Top Ten Tips for One-Minute Chart Traders

Here are some good tips for traders who like trading the one-minute charts, myself very much included.  These tips have been gained from my own experiences over many years and discussions with successful traders in our Skype Trading Group.

1. Have a weekly target in mind, so you can accept that you might have a losing day. That target should, of course, be realistically achievable.  Sure, we’d like to make 100% a week (and that’s very possible, in theory) but if you’ve previously succeeded in less than 1% average weekly gains, you might want to start with just 2%. Trading is like picking your own strawberries (see this blog post) - you need to make enough but you don't need to take it all or be a pig.
2. Know when to stop: for gains or losses, in a session. If you’ve met/exceeded your daily max loss, you must accept that this session isn’t going to plan, so wait for the next one. When you’ve achieved your session/day target, you also stop: the chances are otherwise that you might lose … and then the demons take control in trying to recover the loss to only wipe out the day’s gain altogether.
3. Set your trading times: ideally no more than 3 hours per session. You need breaks between sessions, and you need regular breaks during the session.  As soon as you identify that bad decisions are being made/considered, walk away for a break and get some space.
4. Do higher timeframe reviews before each session; and check the M15/H1 during a session if you’re aware that an opportunity is coming. On a new month, you start with the monthly chart; a new week, the weekly; a new day, the daily.  The higher timeframes provide the roadmaps for M1 trading. This approach affords: predetermination of big setups; high probability price magnets and reversal zones; trading bias - long or short. If one timeframe looks a mess, switch to the higher to see if there’s a complex correction in progress, that will yield a nice return once completed. I don’t find the M5 or M30 chart to be particularly helpful, for M1 trading, but that’s a trader’s choice.
5. Focus on no more than two instruments that have the best spread/ADR ratio (see this blog post:).  You really shouldn’t need more than two instruments to find a nice trade for the session. They can fit comfortably side by side, on most traders’ screens. If one of the instruments appears to be more liquid than the other, for the early part of the session, put all your focus there - it’s a lot easier on the mind.
6. Stick to your documented rules or stop trading.  You do have your rules documented, don’t you?  And … you do remind yourself of your documented rules before the start of each session?
7. Listen to your mind verbalising your thoughts. Are they the sort of thoughts that will make for a successful session, or are they the thoughts of a mad out of control trader that will chew your account and previous well-earned gains? Whatever your thoughts, allow some time for listening to your breath, with focus on nothing else – mindfulness – set reminders if it helps.
8. Avoid all distractions when you’re examining a possible setup, before or as it happens.  Don’t be swayed by anything other than what price is telling you - ‘other’ covers a plethora of different things and people.
9. Be comfortable and totally relaxed.  If you’re hunched over the screen with excitement or nerves, you’ll need to readjust. If losing fills you with dread, or avarice is brewing, you’ll need readjust. A loss and a win are all part of the process of trading; neither outcome should affect your state of relaxation. If that’s not the case, then take a break. It’s often a good idea to allow time to pass after any trade that you’ve just closed, regardless of the outcome.
10. And finally – a good M1 trader isn’t just an M1 trader. We trade the instrument using all the information from the higher time frames down to the M1, with fundamentals (such as news releases) in mind, so we’re really trading the instrument as a whole but using the M1 charts to get the lowest pip/point risk to maximise our returns. If a higher timeframe, such as M15 or H1, looks confusing and lacks clear direction (as is often the case with flat corrections, for example) there is no harm in sitting out the session until the fog lifts.