That’s today’s question I received from my question and answer request.

Hi Ray,

I am looking to trade forex and was wondering what you’ve found to be the best time frame to trade? I’d like to trade before or after work, so making trades around that schedule would be good, but I was wondering what you’d recommend.

Thanks

This is actually a very popular question I’ve received over the years. And my usual answer was, “Well it depends on a number of factors, including,

* when are you available to trade,
* how well you perform under pressure,
* are you willing and able to monitor positions constantly or not
* does the timeframe seem to short or long for you
etc…

I’ve recently realized that I may have it all wrong.

Each of those criteria leave out 1 important factor… the market.

You see, each of those critera only address what YOU want, and not what the market wants.

I’m coming closer to grasping the fact that picking a timeframe is not about you, it’s about the market.

So how do you know what timeframe the market wants?

That’s a good question, and I don’t yet have a full answer, yet…

All I do know is that by learning to see the trends and ranges in the timeframes they belong to, you can get closer to trading the right trend in the right timeframe.

If that sounds all mysterious, it may be, because as I said, I’m still trying to figure it all out.

Over the past few days I’ve been getting better at tuning into the “right” timeframe and this gets me in trades earlier, and out of trades later, meaning I’m taking more of the trending portion than I ever have before.

In fact as I write this, I’m actually trading a timeframe I’ve avoided for the longest time.

Of course it is still too early to know if this is just luck, but I wanted to share this with you because maybe it will act as a catalyst and give you an idea to try, and who knows, maybe you’ll share it with me.

So does this mean you can’t pick your timeframe?

No, you can still choose the timeframe you trade… but I believe that when you experience getting into trades late, and out of trades early, it could be because of you’re dictating the timeframe instead of allowing the market to.

Continued Success!

Categories: Trading

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