Good Traders, Bad Traders (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

Can you be a scalper? Yes, forex scalping is something that many of us do. Forex scalping is best suited to the time when the market is ranging. Scalper is a workable profile for a small retail trader. However, you should be able to view the overall trend of the market to gauge whether you are trading with or against the prevailing trend.

A scalper might use a 10 minute chart to follow the market, a 1 hour chart to determine the long term trend and the 5 minute chart to time the entries and exits for each trade.

Day trader is a good profile for a new trader. However, sometimes you might not want to close the trade at the end of the day as the trade is in profit and you are expecting more profits if you continue with the trade overnight. There is a rollover cost if you rollover your trades overnight. Be sure if you want to day trade, you know your broker policy on rollovers and the rollover cost for you. A Day trader is looking for larger profits something like 50-100 pips.

However, sometimes you might not want to close the trade at the end of the day as the trade is in profit and you are expecting more profits if you continue with the trade overnight. There is a rollover cost if you rollover your trades overnight. Be sure if you want to day trade, you know your broker policy on rollovers and the rollover cost for you. A Day trader is looking for larger profits something like 50-100 pips. A Day Trader might use a 15 minute chart to follow the market, a 4 hour chart to determine the long term trend and the 5 minute chart for making the entry and exit.

The longer you hold the position, the more you are at risk of getting the market surprises that no one can predict. A market surprise can be a sharp change in direction or volatility often occurring as the result of a major surprise announcement. A position trader is always for the lookout for big market moves that can get him/her 100-500 pips per trade. He/she might use a 1 hour chart to track the market, the 15 minute chart to time entries and exits and 1 day charts for trend determination.

If you aim for a 1/3 risk/reward ratio, a Guerilla will risk 5-10 pips per trade, a scalper will risk 15-20 pips per trade, a day trader will risk 25-30 pips per trade and a position trader will risk 40-50 pips per trade. Each profile requires different scales of charts and time frames but also indicators and money management parameters.

Always keep in mind that in forex trading a 10 pips move up or down can easily occur within seconds or minutes very quickly without any reason or rhyme. No two traders can be exactly alike. Even if two traders use the same charts and technical indicators they might interpret them differently.

The differences in money management techniques and attitudes are much less. Good traders tend to share money management and attitude traits. So do bad traders. Do you want to become a good trader or a bad trader? - 31876

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