The first step is to commit to making time for market analysis. The more regular your analysis, the greater the feel you’ll develop for where the market has been and where it’s likely to go. Also, the more regularly you update yourself on the market, the less time it’ll take to stay up to speed.
It’s a lot easier updating yourself every day than it is trying to catch up on several days’ worth of market news, data, and price developments.
Give some long, hard thought to how much time you can realistically afford to devote to market analysis before committing yourself to a specific routine. You may find you’re able to devote only a relatively short amount of time each day, so focus your energies on only one or two currency pairs. If you have the time, you can more effectively follow and analyze multiple currency pairs.
At the minimum, you should be prepared to devote at least an hour every day to looking at the market and keeping tabs on upcoming data and events. Follow a routine that focuses on:
Multiple-time-frame technical analysis to identify support and resistance levels and to track overall price developments
Candlestick and Ichimoku analysis after each daily and weekly close
Reading economic data reports that have come out overnight to update our fundamental model
Assessing the likely market impact of upcoming data reports and events
Reviewing market commentaries to stay on top of major themes and overall market sentiment
This may seem like a lot to squeeze into a single hour, but with time and practice, you’ll get your charting and market information sources all lined up so you can streamline the entire routine.