There are two dimensions on the trading chart: one is the price and the other is the time period.
All people are more sensitive to price, ignoring the choice of time period. There are also many friends who are asking me how to choose the time period for trading. In this article, we will talk about topics related to time periods in trading.
The article is relatively long, it is recommended to bookmark and read, and if you feel that you have gained something, you can like it and support it.
1. What is a time period?
On the MT4 chart, the time period spans from the monthly line period to the one-minute period; the weekly line, daily line, hourly line, etc. all belong to the time period of the transaction.
Different time periods mean different stop loss positions, profit targets, different positions, different holding times, etc. in transactions, which are actually completely different transactions.
There are 13 cycle options on the straight flush in the figure below, and 9 cycle options on the MT4 trading software.
2. Why should a time period be chosen?
Clarify the trading ideas and clear the direction of the trend.
The market is chaotic and the trend is random. A clear cycle means a clear target.
I remember a friend asked me a question: 4-hour bearish, 1-hour bullish, how to solve this situation? How to trade? This is the standard cycle selection problem, and solving the cycle problem is the first step to profitability.
The picture below is the arrangement of 5 time periods on a friend's trading software, which looks messy.
3. How to choose the time period?
First: the trader's time and schedule. Full-time traders and part-time traders will have completely different options.
Small cycle trading frequency is high, full-time traders have enough time to keep an eye on the market, can spend more time and energy in trading, and have the possibility of using small cycle trading.
For example, a 15-minute trading cycle, or even a 5-minute trading cycle is an optional cycle for full-time trading; part-time traders do not have the possibility of trading a small trading cycle from the perspective of time and energy invested in trading, at least more than 1 hour Time cycle trading, because such a trading cycle will not involve too much energy in trading, and will not affect the normal work and life of part-time traders.
Just imagine, thinking about the market when you go to work, where is the trend? Is the account profitable or losing? Is it time to enter? Either because of work misses and wrong transactions, or because transactions affect normal work, work and transactions cannot be done well.
While full-time traders can now have small trading cycles or large trading cycles, or even take all sizes, but part-time traders can only engage in large-cycle transactions.
Second: the difference in trading ability
Novices should not trade frequently, so do not choose a trading cycle that is too small. Frequent trading with heavy positions is the two main reasons why many novice traders lose money.
A small cycle means a high frequency, and beginners have poor self-control.
You must know that the candlestick chart is magical. Changes in prices and changes in the profit and loss in the account will cause novice traders to change their mentality. If the mind is confused, the transaction will be chaotic, and losses will follow. For novice traders, the minimum trading period should be a period of more than one hour.
Of course, it does not mean that a larger cycle is better; a large cycle, the frequency of transactions is too low, and the cycle of holding positions is too long; for novices in trading, patience is the biggest test , whether it is opening or holding positions.
In the first few years when I just started trading, I didn’t have the concept of cycle at all. I was not good at trading, but I was struggling and entangled in small cycles. The deepest memory is that I stopped losses more than 40 times a day. Looking back now, if I choose a larger cycle, I definitely won’t There are so frequent stops and losses.
Third: choose a fixed time period to trade.
A 4-hour callback is a 1-hour trend, and a 1-hour rising wave is a 15-minute 5-wave structure. From the latitude of technical analysis, different cycles mean different directions and trends.
Therefore, we must choose a fixed trading cycle for technical trading. 4 hours is up, 1 hour may be down. At the same time, once the two weekly directions "fight", should I go short or long?
4. Choose single-cycle or multi-cycle?
I am a double-cycle trader myself, but I can say responsibly that single-cycle and multi-cycle are not fundamental to determining the profitability of trading. Single-cycle or multi-cycle depends entirely on our trading habits, but there are a few points to pay attention to.
First: don't choose too many cycles.
A friend told me: His trading needs to resonate in 5 cycles of daily line, 4 hours, 4 hours, etc. to enter the market, but the effect is not ideal.
Too many cycles of resonance can not increase the success rate, the more cycles the higher the success rate? Just imagine if we have been resonating for 1 minute from the annual line, can we guarantee the success rate? false proposition.
2-3 cycle trading, look at the big and small, it is reasonable and necessary to properly filter the trading signals with cycle resonance.
Second: Index filtering needs to be added for a single cycle.
The single-cycle trading system is usually filtered by other technical indicators at this level, otherwise the single-cycle trading system is too rough, difficult to execute, and requires high execution capabilities for traders.
For example, in the turtle trading rules, the single-cycle trend trading that breaks through the 20-day high and low points; in the volatile market, the trading signals will not be screened and there will be continuous stop losses. fail.
5. How do I use Multicycle? (dry goods)
First: cycle span.
For the 1-hour trend, choose a 5-minute cycle to enter the market, and the ratio of the size cycle: 1:12
For the 4-hour trend, choose a 15-minute cycle to enter the market, and the ratio of the size cycle: 1:16
The 15-minute trend of futures trading chooses a 1-minute period to enter the market, the ratio of the size of the period: 1:15
The above is the cycle span in my actual combat.
What if you choose a 1-minute period to enter the market for a 1-hour trend?
(1) The trading frequency of 1 minute is too high, there are too many trading signals, the fault tolerance of trading signals is poor, and the transaction execution is too difficult.
(2) The pace of keeping an eye on the market for 1 minute is too high, and human errors are prone to occur in a market that operates 24 hours a day.
Second: transaction flow chart.
The picture below is a screenshot of the EUR/USD transaction at a certain time. The left side of the chart in the figure below is the 1-hour K-line, and the right side is the 5-minute K-line; the trend is confirmed in 1 hour, and the entry position is selected in 5 minutes.
Summarize
The above are the precautions for the selection of trading cycles and my own choice of trading cycles for your reference. Any questions can be discussed in the comment area
Add
