Help on time frames

Beginner Questions
1

hi there, I like to trade short term (max 2 hour trade) and usually on 15 minute chart.
can anyone please give me a basic guide as to which number of periods to use in the following:
Stochastics (slow and fast)
SMA
EMA
Bolinger bands
MACD
RSI
ATR
ADX

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

2

When I use RSI I use 14,C, and for EMAs I use 20, 50, 100 & 200 - but I find them more useful on higher timeframes, personally, so would not find them as key on the 15 minute chart. But I would refine your own settings over time as you evolve your strategy. If you do end up taking advice from on here, remember that we are all very different and that anything others say might possibly work as a starting point, but ultimately you should be happy that it works for you.

I don’t use the other stuff you list, so will obviously leave that to others to answer.

I assume that you are not proposing using all of this at the same time? Each of us is different, but for me if you were that would be way too many indicators.

ST

3

Thanks Simon.

I dont use them all but do look at them all to give myself as much chance as possible of getting it right!
Appreciate your help as well as anyone else’s.

4

They are more likely to give you the best chance of getting it wrong.

5

try not to use too many indicators as they start to conflict each other and you get confused over price action.

6

ok thanks for the advice.
Is there a suitable number of periods you can recommend for stochastics please?

7

common ones are 5,3,3, 8,3,3 or 14,3,3.

8

I won’t comment too much on the specs of the indicators but chime in and agree with purplepatchforex.

If you’re waiting for confluence between 7 or 8 indicators at least you won’t be overtrading. That being said, all indicators lag, by the time you see confluence you may as well have taken the trade an hour or two ago.

Not sure how long you’ve traded but focus on price action and if you must use an indicator, use it for confirmation.

In the past here’s what I’ve had:

MACD: 12,26,9
Bollinger Bands: 20,2
EMA’s: 5 and 8 on short timeframes

And that’s all I’ve ever had on the charts at most.