Every time I read or watch a TA lesson (both price-action TA and pattern-based TA, although I’ve heard the latter is more confirmation bias than real backtested science like the former), I find that whatever the person in the video points out (e.g. support @ $X, resistance at @ $Y, or even patterns) at a certain timeframe, don’t hold up at a slightly different timeframe. Now I know it’s obvious that a support on the 1 min candles won’t be the same as the support level on a daily or weekly chart, but what if the differences exist in like 1 min vs 5 min?
What timeframes are you supposed to look at for scalping vs day trading vs multi-day plays? I’ve been doing what I’m calling “paper DDs” which is write up a full length price-action + company fundamentals-based DD and instead of posting it, see if it holds up for a few days, and if I get a few right, I’m thinking of posting my analysis here, but thus far all the TA-components of my DDs have a very mixed bag of success, leading me to think I’m not actually doing good analysis and winning and losing randomly when (solely) trusting my own DD.
For me, it depends on how long you’re planning to hold. If you’re scalping or day trading, then 1-5-15 minutes to look for and confirm support and resistance areas. If it’s a swing, then hourlies (1 or 4 is what I would use) or the daily. But, again, it depends on how long you’re holding, imo.
I like the 1 minute and the 5 minute for SPY. I only make my trading decisions on the 5 minute with SPY but I use the 1 minute to help me understand what is happening inside those 5 minute candles.
For other things, and this really came in handy with my BKKT research, I stick to 30 minute 3 month charts and 60 minute 6 month charts. These are also helpful if you’re looking to hold options for a week or so if you play the options bot callouts.
Personally I use the 2hr, 4hr, 24hr to confirm macro trends for multi-day, but in terms of establishing support and resistance the pictures are much clearer in the 1 and 5 minute intervals.
For long term I like using the 12hr chart. I feel it shows RSI based trends better than 1D and 4hr. It depends on how long of a play you’re looking for. If I am looking at 1min candles I’m looking to make an entry and/or exit in the 5-10 minutes time frame. If I’m looking for a 2-4 day play I look at the 12hr.