What time frame to trade in Forex?
What is the best time frame in Forex? What is the most profitable time frame in Forex?
Those and similar questions are rising day after day in minds of novice Forex traders.
Let’s drop out the philosophy and focus on facts.
We know that each time frame displays same data, but in different intervals.
The choice of time frames is wide.
Let’s take the most preferred Forex time frames: 1 day, 1 hour and 5 minute.
These time frames are also perfect for beginners to test their feel about the Forex market.
On daily charts each price bar represents one day, thus a change on the chart will be observed once a day.
On hourly time frame new price bars will appear every hour, putting more data on the chart for analysis.
5 minute chart will produce a new price bar every 5 minutes, showing market changes fast and in greater details.
Each time frame can be traded successfully and yield opportunities for profitable trading.
What time frame to trade? It will depend on your next expectations:
A. Timing
B. Profit goals
C. Money management and tolerance for losses
Timing
Are you willing to monitor charts every 5 minutes for several hours a day?
Are you comfortable taking decisions fast and like quickly changing prices?
If yes, try trading 5 minutes charts.
Or may be you prefer a slower pace at 1 bar per hour. You also believe that hourly charts are more reliable in the way they depict the market since much of the noise produced on smaller time frames can be eliminated.
Then 1 hour time frame might be your winner.
Or it might be the case that you don’t have time watching the charts during the day because you have a full time job and/or you believe that intraday changes do not have much effect on the market and summary results can be best observed by the end of the day. You may also find out that you want to hold your trading positions open overnight, means that your money will work even when you sleep; and at the same time you want to be confident that your Forex analysis wasn’t based on short term momentum.`
Then daily charts would be just right for you.
Profit goals
The smaller the time frame the smaller the profit goals set by traders for each trade. E.g. while on 5 minute charts Forex traders would see reasonable targets at the next support/resistance level 15-30 pips away from the entry point, on the daily time frame profit goals will be extended several days into the future with expectations of banking 200-400 or more pips in one trade.
A trader can make same 200-400 pips trading 5 min time frame, but it would require a lot of trades to be taken, hours of price monitoring, which is not an easy task.
Money management and tolerance for losses
Forex trading is not always about wins, losses are part of the trading process.
Managing losses on 5 min time frame would be the easiest thing to do. Firstly, because a trader is able to monitor charts all the time, secondly, because losses are usually small due to the nature of 5 minute trading: price ranges are smaller and it is easy to tell when the market starts turning against your position.
Hourly charts have wider price ranges and therefore require wider stops to be placed, and in case of being wrong on a trade, larger losses to be taken.
If to speak about daily charts, losses there if occur are even larger as the market requires wider space to swing the price.
So here you have: smaller profit targets and smaller losses or larger profit targets and larger risks. Making profits with more price action and more trading opportunities, but also a lot of time spent in front of the monitor every day, or making profits with less price action and opportunities and less time spend trading Forex.
...... Sir is it recommended to trade on 5 mins charts? i really want to know idaraxx_08[at]yahoo.com
Sure, 5 min trading is quite popular especially among scalpers. You have to have a sound money management system though in order to keep trading stops close and still come out confidently winning the trading battle.
5 min trading is a good way to be close to your trades and make a quick profits, but it takes additional skills and knowledge to balance the system and turn odds in your favor (don't forget about spreads).
If you wana blow you account fast then trade 5 minutes. If you are just beginning, try slow moving TF, 1HR minimum.
In your opinion or from your experiences what time frame do you prefer ?
Hello dear, if the trend on a larger time frame is bullish and on my main frame is bearish, do i have to trade the trend on my main frame first before trading the higher time frame which is bullish? Can you help me out please. RASAQ
so what is real about forex and what be minded to avoid much loses, as a beginner i am what time frame is the best pls.
I've been trading FX now for almost a year - still learning, I began by using 5 mins charts. This means lots of trades and you gain experience and working on your strategy. You however don't see the overall trend. So in my view after a while you should trade longer time frames. In my view the reason beginners use smaller time frames is fear of missing out. If using small time frame like 5 mins, my advise is don't risk a lot of money.
i prefer 30 mins time frame
I trade the 4hour, daily and weekly nothing smaller than 4h.
When I started trading Forex, I enjoyed the fast pace of 5 minute charts, but I did not make money consistently. I switched to 4 hour charts, which enabled me to trade intraday without having to be in front of my computer all of the time, and although my profits increased, some of my leading indicators (pivots) did not seem to work well with 4 hour time frame. I changed to 30 minute charts and all is well. The pivots work as good short and long profit targets, I don't get too many signals each day and I know that I can't get more signals than 2 per hour.
