Creating a Market Watchlist

The importance of creating a watchlist each day of which markets could be providing trading opportunities in the near future is often overlooked. Just like a good fisherman will check the moon, tide and weather forecast before he goes fishing, we as traders need to be routinely analysing the markets and forecasting where the opportunities may lie. 

A watchlist should be a list of markets that you think might provide trading opportunities in the near term.  To create this watchlist grab out a pen and paper and start scanning through the list of markets in which you follow. We are generally running through the daily, weekly and monthly charts looking for smooth flowing trends or any type of price action that may suggest a move is about to happen. Once you find a chart that looks like it could offer up trading opportunities, you simply write that market down on your piece of paper with a comment of what you are looking for and then move onto the next market. To know what to look for, you’ll need to have a well defined trading strategy, so if you don’t have a trading strategy then we recommend you joining our weekly live webinars to learn more.

Once you have scanned through your whole list of products, it’s usually worth running back over the watch list you have just created to check whether you need to put any orders into the market right away. A simple daily routine which you could apply would be to create a full watchlist each morning of the charts that may be providing opportunities within the next 24 hours. Then later in that day (perhaps after work) give yourself some time to scan through the markets in that days watchlist to see if any of the charts have setup any trading opportunities. The next morning just repeat the process by creating a new watchlist for that day.

If you stick to a structured approach like the one described above then you’ll find that you will make yourself available to many more trading opportunities that come through during the week. You will also find yourself in the flow of the markets so as moves occur during the week, you’ll be fully prepared to take advantage of the market action.

Here’s an example of what your watchlist might include today:

USDSGD - Strong daily uptrend, back in daily buy zone, stalk for opportunities long

CHFJPY – 960 minute chart back in the sell zone with a small bearish candle, stalk short.

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Have a go at putting your own watchlist together today and follow it through into the week’s end.  

Happy Trading!

The TWP Team