Multi timeframe analysis: trading multiple timeframes

A common rule of thumb is a step of about four to six times between timeframes. A day trader might use the daily, the 30 minute and the 5 minute chart. A swing trader might use the weekly, the daily and the hourly.

Timeframes that are too close, like 5 and 3 minutes, show the same thing twice. Timeframes that are too far apart, like monthly and 1 minute, have nothing to say to each other.

Start on the highest timeframe. Mark the trend and the levels that matter: prior highs and lows, large gaps, and value areas. Step down one timeframe and look at structure: is price pulling back into one of those levels or breaking away from it?

Only then go to the lowest timeframe, and only to time the entry. The stop belongs on the timeframe that defined the setup, which keeps a lower timeframe wiggle from stopping a higher timeframe idea.

A daily uptrend with a 5 minute downtrend is normal: it is what a pullback looks like from close up. The question is whether the pullback is reaching a level where the higher timeframe buyers have a reason to return. If it breaks that level instead, the higher timeframe picture has changed, and the trade idea goes with it.

Flipping one chart between timeframes loses your place. A layout with one chart per timeframe keeps all of them in view. On Obelion each chart in a layout keeps its own ticker, timeframe and indicators. The free plan includes two charts per layout, Origin four and Obelisk six, and a free placement canvas is available on desktop.