TECH ANALYSIS: TIMEFRAMES please help

Alexander0884

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Dear Community,

I have just finished reading the book: Profiting With Forex

I enjoyed their part on technical analysis and watched a few further youtube videos to reinforce what I have learned.

My question is simple, I have been browsing charts for 1 minute/5 minute/hourly and daily. All 4 have different trends, they have different support/resistance lines, they have different reversal patterns and indicators.

How can I effecively place trades on ONE chart when I know the other chart is indicating the opposite??!? I am at a completel loss because from my standpoint no matter which way I choose I am screwed.
 
You need to pick the time frame which suits you best and work from that base. It's that simple. You can use slightly higher and lower time frames for context, but if you bounce around you'll just drive yourself to distraction.
 
Dear Sir,

Is there a consolidated guide/book that would inform me of how to effectively perform technicall analysis over several timeframes and what to look out for? Perhaps some advice, I understand the concept of looking at the general long etrm trade, supportand tying that back to the shoter timeframe to get a feel of a good entry position. Etc. However I wish to learn "all the tricks" before I play with the cards.

Maybe anyone came across such a guide? Specific performance indicators or perhaps even some tool/instrument that I could use?
 
Timeframes don't matter at all. What matters is where the market has been, what it did before, where it's trying to go and your assessment on how good a job it is doing of getting there.
 
Dear Sir,

Is there a consolidated guide/book that would inform me of how to effectively perform technicall analysis over several timeframes and what to look out for? Perhaps some advice, I understand the concept of looking at the general long etrm trade, supportand tying that back to the shoter timeframe to get a feel of a good entry position. Etc. However I wish to learn "all the tricks" before I play with the cards.

Maybe anyone came across such a guide? Specific performance indicators or perhaps even some tool/instrument that I could use?

Read the "Three Ducks" approach on T2W.
Have a look at James16 thread on Forexfactory.

So- plenty of reading and practice for you. And, of course, you can demo before committing real cash:)
 
Check out Lance Beggs on Price action trading..............hes the best I've ever worked with

This is basicially part of Market/Timeframe Structure

In my own opinion use a Max of 3 TF levels..and decide what you are going to do

Fade the Highest TF trend
(ie trading it's (possible) retracement using opposing lower TF Trend signals)

Trade the highest TF trend
(ie trade the lowest TF's in same direction as the Highest TF Trend)

Remember the highest TF looks great in a Trend mode....... but that very next reversing bar on the lowest TF could be the first step to total reversal of the higher TF trend.........

you are only as knowledgable as the last Bar....

thats it .......
N
 
Read the "Three Ducks" approach on T2W.
Have a look at James16 thread on Forexfactory.

So- plenty of reading and practice for you. And, of course, you can demo before committing real cash:)

agreed

Andy is a great mentor and the 3D's is a nice simple approach that is very effective

James16 is a legendary thread and is worth the effort of reading ...........even if to see how nice guys can finish first !

N
 
Dully noted will give both articles a read this evening. I am not too concerned about loosing money, but I will definetly use wisdom of a demo account.
 
agreed

Andy is a great mentor and the 3D's is a nice simple approach that is very effective

James16 is a legendary thread and is worth the effort of reading ...........even if to see how nice guys can finish first !

N

Dear NVP,

It appears James16 has many threads, would you recommend any in particular?

Regards,
 
Dully noted will give both articles a read this evening. I am not too concerned about loosing money, but I will definetly use wisdom of a demo account.

You will need days- not an evening - it's a long journey (It's losing not loosing:)
 
You will need days- not an evening - it's a long journey (It's losing not loosing:)

At the moment I can not dedicate more than evening due to my full time employment in the City and my part time study in my professional qualifications along side it.

I can only dedicate a few hours a night :(
 
D. Toast is correct, even if he is only doing it to help him hawk his tawdry wares.

Timeframe isn't important. And it only exists in your mind and on your screen.

A day isn't broken up into 5 minute blocks of trading, or 1000 lot blocks, or 277 tick blocks.

You need to experiment and see which suits you. There is nothing to say you must use time charts - people use tick and volume charts instead, or as well.

There is nothing to say you need charts at all.

You need to be aware of and think about your personality and the way you want to do things. For people that use charts, some people will be hopeless on short time frames, others will find 5 minutes ideal, it just depends.

Like most things, you can ask, but the truthful answer is usually "It depends, you need to work it out yourself". There is no right answer.

Personally, I wouldn't be too concerned with looking across lots of timeframes, I would focus on one and trade that. I have some longer views open just to get a sense of the big picture, but once I've had a glance, I know what that is, so they get minimised and I ignore those charts.

Other people will doubtless tell you that this is a nonsensical approach.

We could both be right. Fancy that, eh? :)
 
Yup - TL is right when he says DT is right (but in a vendpire-ish way)....

I'd also say that if you are intraday trading, You shouldn't pay much attention to multiple timeframes either. If you look at the S&P trading thread on here, you will see that whilst people might look at higher timeframes to get a feel of where the market is headed/what the key levels might be. When it comes to actually sitting down & trading, only a single chart is needed.

The ES makes regular intraday swings up and down. Higher timeframes are quite irrelevant when it comes to catching this action. There are some regular places at which it reverses and prior swing points are good for reference.

Individual bars though? Mostly irrelevant in my opinion.

Here's a chart right now of the ES. This is what I use every day. Once the day starts this is the chart I focus on and I will trade long and short off this chart purely based on the action there and no other chart. I am long one trade and short the next regardless of any higher timeframe trend.

What you need is a chart that shows you the action. On the ES right now a 700 tick chart suits me.

10-08-201210-22-03.png


As you can see - it shows where the market has been, it shows the sizes of the swings. It has a few levels marked out. It's compressed & coloured so that you can barely see individual bars as they are mostly irrelevant being just 'time splices' bits of information that don't really mean anything on their own.
 
If you are asking chart time frames, then you need to 1st answer the question what kind of trading do you like - swing trading or day trading.

Remember both are very distinct trading style.

Once you know the kind of trading style you like, then you need to decide the amount of time you can spend each day. If you have only limited number of hours each day to trade, then trading on 4 hr or daily chart is more applicable to you.

If you like day trading, then go with 15 min charts or 30 min chart..

I won't recommend you to trade on 5 min or 1 min chart as the technical analysis is not that accurate on such timeframes.
 
My question is simple, I have been browsing charts for 1 minute/5 minute/hourly and daily. All 4 have different trends, they have different support/resistance lines, they have different reversal patterns and indicators.

How can I effectively place trades on ONE chart when I know the other chart is indicating the opposite??!? I am at a complete loss because from my standpoint no matter which way I choose I am screwed.
try to concentrate on one chart - a higher timeframe chart. choose from one hour to daily chart. make sure to keep a good eye on the trends and support/resistance on the upper timeframes (daily, weekly , monthly) because the latter's trend and s-r will prevail.
 
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