Timeframes: 15m, 1H, 4H, 1D, 1W
A timeframe is the length of time a single candle covers on a chart: 15m is fifteen minutes, 1H one hour, 4H four hours, 1D one day and 1W one week. The same price move looks different on different timeframes, with a different number of candles and level of detail. Every reading makes sense only together with the timeframe it belongs to.
What is a timeframe?
On a candlestick chart each candle summarises a fixed period of time. That period is the timeframe. The abbreviations are the same on most platforms: m for minutes, H for hours, D for days and W for weeks. 15m, 1H, 4H, 1D and 1W are the most common.
The smaller the timeframe, the shorter the period each candle covers, and the more candles and detail you see. The larger the timeframe, the longer the period each candle summarises; small swings disappear inside a single candle.
The same move, seen differently
Four 1H candles fit inside one 4H candle. The 4H candle's open is the first 1H candle's open and its close is the last 1H candle's close. Its high and low are the extremes of those four candles.
So a period that looks choppy on the 1H chart can show as a single green candle on the 4H chart. The detail is not lost, only folded into the candle: a pullback on the 1H chart is left as a wick on the 4H candle.
What each timeframe tends to be used for
- 15m: very short-term detail. Candles are small, and single candles carry a lot of noise.
- 1H: intraday structure. The swings within a day and approaches to zones are followed here.
- 4H: swings over several days. It shows the pullbacks and bounces inside the daily structure.
- 1D: the main structure. A timeframe many people watch; important highs and lows stand out here.
- 1W: long-term context. It shows trends spanning months and the widest zones.
These are common uses, not rules. No timeframe is more correct than another; each describes a different span of time. MarketLevelMap's analyses use the 1H, 4H and 1D timeframes.
What it shows, what it does not prove
What it shows
- How price moved over the chosen period, at that period's level of detail
- How a move looks on a larger or smaller scale
- Both the summary of a period (larger timeframe) and what happened inside it (smaller timeframe)
What it does not prove
- That one timeframe is more correct or more reliable than another
- That the direction seen on one timeframe holds on the others
- That every move on a small timeframe will change the bigger picture
The MarketLevelMap view
How it relates to zones
Support and resistance zones are read on a timeframe too. A zone seen on a larger timeframe covers a longer price history; on a smaller timeframe the same zone can look like a wide band that many candles move back and forth inside.
So when talking about a zone, saying which timeframe it was seen on makes the reading clearer. Looking at a zone that seems thin on the 1D chart from the 1H chart shows in detail how price behaves inside the band.
For general information only. Not investment advice.Last updated: