The optimum trading experience begins with a volatile market. Not enough volatility creates a situation that makes it harder to have large enough positive days to offset the negative days. On the same level too much volatility creates an environment in which it is extremely difficult to hold positions for big gains. Picture a heart monitor. If the heart is beating to slow the patient will not have enough blood flow or energy or stock movement or currency movement to get a jump on its competition. If the heart is beating too fast that is extremely dangerous for the patient as too much volatility decreases the chance of being able to follow a stock or currency on it's true path for an extended period of time.
The quote about the trend being your friend is not something to be taken lightly. It is however something that must be truly understood to succeed in trading in any type of situation. Let's say for example that "ABC" stock or commodity or currency opens up 50 cents and closes up 25 cents. If you are lying on the beach and at the end of the trading day you hear that your long term investments rose 25 cents for the day you would be very happy. If, however as a day trader you bought into that position when it was positive 45 cents and sold it when it was positive 28 cents you would not be a very happy camper. This is where a great indicator known as 'net since the open' comes into play. When I look at a quote of a position or potential position I look to see the current price and what the position is up or down for the day.
However, more importantly I look to see how much the position is up or down since after the opening bell. This helps me to determine the relative strength or weakness of a position based on what it has done for me lately and not what it has done overnight to trigger an up or down open. This allows us to view the most up to the second strengths or weakness's. As a day trader you need to be correct for the first couple of minutes that you are in your position. Once you are in the plus column then you can determine how much of the profits you are willing to risk to enable yourself the chance for a big gain while protecting a percentage of the already established profit margin.
Once you have established the current direction of the market which is simply done by quickly looking at the current direction and momentum you take all the positions on your screen and evaluate them. Are a majority of them net positive and trading up since after the market has opened? Are they net positive yet trading lower since the open? Are they net negative and trading even lower since after the open? Or are they net negative yet trading higher since the open. The easiest scenario is to have an up market with a lot of upwards momentum and you are long positions that are net positive on the day and trading higher since the open. Or to be short a down market that is continuing downwards with positions that are net negative and continuing to trade lower since the open. Remember the trend is your friend. However; it is not always so simple.
Positions, and markets reverse trends quickly. They can turn a negative bounce into a monster up day or conversely they can turn a positive day pullback into a spiraling move to the downside. This is where the next set of position indicators become very useful. They are called 'net from high' and 'net from the low'. A weak position should not all of a sudden be 30% off the low of the day as conversely a very strong position to the upside should not retrace 30% on its own. These indicators will help give you the jump (and a lot of fun) on a market or position reversal and give you the chance to reverse course.
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