Podcast:

Flat Market Conditions are Difficult – How The Charts Can Help

In this video:

00:27 – A dull trading week with few quality setups

00:55 – We need to know how to deal with range bound market conditions

01:17 – Look at the bigger picture

01:35 – Trade what you see, not what you think

02:40 – When less is more

03:30 – Be patient and wait for better trading conditions

03:42 – Get your FREE copy of my #1 Trading Strategy by clicking the link below

I'm going to explain why I prefer being a technical trader even in flat market conditions. Let's get into that right now.

Hi Forex traders. Andrew Mitchem here, The Forex Trading Coach. Today is Friday the 26th of August.

A dull trading week with few quality setups

This week has been particularly dull on the charts. It's been a horrible trading week. There's been very little decent price actions, been very few quality set ups. The market has gone sideways. It's almost as if the market is waiting for something to happen in the market. Some news announcement or something. It's waiting for something to happen in order to kick-start it into action again in either direction.

Let's hope it happens really soon because this week has been a very hard week to trade.

We need to know how to deal with range bound market conditions

Let's talk about that because from time to time, as traders, we have to experience these flat, sideways moving markets. When there really is not a lot happening. It's important to become patient. That's a big point from today's video and podcast because patience and looking at the longer term perspective, the bigger picture, is really important as a Forex trader.

Look at the bigger picture

We all get so very caught up on taking in an individual trade, and yes that went really well, and now it lost and doom and gloom. It's important to look at the bigger picture. Look at your trading over a number of weeks, a number of months, etc, rather than just being worried about the last trade.

Trade what you see, not what you think

The great thing about being a technical trader in these current market conditions that we've experienced this week is that because I'm trading what I see and not what I think … There's an important point there. I'll say that again. I trade what I see, not what I think. As a technical trader, I trade what I see on the charts. What the charts are showing me right now.

If I look at the market as a fundamental trader, which I'm not, then I tend to bring my opinion into the market a little bit too much. When you get the sideways moving markets, you can probably get caught out far more than you can as a technical trader. As a technical trader, if there's nothing really shining, then I just have to have patience and I wait. I can scale down to the shorter time frame charts if I want to to look for shorter time frame trades, but personally, I don't tend to do that quite as much. I tend to stick to the charts that I like, and if they're not showing anything, then I just don't take anything.

Again, think of that bigger term picture, that longer term perspective. Don't worry about this week not taking much.

When less is more

Sometimes if you don't take very many trades in a week, that's fine. It just means that you don't have many opportunities and that's the way that the market conditions are. You then have to wait for those favorable conditions, and when they come, don’t be and then afraid to take trades. If they show, then definitely take them, if they're not showing then don't force trades, don't over trade. It's a really important balance there to get because of course, right at the time, you don't know really what the conditions are. It's only now at the end of the week, I can look back and say to you, “Look,