Swing trading chart time frame

[Johnny Oddsocks]

Just a quick question about Advanced charts If i may...

When swing trading what time frame do most prefer to use?

I figure day traders are going to use 1 minute or 5 min.

Do you use hourly or daily to help you? a combination? zooming out from 5 min to daily or weekly to see a wider picture?

Thanks
J.

 

[peter2]

Swing and intra-day traders use a variety of time frames. It fantastic that we can use any time frame we want but at the same time it's frightening that there's so many options. That's why profitable traders have and use a trading plan. We view and use the same time frames every day. Amateurs jump around all over the place and are not ready to take their setups in real time.

When swing trading I use the daily time frame for my trend. I'll be aware where the prior swing highs and lows are located. I often look at the 1hr charts for a smaller sized setup into the daily trend.

Intra-day trading; I use the daily charts for my pre-market preparation. I mark all the important levels before the market opens. During the day there's little time to look back at the larger charts. If I'm not prepared then I won't trade. At the open I'll look at the 1min chart, after 10 min there's enough 2min bars to use and after 30 min there's enough 5min bars to use.

 

[ThingyMajiggy]

Swing and intra-day traders use a variety of time frames. It fantastic that we can use any time frame we want but at the same time it's frightening that there's so many options. That's why profitable traders have and use a trading plan. We view and use the same time frames every day. Amateurs jump around all over the place and are not ready to take their setups in real time.

When swing trading I use the daily time frame for my trend. I'll be aware where the prior swing highs and lows are located. I often look at the 1hr charts for a smaller sized setup into the daily trend.

Intra-day trading; I use the daily charts for my pre-market preparation. I mark all the important levels before the market opens. During the day there's little time to look back at the larger charts. If I'm not prepared then I won't trade. At the open I'll look at the 1min chart, after 10 min there's enough 2min bars to use and after 30 min there's enough 5min bars to use.

You doing much intra-day trading pete? How do you find what to play for the day? Probably an obvious question but day trading is something you obviously think is worth while? Just curious as you've done well from EOD stuff.

 

[peter2]

I day trade the US markets most nights.

How do you find what to play for the day?

(i) I have a short list that includes, TQQQ, TNA, VXX, GDX, XLE. It's very rare that I won't see a long or short setup in one of these charts.
(ii) Look for the stocks in the news. Most will provide a "fade" the gap opportunity as the insto's take advantage of the news and high volume at the open.
(iii) Gap up and gap down lists provided by most brokers before the open.

Probably an obvious question but day trading is something you obviously think is worth while?

Yes, it's worth while, but it taken me much longer than I thought to become consistently profitable. I enjoy the challenge each day and find it much better than a daily puzzle. The P&L from this activity is only a secondary consideration for me as I do much better swing trading.