that a trader spends in a trade. Apart from some obvious money management differences, such as stop losses and lot sizes, the short- term trader and long-term trader have much in common. But length of time in a trade is a very significant thing. It may seem easier to make a trading decision and act on it once a week as opposed to 4 or five times a day. Indeed many intraday traders describe the use of daily charts as a form of retirement in comparison with active intraday trading.
Some long-term traders may only trade once a month to get on to a big move. But when they do trade they trade intraday 4 or 5 times in a day. This way they are put into a trade that may last days or weeks. Depending on the number of markets you choose to look at this way, intraday trading can become a full time job.
Most traders have software that draws the price movement of the markets that the trader is watching. However, I still know of traders that are spending all their time drawing charts, leaving very little or no time at all to develop their trading skill. These chartists become expert market analysts, leaving the trading to those with the facility to study the charts and make trading decisions daily. With a simple spreadsheet these traders can manage their time and trades with more than adequate efficiently.
Trading is an activity that, once started, cannot be left alone. Whether you pay a broker to manage your stops or whether you are managing your own trades, the market is active all day everyday. So, unless you are trading for long term-profits, the job of trading is unlikely to afford you the freedom that you might expect as its result. All of these things take a little time to work out. Most aspects of trading are exciting enough in the beginning to warrant 100% time commitment. It isn't until you need to take a break that the real responsibilities of the job at hand become apparent. It is important not to be in a rush, to take your time and enjoy the journey. Study Gann, Fibonacci, Elliot, even the planets, whatever intrigues you. While you may come to enjoy a new lifestyle, it will be the hard work and expert analysis that demands much of your time and energy and that will bring you your rewards.
Happy trading,
Solomon Thallon
HotTrader, Australia
source : http://www.afsd.com.au
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