Take the advice of the article above and find a time frame that works with your trading style. Don't be afraid to try out different time frames. Just keep in mind that more trading signals does not equal more profits. With trading, unlike other professions, activity does not mean a greater chance of success. Focus on strategy more than tactical operation.
Read a lot. A great book is Beat the Forex Dealer by Agustin Silvani. Hope that helps you.
I am new as well but i like the IDEA of trading 4 hr charts because it seems like a nicer balance. Dont forget to wait for confirmation candles!!!
Warlock186
15 mins TF is best in my experence.
reading this it sounds best to trade daily?
To me all trades are Winners, But some are in a wrong time frame, Think about it!!!
5 minutes chart is fine but get the trend from 1 hour chart.
hi sir. my name is prince. i am new to forex. please tell me where the related information will be provided for forex and related charts and what else i should do.
if you want to loose your money faster, like dream then trade 1 or 5 minutes 15 minutes and above are more easiar
for me, i use 30min and it's a bit stressful. i guess i'll try the 5min
hi, i'm new in forex, may i know how many type of trading in forex? how n where we earn money in forex? is it we buy it up or down like stock? wat is pips n spread actually?how we going to start this trading? how to find the charts like above, 5 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day? how many charts have n which is easy for beginner? where can i learning to analyst the charts? thanks...
what are the best MACD parameters for 5min & 1 hour charts?
Sir, What is the best time frame to use and the best way to plot the indicators such as, MACD, RSI, STOCHATIC, EMA and bollinga bond. please help me with that. thanks.
In demo account I traded with 4 hrs chart then most of the trade were successful and when I start trading with 5 Min chart most of the trade failed.
I am just learner and need to start real time trading within 2-3 months so kindly advise me what I need to do more to get skill for Forex. Above one friend suggested the book 'Beat the Forex' thanks for that .....any new suggestion friends
I am a beginer, i saw a lot of documentation about fores, as programmer i am doing my own EA right now..., In my personal experience... I lost too much money in 1, 5 and 10 min TF, i am now moving to 1 hr chart following the 4hr chart trend, i was trying some tehniques on this ones and seems to be easier to read, In bigger TFs and using a low leverage u could follow a clear trend have nice and low SLs entering on resistance, and then maximize prifits vs looses, this does not happens in a little timeframe, the trend and indicators looks to work ugly on ittle timeframes, they move agresivelly, and u need to have high/risky leverage to make some money on little TFs...
hello sir,what did you mean by confirmation candle
Usually the next candle that comes after a trading signal was received.
I'm still guessing what volume to trade. I like trading 1 min but using small volume means small profit and can be very tiring. 1 usually trade with 1 usd but more than 5 usd can be very risky.
i like 5 minute chart
Wisdom in these words... Find how they relate to you and picking a trading style, or timeframe, whatever... Learn something, and then do it. Every trader has losses. Get over it.
"You can make a billion dollars in forex trading, just by using a straight edge and a pencil."
"Even if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, they still have to mow it."
"If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, it's probably because they take better care of it."
Get in and out within ten seconds... Prudent growth is still growth.
to me, 30min is the best time frame for intralday trader, it give enough time to analys the market, with macd the, it has fecth me a lot of money, try it out
CONSINDER USING MULTIPLE TIME FRAME TO OBSERVE WHATH TRADERS ARE DOING ON 1HR AND 15MIN. TO ENTER YOU MUST FIRST OBSERVE THAT BOTH TIME FRAME ARE SYMPOTENOUSELY MOVING IN SAME DIRECTION. DO NOT USE A SINGLE TIME FRAME TO JUDGE YOUR ENTRY. GOOD BYE.
People..if I trade in 5m chart, which timeframe should I use for prediction in the future and want to hold a trade for up to 4-6hours only?
It is difficult to trade in 5m chart, I failed a lot of times. 1h may be better.
will it be wise to set a trade in this manner using the daily time frame,stop loss 100pips,take profit 110.
I am a new beginner in fx infact i have not started to trade yet not even a demo account all i have ben doing is reading reading and more reading for the past 4 months and believe me guys the more u read the more u will understand just keep reading over and over. Recently I went to a seminar whicg was good but better still was the fact that i met a really nice guy there who is very very helpful and what ever i have been reading it all fell in to place as he explained things to me. Now as i m still reading and writing this comment its even making more sense, so my tip is read and read more go to many free seminars as u can get some one to ones and practice demo accounts then see how u feel. Top dog trader is a must raed and watch videos and ofcourse I think something else called baby pips or baby forex is brilliant for begginers, hope this help. Don't even demo trade till u r really sure u know what u r doing because if u r not ready mistakes will be made u will loose u r money and that'll be the end of u r forex carrer before u even started.
