Trading on multiple time frames

Beginner Questions
#1

So far, I’m just demoing on candle sticks. So the only tools I’m trying to get a hang of this month are candlesticks and I use different time scales to see the trends.

Let’s say I have a two hour trading window per day. That means my trades around going to be held up to two hours, but more likely between 30 min - 1.5 hours. I only trade one lot at a time.

Before I start, I look at:

1 Day charts (to see the long term trend of the past few days)
1 Hour charts (to see what the market is like in the current part of the day)
30 Min charts (to see what the current trend is like)
1 Min charts (to see the current trend being formed)

My question is, should I try decreasing the frequency of the last chart for more clear signals, say 15 min charts instead of 1 min?

I feel like 1 min charts are way too noisy for the length of time that I intend to hold the trade?

#2

You should not go below 1 hour time frame, anything below 1 hour is considered noise. Even 1 hour is not a time frame where professional spend too much time analyzing.

1 Like
#3

Wouldn’t that depends on the time frame in which you are trading?

Or do you mean look at the larger time frame, determine the trend from that and use the small time frames to play a good exit?

#4

Run, don’t walk, in the opposite direction of this advice.
You’re looking @ candlesticks, which are merely a representation of price vs. time. Market participants are going to trade based on many, many more aspects than simply price and time.

This concept of “noise” is touted by individuals who have very little experience interacting with professional traders- guys who were actually in the pits for years upon years. When you’re looking at very fast timeframes, you need to be trading context- not just 1 candlestick vs. another.

Being an FX trader, you don’t have access to entire-market volume or orderbook data. So, from the shoot I’d argue that as a scalper / daytrader you’re already @ a disadvantage. Professionals trade very differently than retailers do…check out this book:

2 Likes
#5

Ill throw my 2 cents in. For me anything lower than 1 hr too fast for me with exception of 30 min sometimes. But 4 hr too slow for my liking. So I trade 1 hr time frame and works for me.

Find what works for you and that’s where you need to be.

1 Like
#6

Trading 1.0 lot is rather big especially for a new trader.

3 Likes
#7

Ah, don’t feed my addiction to routledge book :))

#8

You are not going to be able to be in front of a screen updating positions throughout the day, right? You can trade daily and weekly data making updates just once a day if necessary. You can profit from longer term trades grooming stops just once a week.

Another thing to consider: is it possible you will be put out at some point and miss a day or days? If so, would that cause you to miss a big opportunity or to fail to move stops and thus lose more than you otherwise would? Long term trading can reduce those issues.

May the forx be with you.

-Adrian

1 Like
#9

That’s a very good point. I’m actually going to make a second demo account in which I am going to trade only weekly, i.e., enter / exit trades once a week. Then I’ll see the relative performance of the two.

#10

It is best to start with weekly time frame, as monthly is a bit too big. Check the trend on weekly and trade setups made on daily time frame, this method is enough to trade, enough for me though.

1 Like
#11

I look at the 4h and daily time frames. not much of a fan of smaller time frames

#12

To answer your question, You should normally look at 5 min and 15 min timeframes for candlestick signals (over the 1-min), and these timeframes are very crucial for candlesticks, as far as the timing that will go on to form the longer term 1-hour and later candlesticks. The 1-min candlestick, although is usually ‘noise’ at normal times, can be really crucial when the market is looking for that exact timing with everything set-up… you will notice that prices can really suddenly drop within 1-min after testing and hanging around the 61.8 retracement, for example, or at a key numerical level like 1.11. So it’s actually very crucial that you look at 1-min timeframes and 1-min candlestick signals at certain times, when the market is about to make a sudden, unexpected (for some), major move, especially one that is contrary to the move that has been thus far. So, basically, definitely look at 5-min and 15-min candlesticks in addition to the 1-min. Doing otherwise would be very foolish.

#13

I think -

it is unnecessary and not beneficial to use more than one chart because -

It means more things to pay attention to, and when one pays attention to more things, one pays less attention to each one and sees less of what it is showing us, if that makes sense.

On any time frame of chart, depending on which way we look at it one can make an equally valid case for being entered long or short right now. Yet only long or short will prove to have been the best bet. So one may as well just use one chart, and pick either or long or short which will prove to have been a good neutral or bad guess.
Put differently we could use M1 M5 M15 M30 H1 H4 D1, alll lined up next to each other, and look for some agreement in preferred direction up or down north or south long or short. If we look for it we can find that multi timeframe agreement or disagreement, depending on our chosen interpretation/s.
So best to keep it simple and use one chart, less things to look at, or miss or mistake.
For intra day trading i see no point to using any one timeframe below M15, or above D1.

#14

Been trading for 1 year and I still trade .01 lots and do really well - it’s safe and sound

1 Like
#15

Does trading weekly means you’ll be paying SWAP x 7?

#16

@DMisso, unfortunately yes, this will be the case if you hold for the 7 days… Only way around this is to trade only the pairs and/or direction that have minimal or positive SWAP rates…

You can use a SWAP Calculator prior to opening any positions which will give you a warning whether the trade will be worthwhile.

SWAP rates can vary from Broker to Broker, Country to Country… Hope this is of some help…

#17

There are brokers that offer swap-free accounts, called Islamic Accounts, to Muslims. Before such brokers will open a swap-free account for you, most of them insist on some proof that you actually adhere to a religion which forbids paying interest (including forex swaps).

However, there is at least one broker that I am aware of which offers swap-free accounts to everyone –
CapitalStreetFX, registered in Mauritius. Please note: This is a heads-up, not a recommendation.

CapitalStreetFX was recently mentioned in my thread, Going offshore to escape the CFTC. Prior to that mention, I had never heard of CapitalStreetFX. But, we are looking into this broker, because the thread is all about finding offshore brokers (most of them on islands that none of us have ever visited) that will deal with U.S. clients, and about vetting those brokers to see whether they deserve to be on a List which we maintain. We are in the very early stages of that vetting process with CapitalStreetFX.

Before you even make inquiries with this broker, you might want to read recent posts in our thread, starting here — Going offshore to escape the CFTC

Here is a screen-shot of the FAQ on the CapitalStreetFX website, where they answer the question about swap-free accounts —

CapitalStreetFX - 1
CapitalStreetFX - 11182×553 47.2 KB

(click the image to enlarge it)

If you have no experience with offshore brokers, use extra due-diligence in researching them.
Some of them come and go in short order, and leave a lot of disgruntled customers in their wake.

1 Like
#18

Christianity.
Jesus kicked out the money lenders from the temple, which weren’t they akin to modern day loan sharks?

#19

Hi friend, your frequency is correct, in the minute events are formed, everyone’s problem is the speed of thought that is formed in ourselves, if you follow a precision trader, you need to respect the map plan we created . do not imagine absolutely anything, “the mental Might”.

#20

This is a stupid post for two reasons:

  1. You obviously have no understanding of Christian teachings.

  2. This thread is not about religion. If you want to debate religion, start a religion thread in the Lobby section of this site.