Podcast:

Why you should trade different time frame charts

In this weekly video:

00:23 – It’s important to trade a variety of charts

01:00 - Different pairs have different characteristics

01:23 – Standard MT4 chart time frames

02:17 – H12 charts showed great trade setups

02:54 – No more time is needed to trade the offline charts

03:47 – Do not rely on one time frame

04:36 – High reward:risk trades

I'm going to explain why I like to trade a variety of different timeframe charts as Forex trader. Let's get into that and more, right now.

Hi traders, Andrew Mitchem here, the owner of the Forex Trading Coach. Video and podcast number 301. I'm going to explain to you the importance of why I believe it's very important that you trade a variety of different timeframe charts as a Forex trader.

It’s important to trade a variety of charts

You see, different Forex pairs, different currencies have different personalities, and they all move in different kinds of ways.

Some are very fast moving, some are very slow moving. A little bit like people in some ways. The danger is, if you rely just on either one currency pair or, more importantly, just one timeframe chart, then you could be limiting the available trades that you see.

Different pairs have different characteristics

Different pairs have different months of the year or different days of the week or even different hours within a day that are better or worse for the different currency pair.

The problem is, is let's say you just traded the four hour charts let's say. The problem is, is what happens if the four hour charts that particular day or that week are either very volatile, and they're moving way too fast, or they're very quiet, and they're just dead?

Standard MT4 chart time frames

The problem is then is you're missing out on so many potential opportunities on other timeframe charts because you might find that the four hour charts that week that you trade them, they just don't show very many possibilities.

With a standard MT4 account, the main timeframes that I trade myself are the four hours, the daily, the weekly, and the monthly. That's good, but what I've done is I've developed some software, which I give to my clients as part of my coaching course, that allows us to trade other timeframes charts on the MT4 platform. We trade especially the six hour, the eight hour and the 12 hour charts. Depending on the week, for instance last week, the 12 hour chart showed some fantastic trade setups.

H12 charts showed great trade setups

This week, the four hour charts have been showing some really good setups, and it's all depending on the nature of the market at the time. The problem is, is that you don't know in advance what next week's going to show us. What's going to be the best timeframe to trade? You don't know. When people come to me, and they say, "Andrew, what's the best timeframe chart I should trade?" I say, "Well, it depends."

So, there is no one answer that's correct. It depends on the market at that time. That's why I like to look at a different variety of timeframe charts. But the beauty of it is, is it doesn't mean to say that you're spending a great deal of extra time trading.

No more time is needed to trade the offline charts

You see, when the daily charts change over at 5:00 PM New York time, at that same time, I can look at the 12 hour, the eight hour, the six hour and the four hour charts.

I'm looking at the daily charts anyway at that time, so for an extra, maybe 10 minutes, I can scan through those other timeframe charts and look for different trading opportunities. That's the beauty of it. As mentioned, this particular week right now, four hour charts on our forum site have gone absolutely crazy. There's all sorts of different four hour charts setting up. Last week it was 12 hour charts that were showing the best trade setups on that week.

Why? Well, it's just the different nature of the market as opp...