To: wiley murray who wrote (132 ) 11/14/1998 4:04:00 AM From: nicewatch Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Wiley,
I used to use Trade Station a lot... however now I don't really use it at all. For one it got screwed up at the end of the summer; I meant to download the newest patch, but have been too lazy to do so. I also have not had a live datafeed for TS for over 1.5 years, so since then I have been using it for EOD analysis and system building and testing. Currently, I use Bob Miner's Dynamic Trading software for posting the commodity charts... as well as having Metastock and Quotes Plus.
I used TS actively for a year or so to daytrade/short term trade futures. The timeframes I looked at varied from market to market... but the 30min and 60min timeframes were fairly standard. 5min is about the lowest timeframe an off the floor trader should look at. Even so, with slippage and all, I would think it to be extremely difficult to make money trading off the floor with so short a timeframe.
The key to intraday timeframes, IMO, is to pick a few (one for each relevant perspective) and understand their interrelationship... meaning that if one trades based on a 60min chart, he should also look at a degree above and below his perspective. Maybe say a 15min chart and a daily chart... or whatever, you get the idea. The other thing I have noticed is that the static timeframes are important, but only because people say they are! They are the standards provided by data companies, quote services, etc. but for some methods a 27min timeframe is just as good if not better than the 30min., not to mention tick bars. Dividing the trading day into a certain # of bars is another solid method I have seen.
I'll have to look at my charts tomorrow to make sense of the markets... I have no positions anymore. I trade stocks and futures for the most part. I used to trade options a lot, on stocks and futures, both buying and selling, but now only do it occasionally. Most stock options seem too premium rich to buy these days, and I don't have the time to employ a good option selling strategy. I am sure some commodity options will offer good plays down the road, they always do. Talk to you later
Regards,
Frank
