Trading -Time frames-bigger is better?

neil

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For the novice trader the frenetic pace of short time frame trading can quickly deplete your trading account. Perhaps beginning with the higher time frames will enhance the odds of your becoming and remaining successful.
I took this post from a well regarded trader from elsewhere than this site. He still survives and is worth reading.

Quoting SeekingLight

Just a reminder as to why there is NOTHING WRONG WITH HIGH TIMEFRAMES.

For anyone still having trouble with the temptation to trade 'faster' on the shorter time frames , I have one good tip!

Grab a notepad and draw up two columns.
Mark one 'Profit', and one 'Loss'. (...believe me, this is worth it. )

Scroll through the various time frames counting pinbars.
Put a mark in the 'Good' column whenever a pin is followed by a useful/profitable move. Mark the other column whenever the pin is a failure. Ignore pins that you know (Or SHOULD know) are in the wrong place. i.e. Bearish pin in the MIDDLE of a down move etc.

This wont take as long as you think it might and it's extremely worth it. Do this for Dailies, 4 Hourlies, 1 Hourlies and 15 minute charts. Go through say 6 months to a year on the hourly, 1 - 2 years on the 4 hour etc. You don't need to go through a mind numbing amount of history to get the point.

You'll get a great insight into why the smaller time frames are very much a case of playing with fire.
As a bonus, you'll also be elightened as to why money management and risk are such a vital ingredient in becoming successful. Anything below 1 hour screws with your odds. You don't particulary need that!!

(Speaking of odds. Try this if you like... Do the same again for one of your hourly charts, but this time, use a complementry bar/candle as a filter. i.e. wait for a bearish bar after a bearish pin. One that breaks the pin's low. Taking the best ones that haven't moved too far . Watch what difference that can make to your odds. )

And that's BEFORE adding confluence etc!

If you think this contradicts my statements on 15 min charts in a few posts I've got here. ...Well... ....Yeah. It does!! LOL
....Honestly. I get away with it only through LOTS of screen time being clocked up and it's more hard work than any of us probably needs. ....Currencies and the 15 min / 5- min charts always seem a LOT harder than in other markets too. If you aren't in the habit, keep it that way!

Another thing Seeks touched on in his post above. Don't trade against a weekly pin. ...Not just that.... Trading from the top charts down is always a good move. You'll see possible support resistance clearer for starters. I made this mistake late last week. Not leaving anough room for a trade to get into profit quickly. (GBP/JPY is STILL scurrying around the same support area!)

Cheers,
james16 Chart Thread - Page 442 @ Forex Factory

Hope the passing reader enjoys the above post:)
 
This is the only timeframe that I have been successful with and profitable, Having tried 1 min, 5 min, 15 min, 1hr I definitely find it the least stressful way to trade.
 
One of the key reasons why a higher timeframe may be better is that it is much more difficult to manipulate a market for anything other than a short time. However, this does not include those who are accumulating a specific stock to ramp and then dump later on.
 
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