By James Woolley
There are many people out there who like to trade the shorter time frames such as the 1, 5 and 15 minute charts, and maybe even the 1 hour chart, and some do very well trading this way. However is it a good idea to set yourself daily targets every day?
Well in my experience you have to trade what is in front of you, which means that you have to take the current market conditions into consideration. There will inevitably be times when the markets will be volatile and you can find lots of good trading opportunities using your usual trading system. However there will also be lots of occasions when the markets are very quiet and barely moving throughout the day.
When this happens it is generally best to stay on the sidelines because as soon as you start trying to creating winning positions out of nothing, you will almost inevitably start losing money. Successful forex trading is all about using technical indicators to help you identify high probability trading opportunities. So it is obviously not a good idea to abandon this strategy and start taking impulsive trades on these quieter days when the markets are flat, just to achieve your daily profit target.
I’m firmly of the opinion that setting daily targets is not a good idea. I was always told that not trading at all is often better than opening a high risk position, and this has served me well over the years.
I’m not much of a short-term trader myself, although I do have a few strategies that I use to trade the intraday price charts. I often find that some days are better than others, and so it doesn’t bother me at all if I go the whole day without opening a position.
The only thing I am concerned about is coming out with a profit at the end of the week, and I nearly always achieve this goal because I am very strict about the positions I do open. Every trade has to satisfy a certain set of criteria and I never deviate from this plan of attack.
So as I say, if you do trade the short-term charts and like to trade a few positions every day, you should never try and force a position. If your usual strategy doesn’t come up with any set-ups, then simply walk away because a break-even position is always better than a losing trade. If you forget about daily price targets and focus on building your account slowly and steadily over time, then you will do a lot better in the long run.
About the Author
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