The thing I am getting bad at is by looking at charts trending movement days are good whether up or down but sideways is what makes me question as to how to understand when we are in sideways and when trending.. Have seen and working on posts of pivot points and trend lines....
A major problem I am also facing is the stock screening part for the day. Everywhere they say look for the trend then sector, then the leader in that sector and ride it.. But how ??? So far no luck... I am shortlisting few stocks which I feel give around 20-30 rupees of movement everyday... Just working on finalizing the list. WOuld share here and get the feedback from seniors like you...
Take care..
Since crude is traded from 9 am to 11.30/12 pm India time and spanning multiple time zones, I made a set of heuristics that I follow very strictly.
I only look at the 1 hour charts and trade on full margins. Crude is a beast and reacts violently to even the slightest of global geopolitical developments. I would not look at any lower time frame at all. A 5/15/30 min timeframe would only condition you with negative validations that would likely dent your confidence, blow up your trading account.
It is probable that on many occasions you would make a decent profit by using intraday margins, but I would desist from it. There were many times in my initial trading days that I blew up accounts just because a 30point movement in the opposite direction happened
If you really considered it, 30/40 points on a base of 3500 to 4000 is a small number. The ATR or the average true range of crude oil is quite large in comparison to other instruments hence trading on full margins is the best way forward for capital preservation. YOu will really notice the positive development end of month when you have made significant gains by booking timely profits and preserving your capital.
Since you say you are starting to trade crude oil as an instrument only now, forget about the trades in the evening when the New York NYMEX opens. You could in all probability do that once you have spent sufficient time familiarizing and getting a hang of the way the market dynamics work.
I would also start with a back test. This is what I did personally - went to investing.com and looked up MCX crude oil prices for the last 12 to 15 months ish data. Then divided the trading sessions into 3 time frames - Asia markets opening hours; Europe markets opening hours and New York markets open time. Reducing the data into smaller chunks of time frames enabled me to gain a more thorough understanding of the dynamics. It helps a lot if you did that and plotted your charts accordingly. I now do not trade the New York opening hours to the extent possible - because it is a wild rollercoaster ride and I go through too many emotions doing that. I finally deduced that it is in the best interest of my mental and emotional health to avoid that particular time frame
it also does great damage to any mechanical trading system you have built. Because you only start to focus on the losses and to cover those losses, start to do many more trades - results in taking too many trades, driving up your transaction costs as well.
Also pay attention to the OPEC meetings, inventory trading days and other events. On those days and the ones subsequent to that, crude is like (banknifty options on expiry days) on steroids!! If you really manage to catch the trend, you can make a significant killing. But the opposite is also true. So to avoid any of these, the best would be to come up with a mechanical trading system and satisfice with a small range of profits each day/ week - it all depends on the system you build. It could be something that is also counter to this but one which rocks your boat! Backtests help a great deal. They let you arrive at insights you would have otherwise missed
And coming to screeners on stocks, try doing swing trades- lesser cognitive resources used and better results. And also stick to just 2 to 3 stocks and track its data for a year to year and a half or so and make it your baby! I have done that myself - from a trading perspective that is
An investment approach would be a different one obviously! All the best.