I have done it for years, day in and day out. The most intense trading time in my life had me staring at BTCUSD 15 hours a day, for 10 months straight.
I speak from experience when I say: One of the biggest ways to waste our lifetime and vitality is to stare at trading charts.
The problem is it will lure the observer in to take stupid trades. Trades that - in that moment - are "totally valid entries", or so I told myself. They were stupid entries! Impatient entries.
One of the real secrets to trading better is to be able to stand back from the charts and stop being a slave to them. To not get lulled into the details of this pattern on the 5 minute chart but to instead wait out the miniscule details for a higher timeframe move.
The best trader I could have been would have traded about once or twice a year, I recognize that now. Huge wins, large stops, less involvement in the up- and downticks. Probably higher PnL & way less stress and eye fatigue.
It took me forever to figure that out... but when I did I soon started to set trading alerts instead. Preferrably in a free and hassle-free way!
What if that setup actually happens?***
Depending on your trading strategy and experience you can see your most ideal entries just looking at a chart, whatever the time frame. I do have my own strategy that is not based on indicators but rather market structure, patterns and zones of interest.
But to wait for them to occur while sitting in front of the chart has major disadvantages:
It usually takes forever for a significant move to occur to an ideal entry target, which in turn will make you compromise and opt for a less ideal entry that has a higher chance of happening sooner: You are no longer trading the market, you are trading your impatience.
Waiting while observing also makes you fidgety. When that moment does finally come - the moment you have been waiting for, checking your charts multiple times a day or all day long - you will be a nervous wreck. The paradox is that good entries come around seldomly and if they do and we want to take them,, it is essential we stay calm and don't get jumpy.
Which is almost impossible if the anticipation for a long-awaited entry has been building for a long time.
So what is the solution: Using alarms. I went to look if there is a reliable and free way to have crypto alerts on the phone, where I can simply add my alert levels close to my ideal entries. All I have to do then is to leave the app running on the phone and wait for that alarm to go off - whenever market is ready.
Alerts do exist in tradingview for example, but a free plan only offers limited alerts.
Even if we are merely talking about BTC, I do want an alert for both market directions. I also may want different alerts for multiple price zones.
It's a completely free app (without ads) that lets you stay on top of the markets in this passive manner. It works brilliantly, has never let me down, is highly customizable and rather intuitive to use.
It supports a large amount of different trading pairs and exchanges, but to me all I need is the general coinbase price that a lot of BTC futures are largely based on.
You can set different alarm sounds, have the text to speech engine in your phone read price levels out aloud and a myriad of other function. You can adjust the alarm parameters to tell you about price moves in absolute or percent terms, can choose the frequency of reminding you about a level breach, or merely have your phone vibrate when an alarm goes off as often as you like.
I was thrilled to see someone offers such a solution for free. It has kept me out of scrolling charts forever, wasting my time on Earth with non-fruitful pursuits. Rather I can draw my levels in, set the alarms and forget about everything.
Until the alarm rings, I open the chart and I know exactly what to do without hesitation or tiredness.
It has also dramatically increased the meaning of an entry I take as its arrival has matured for weeks, sometimes months. It is fairly easy to fully forget about BTC because Bitcoin Checker will watch the market for you. Technology enabling more freedom, and highly customziable. I'll take it, thanks!
Hope this will help anybody out there who feels they are staring at charts more than they ought to. Not only do you get back quality life time you can spend on more important things - your eyes will also thank you for cutting down on screen time drastically.
Our mental and physical well being should not be underestimated when we want to trade to our full potential.
https://github.com/aneonex/BitcoinChecker