first of all, sorry if my English is not perfect it’s not my first language
I started to learn trading close to 1 year ago, since a few months I started to trade by price action and reading the candlestick in weekly daily and I take my trade in 4 hours, but I don’t like this timeframe. I have to stop my trade often because of the economic announcement and its just too long for me. I can take only 2 or 3 trades a week with this strategy with a ratio of 2;1 so I can’t see how I will be able to do money like if I loose, need to stop the trade before the economic announcement etc.
So, I want to start to trade in a lower timeframe and be able to take up to 2 trade a day, but I heard than in a lower timeframe it have a lot of noise and false pattern
my plan is to use the 5 min timeframe so with that I still have the time to calculate my position, but I want to know if the strategy can work if I still use like the pin bar, inside bar, engulfing etc. because I’ll put my stop loss like just under the pin bar and not a predefine pips for every trade
Also, I have no idea which timeframe to use to be able to do a good top-down analysis. I thought 4 hours 30 min and 5 min, but it looks like too a big gap, no? if I use 5 15 30 and maybe add a layout with1 hour but I feel than I can’t see what’s happening on the market?
So, to trade this small timeframe do I need to think differently or it’s similar and I can use the same strategy ?
for scalping I’ll use only 3 layouts
I use the reversal fibo in 50 and 61,8
moving average in a trend market with 8 and 21 candle
I use higher high and higher low for uptrend and vice versa for down trend
Support and resistance and trendline
Shorter time-frames without a profitable strategy are just a good way to burn cash more quickly.
Most profitable strategies in the public domain were developed using the daily time-frame, where you do not have to make quick decisions and where chart analysis is more reliable. Use one of these, maybe in a demo account until you are a successful trader.
Later you will have the option to go to shorter time-frames if you need to.
I can’t really add anything much to what Greg and Tom said above, but I’m honestly finding it hard to imagine why that would/should work on a 5-minute timeframe.
I think you need to think differently (and preferably about whether this is actually the right thing to do at all).
If you decide that you really want to trade the 5-minute timeframe, I think there are two things you probably need to do -
Start by reading a book like Bob Volman’s ‘Understanding Price Action: Practical Analysis of the 5-Minute Timeframe’
Use an R of about 1:1, not your current 1:2, otherwise your win-rate may fall a lot, and some of the losing runs will be really difficult to manage and require hugely different trade-management parameters from what you’re used to.
my schedule allow me to be able to trade in the London and New York session, where i prefer to look my chart for a few hours if i need, and leave the market after. everything in the scalping method talk to me more than higher time frame. but i dont want to learn a new method, I like the one I have but I’m not sure if I can apply this strategy to all timeframe
I bought the book you mentioned me, but it’s look like I’ll have to learn a new strategy, what i want to avoid because I really enjoyed the one I have but I need more action I like to take fast decision, i know I’ll probably change or adapt a few things but i don’t want to change everything.
I feel what you say about the ratio, I tried some trade and i saw a few signals where that said to stop my trade and it was right but i didn’t, I wanted to see
you think i should stop to use fibo and MA on this time frame ? for what I saw a little bit, it can work but I’m not sure if it was luck or no. I’ll have to study more and do back testing
Ok, good. Hoping it helps you. I’ve never yet seen anyone say “I bought it but it was no help to me.” Don’t be the first!
On the one hand, nobody’s going to argue with that; on the other hand, be aware that all three of the first three people to respond to your thread (three very experienced traders) have advised you against switching from H4 to M5, if at all possible. I know that different people have differing time-availabilities and are in differing situations/circumstances, though.
I’m always very reluctant to tell people how they should trade, but I honestly do find it terribly difficult to envisage that working for you as you hoped.
Very few well known strategies work only on one time-frame, it’s hard to see how that could happen. I bet someone will now post a strategy which only works on the 4 minutes and 23 seconds time-frame, and fails as soon as you go to 4 minutes 24, but that’s going to be unique and in any case difficult to replicate.
