Trendlines and SMAs

When drawing trend lines and SMAs on charts, what is the best time frame to use?

It depends on what time frame you are trading.

One way is to start on a higher time frame and work your way down to the time frame you wish to trade. I like to make the color of the trend line match on the time frame. Daily is light blue, 4h dark blue, 1h gold. That way when you see price approaching a dark blue trend line you know that it has been a strong area on the 4h chart.

Draw them on all time frames. Then you see S/R on all charts to know likely areas of congestion.

What is the trend line to be used for? What is the moving average to be used for? If you are using them as a guide for trading then they must be on the time frame you choose to trade.

These 3 guidelines should help you out:

1. Trendlines drawn on the chart you're trading is what you should mainly be focusing on. They have the most relevance to your technical analysis.
2. Trendlines drawn on progressively higher timeframes have more importance than trendlines drawn on the chart you're trading.
3. Trendlines drawn on progressively lower timeframes have less importance than trendlines drawn on the chart you're trading.

For example, if you're trading the 4-hour chart, then focus mainly on trendlines drawn on the 4-hour chart.

However, you should have also drawn trendlines from the daily chart, and be aware of these levels. They bear more importance (i.e., weight/strength) than the 4-hour trendlines. Taking it one step further, trendlines drawn on the weekly chart have even more importance than the daily and 4-hour trendlines, so be aware of these levels as well.

Conversely, trendlines drawn on the 1-hour chart and lower do not weigh as heavily as the 4-hour and above. Depending on your trading strategy, they still have uses, such as entry signals. Say the 4-hour trend is bearish and price is bounding off the 4-hour downward trendline. You can use a break of the 1-hour retracement support line as an entry signal.

** Keep in mind that these are *general guidelines*, and *typically* they hold true. Just don't expect the forex market to allow them to be true all the time.

Hello

I trade with trendlines and was wondering if someone could share some light on why i can t get the two attatched ea s to trade, they work with you drawing the trendlines manually then renaming them, for linexcutioner - UPPERline, LOWERline, and e-trendline uptrendline to LTR and downtrendline STR, trade should open on trendline break, i have tried with alpari demo account and ibfx live and demo but cant get any trades, i have allowed live trading on the ea but still nothing,

Sorry if i mm in the wrong thread but desperate for help

Cheers
Len

The code seems like not being revised to support ECN brokers.

It depends, as noted, where the timeframe's strong and on which one you focus the best of your energy on.

Another says that to best expend one's energy, spread it across most or all time frames and weight one's attention on the higher ones.

I say, it is best to have the most data, and, because this would also make it the most difficult choice, expend one's energy only on the lowest time frame.