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Ninja 8 allowed me to see the difference. Just keep adding data series to the same chart window. Be sure and use different colors. Most interesting to me was a 5 minute ES, a crowd favorite with a 2000 tick in the same space. It really shows you what is going on.
In sailboats the saying is you can have speed, low cost and comfort, but you only get two. Charts are the same way you must decide what your style is then the element to give up becomes an informed decision.
My primary is a 2000 tick ES. But I like a larger point of view chart also. The old pros say to keep multiplying by 3 or 4 as you add. I come from an accounting background where we eliminate detail in order to increase understanding and that is what the longer time frame does, making it clearer why we stopped and reversed where we did.
I can’t seem to trade on anything smaller than 2hr candles
Usually I use Weekly/Daily and 4hr for timing entries. Longer time frames just make more sense to me I guess.
Anything smaller and it seems like there’s a lot of noise (although that could just be because I don’t know how to interpret it yet)
Smaller timeframes do present more opportunity for profit, however. As I get more experienced hopefully I’ll be able to transition downward.
I feel that anything below 4h is 1) Noise 2) takes up too much of your time watching the screen.
I only go down to 4h because it's my lower time frame in my tripple screen system of 4h/Daily/Weekly.
My trading time frame is actually daily but the 4h helps with specifying the entry.
But the important thing is to choose a trading time frame that suits you.
the best answer for me regarding best time frame to trade has always been the one i can afford the risk on. So define the maximum amount of risk you can live with on a trade. Say $100 for example. I am willing to risk that amount of money on this trade. So i can use all charts monthly, weekly, daily, 240 60, 10 even a 3. I use the bigger ones to determine a primary direction and then the smaller ones to determine the most immediate direction i want to trade today. I personally trade "levels" so ill find a level and ill draw horizontal lines above and below that level. This gives me a price range. So i take that price range and compare it to how much is a particular contract. If i can on that time frame get in for $100 then that is my time frame.
I use candlesticks and patterns created by the price movement. It does not matter what timeframe you trade. If you can figure out various patterns formed by candlesticks, you can always trade successfully.
Rather than forcing yourself to learn to trade on 1min, 5min, 15min, 1hr, daily or weekly time frames, what we hear on most of the free youtube videos, webinars and training groups. It is important, above all, to understand what type of trader oneself is. Am I a scalper, day trader, swing trader or investor? Believe me, this makes a whole lot of difference in mental state while trading.
Based on what type of trader I'm, one should approach the market and choose the time frame that suits the type of trading style. For scalpers, 50-100 tick charts are better over 1 min. For day traders, 1min is best, like penny stocks guys. Larger time frame you move to from here, slow and bigger moves you are looking for. It's all relevant. Prediction from a 5 min time frame is only good for few minutes mostly (say 5-15 min), same for 30min it will be good for next 30min to 2 hrs or so. Price might not move in that prediction period at all and may just consolidate.
I've traded of 3,9 and 27 minutes for a while and I liked that setup. You change the instrument, you might have to change the time frame. I'm new to futures and from my experience so far, TICK charts are lot better than time charts.