When new traders start using words like “action” I get nervous for them.
I think the best way to answer your question accurately is by using yourself and the chart history. Spend a few weeks backtesting your trading system on the 5-minute timeframe chart for the pairs you trade, during the trading hours you choose (like 2 PM to 4 PM, etc.). Look at what the chart was doing from around 2023 until now. Analyze how many trades you would have won or lost according to your system and risk-reward ratio. Not only will you get the answer to your question, but you might also figure out how to optimize your trading system. For example, you might find if adjusting your risk-reward ratio improves profit, or if certain chart patterns or times of day affect your setup’s success.
Different traders use different systems, and we all see charts differently. The chart history is the only fact that can’t be denied.
thanks all, it’s the reason why I asked here to be sure I don’t loose my time and money. I’ll have to do my test on my side on a demo account and back testing with different timeframe where i will enjoy it and find the way who work for me
I heard to don’t switch strategy because you start again at 0% and I really enjoy the strategy I do, I just hate its a long trade and have to stop my trade because I never know how the news will affect the market
on a 5 minutes time frame I do a better analysis because I stay in front of my screen and take time to see things than i wouldn’t have seen
Heteroskedasticity I will not be the first
tommor I probably express my self in a wrong way, its just every five minutes can change everything and tell a new thing. I enjoy this so much and in the last year i learned how to manage my emotion and I still have a long road to be completely emotionless, but now i have the wisdom to leave the chart when I see I become emotional with the chart
how long is it take for you all to become profitable ?
i listened some testimony and its vary to 1 years to 10 years
hi @mookaa, I just want to share a path that easier for beginner to follow.
Trading isn’t that simple. you have to specify and know well your instrument.
A scalper has to know the instrument very well. Mentality, money and risk management have to be implemented persistently.
If you are still confused with TF, you are not ready to be scalper yet. I suggest you learn averaging. From doing averaging you will spot which area the price will reverse or follow your position. As you said you know price action, that will be a good help.
Scalper always monitor higher timeframe. But we trade lower timeframe to minimize our SL, looking for a big move to optimize our profit.
yes! bah i didn’t ask advice to know if i must avoid scalp, I wanted to know at least how to do a good top down analysis whit which time frame etc, but I realized with this thread than nobody have the same strategy, so it’s make no sense to ask tips with that. I tried to take a short cut, but one thing I learned in trading is shortcut never pay, so i will have to do my own test to know what’s work for me
yes you are right, i follow 5 30 1h and 4 hours and till now I took trade in a 30 min and 1h TF because I had a good setup in this TF, for the money and risk management I have a good idea what to do, but I saw it have some course on babypip with a trading plan to build, so it will be nice to do a good one
with the strategy I use I still focus on 1;2 but with some test I will keep this in mind to use scalp just to spot a better enter and do more profit. one things I like till now is i follow more my trade, and when I see a reversal pattern etc ill be able to stop my trade with profit instead to wake up the next day with a loose but the trade hit 90% of my profit but didn’t hit my stop profit
Sometimes people offer advice that “transcends” the question, when they think that information’s actually going to be more helpful and/or more important than what you asked. I’m sometimes guilty of that, myself. I know it can be annoying, sorry.
haha all good, when a few good trader told you to avoid it, its good, I’ll not avoid it , but I’ll go on it more carefully and with more precaution, do more study and test instead to just go head down and crying because I loosed everything
When I switched to scalping, I focused on finding a broker with low spreads, using real-time tools, relying on short-term indicators, managing my risk carefully, and sticking to my strategy, it made all the difference.
With which brooker are you ? And what do you mean by real time tool ?
Yeah the strategy is really important, i started a journal of my trade and will do a plan to follow for each trade like i need 2 or 3 confluence to take the trade etc
Hey, you’re doing well with price action trading so far! If you’re thinking about switching to the 5-minute chart, it can definitely work, but just be ready for more noise and false signals.