YOU MUST FIRST OBSERVE THAT BOTH TIME FRAME ARE SYMPOTENOUSELY MOVING IN SAME DIRECTION. DO NOT USE A SINGLE TIME FRAME TO JUDGE YOUR ENTRY.
He no speak with fork tongue.
Hi ppl am a novice about forex trading..pls. After forex news release, am using 15 mins timeframe do i need to wait for 15mins, befor entring the market???,1hour timeframe do i need to wait for another 1hour??? 4hours timeframe do i need to wait for another 4hours??? and so on ..?? How many hrs do i need to wait befor trading daily timeframe??? help pls Thanks.
1H time frames is the best.
Helo sir am a novice about forex trading... After forex news release,is all timeframe are traded at the time help pls Thanks.
trade the daily chart...but u may get an average 3 to 4 trades per month with 400 pips.
Hi. I am not understanding something about time frame. I am practicing news trading on the 15 minute chart. My question is, does the price itself move more quickly or whipsaw more on the 15minute chart, compared to say, the hourly? In other words, if I had a 5 pip stop taken out on a whip move up and down on the 15 minute, is there a chance it might not have been triggered on the hourly? Or are all price movements and speed the same, but we don't see it on the longer time charts? Many thanks
use 1 hour noying less, nothing More.... and be disciplined
i believe there are more quality trades in higher time frames. i.e 30 , 1hr or higher. from my experience there is room for more mistakes and wip saws on anything lower. remember the more you are able to think and analyze your decision the less mistakes will be made. just my .02cents.
Time frame depends on your strategy, trading style and your goals.If you are targeting 30 to 50 pips a day 5 min TF can work nicely and can reduce risk considerably and in most cases it can be achieved within an hour. If you are targeting over 200 pips then daily charts are recommended but you must brace yourself because risks are higher because your stop loss must be opened wide. Another thing high targets take more than one day to achieve. For me, 5 and 15 min work for. I consistently achieve 50 pips daily in a short possible time. After I have achieved my target I close my computer and wait for the next day hopefully for more profits.
If you would like to hold your position for 4-6 hours, then maybe you shoud be looking at the 1 hour chart?
i dont trade the future..20-30 pips daily 15tf work great ...i have had 100pips turning red before and i learn my lesson from there...trading is not easily from my own view, spending hours on computer checking every signal is terrible so my opinion is to spend time until i get my daily target and i walk away ..
Before any price changes seen in the higher time frames such h1 or h4, they are seen
first in the 5 minute chart. That's a fact. So how can a higher time frame be better
for entry and risk-management purposes?? Isn't precision the most important thing
when it comje to entering any market? You bet it is "traders"! So entering higher
time frames is like aiming at a dart board in total darkness. How dumb can you all be? You're all a bunch of novices? Right?
actually i am trading forex last one year.firstly i have a simple confusion. now i am fully trained and what time frame to be traded.
i use the 4hr time frame
Use the daily chart as a trend identifier and then trade on the 4 hour and 1 hour chart in the same direction of trend as the daily chart. This would be a viable strategy.
i agree , forex not easy for part of people,although it big income
HI! 30 MINUTES CHARTS ARE BEST FOR TRADING. I PREFER BREAKOUT STRATEGY WITH MONEY MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES.
If playing long, why not the longest? if playing short, why not the shortest?
I don't understand what all this talk is about longer time-frames being safer than shorter time-frames. The only difference is the speed at which prices fluctuates. Time-frames are fractal, which means they are self-similar. There us just as much random "noise" on a daily chart as there is on a minute chart.
Here's the other thing I don't get. How is it possible to "trade longer time frames"? When you trade FX, you are ALWAYS trading the minute charts and tic charts, because those are the fundamental levels at which prices move. So even if you expect EUR/USD to move 200 pips in the next couple of days and decide to go long on a hourly chart, you can still blow your account over a retracement on the minute chart.
Where can ifound volume charts in forex?
I start using 4.5 dollar. which is the best time frame and best leaverage?
Good day Sir, please I want to know how to make an indicator downloaded from the internet available at the Meta4 trading platform. pls help
15 min is the best time frame,it gives much money and acuurate signal.other time frame are good but their signal donot come much.while 1hr will give one signal per day.jonathan
It's best to trade the timeframe you and your technique feel the most comfortable in, whether it's M1 or W1, or anywhere between. There is NO best answer to this question. Style dictates timeframe, not the "Forex Book of Acceptable Rules." Develop your own personal style of trading and you'll migrate to the timeframe you feel the most comfortable on. Volatility will also dictate timeframe. High volatility calls for lower timeframes and vice versa. Two examples are Gold and Silver.