I know this depends on your time frame, but on your MAIN time frame, how many candles do your trades usually last for? From the moment you open a trade, to the moment you close it. Please also state your main time frame. Thank you.
1 Like
What an interesting question, and one I’ve never seen asked before.
I use bars, not candles, and they’re range bars, so they don’t have a timeframe, but they average out at about 12 minutes each, about 5 per hour.
My average trade duration is just over an hour, so about 5-6 bars average, but it’s a funny average, because many are 1-2 bars and a few are about 20 bars.
How about you?
1 Like
Thank you for the answer, I’m on M1 (1-minute) time frame. Sometimes it takes 5 candles for me to close the trade, sometimes it takes way more candles that I’d like to admit.
That’s why I created this thread, to see how many candles on average people’s trades last for. My guess is not too many candles. Let’s hope more people will answer.
Yes, an interesting question. For my main trading, timeframe is daily, and trades are very infrequent. They range from a month to six months, and are now all in cryptocurrencies since start of 2024, so the market is open 24x7x365.
I have just started a new paper trading system for trading new meme coins, and am setting up the entry and exit criteria. I will now log the number of candles. These will be one minute candles, and I expect the trades to be completed between five minutes and two hours, so 5 to 120. When I have the initial pilot paper trade sequence completed to the point I decide to trade with real currency I will look for this thread again, if the paper trading is successful.
2 Likes
I trade almost only on D1. My US index long trades usually last 5-10 sessions.
On forex I am now using D1 trade exits at the first profitable close, and these are usually after only 1 or 2 sessions. this is working well but I hope to hold for longer periods when all capital at risk in forex trades is profit not deposited funds.
1 Like
When you say 5-10 sessions, does that mean 5 to 10 candles on D1? Sorry for noob question.
Yes, I mean a D1 session is a complete 24hr cycle. This prints on the chart as a single bar or candle (candlestck).
Actually, the five 24hr sessions in a week are not the same as the clock 24 hours. I am in the UK so -
- the Monday D1 bar starts at about 2200hrs Sunday and ends at 2200hrs Monday: but the D1 chart for the next day does not even print on my broker’s chart until 2400hrs: smaller time-frame bars between 2200hrs and 2400hrs do immediately show on the chart. The D1 Monday close price and the Tuesday open price are the price at 2200hrs Monday. Likewise with the other days in the week.
- the Friday D1 bar closes at 2200hrs Friday.
Takes a bit of getting used to.
2 Likes
Interesting question, I had to think about this one.
I mostly use 4H candles for my analysis (1H for entries) and my trades last anywhere from 1-3 days. So, I guess if you average that out, 2 days x 6 candles per day would be around 12 candles.
I have tried trading shorter TF’s, but it’s just not for me. Maybe someday.
2 Likes
“Time fame” 2000 lots volume.
Crude Oil
About 5 periods
1 Like
That’s a lot of bars i don’t think i will be able to account for all of them
If you’re using MT5, then Control+F (Crosshair), you can measure easily.
I’m using myfxbook for trade analysis and it shows my average trade length is 20 hours. I’ve got some swing positions still running along with shorter term trades (min to hours), so that def affects the stat.
What is your main time frame so that we can calculate how many candles/bars it takes on average for you to get out of a trade? Thank you.
Since I don’t really have a set time for trading, I just fit it in whenever I’ve got a moment. So, how long my trades take really varies based on when I can trade and the strategy I’m going with. Sometimes, I wrap up trades in like 5-7 minutes, but there are times I’ll let them sit for 2 or 3 days before I decide to close them out.
I’d say the 1hr then. But I look at daily, 4hr, 1 hr and enter on the lower time frames.