Been trading for a few months now but mostly just winging it with basic support and resistance.
Want to get more systematic about my entries. Not sure if I should dive into RSI and moving averages first or focus on reading candlestick formations.
What worked better for you when starting out?
Skip indicators for your first few months. They’ll confuse you and make you second-guess what price is actually doing.
I wasted tons of time trying to line up RSI divergences with MACD crossovers when I started. Charts looked like Christmas trees and I lost money consistently.
Start with pure price action. Learn to spot key levels where price bounces or breaks. Watch how it reacts at previous highs and lows.
Once you can read basic support and resistance without clutter, maybe add one simple moving average. Not before.
You’ll develop better instincts this way. Most profitable setups I take now are clean bounces off levels that indicators would lag behind anyway.
Start with candlesticks then add one simple indicator later
Start with basic candlestick patterns. They show you market sentiment straight from price action. Most indicators just rehash price data that’s already on your chart. A doji or hammer shows what buyers and sellers actually did right then. RSI shows what happened three periods back. Learn these five: doji, hammer, engulfing, shooting star, and inside bar. Spot them on higher timeframes where they work better. Once you’ve got these down, throw in something simple like a 20-period moving average for trend direction. Price action works in any market. Indicator settings don’t.
Start with basic moving averages - just the 50 and 200 on daily charts. This shows you which way the trend’s going before you worry about entry points.
Once you can consistently tell if price is above or below these levels, add candlestick patterns for better entries.
Most new traders overcomplicate things and ignore the bigger trend.
Candlestick patterns beat most indicators for speed. This breakdown helped me with daily trades.
Start with hammer and engulfing patterns - much easier than RSI math.