Module 4: Reading Candles · Lesson 27/40
9 min 55 XP
Two people can trade the exact same market and look nothing alike. The difference is their style — and a style is really just a choice of timeframes and holding period. Faster styles use lower timeframes and hold briefly; slower styles use higher timeframes and hold longer. There is no "best" one; there is only the one that fits your time, temperament and capital.
Scalper — fastest
Day trader
Swing trader
Position trader — slowest
Faster is NOT easier
Beginners are drawn to scalping because it feels exciting and "quick money". In reality the faster you go, the more the spread and fees eat each trade, the more noise fools you, and the less time you have to think. Most people are far better served starting slow — swing or higher day-trading timeframes — where one good decision can play out over days.
Every style, without exception, uses at least two timeframes: a higher one for the bias and the key levels, and a lower one to time the entry. You pick a pair that steps up by roughly four to six times, and you read it top-down — bias first, entry second.
Always keep the big picture
No matter how low you execute, you keep the higher-timeframe chart in view at all times. The lower timeframe tells you WHEN to enter; the higher timeframe tells you WHETHER you should be trading at all, and which way. Trading the entry timeframe blind to the bias timeframe is the single most common way beginners lose. Same skill you will master in Level 2’s multi-timeframe module — start the habit now.