It is my belief based upon watching all the chatter on the Forex public forum that traders pick a time frame to trade and look for a place to enter the market. The choice to enter any market should not be the traders' first choice but the last option. Before deciding to enter any market, the trader should first build up a high-quality case before placing a trade; It's like putting the market on trial.
The trial process should go like this:
First, present the opening statement by reading the market structure.
Second, present the evidence by looking at the shorter-term time frame
Third, present closing arguments by identifying support and resistance
Fourth, enter to the verdict by taking a trade position
READING THE MARKET STRUCTURE
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To read the overall market structure, I need to go higher in the time frame so I can see the overall structure. To do this, I find I always end up at the monthly time frame, so this is where I will start.
By looking at the market structure, I can see DXY has made a higher high, followed by a lower high. From these two swing points or fractals, I can connect a resistance line. Remember, from geometry. It takes two points on a sheet of paper to draw a line. If there is only one point on a piece of paper, it is just a dot. In technical analysis, it also takes two points on the chart to draw a line. By connecting the higher high swing point to the lower high swing point, I have drawn in a downward sloping resistance line. Sometimes resistance lines are drawn horizontal to the chart, and sometimes the resistance line is drawn sloping upward.
Next, by looking at the market structure, I can see DXY has made a higher low and a lower low. By connecting these two swing points, I have established a downward sloping support line.
With the establishment of a resistance line and a support line, I have defined the market structure DXY should continue to trade within. At some point in time, DXY will break out of the boundaries of this market structure, at which time the market structure will change as will the establishment of a new monthly trend. However, until that happens, DXY should continue to trade within the boundaries of the resistance and support line and should continue to move in a downward direction.