Uncertain about timeframe...

Currently I'm trading mostly the H1, and this is where most of my backtesting has been done. An initial trip into Daily and H4 range made me feel the trends are alot smoother and there's less whipsawwing going on (I place trade, price spikes above previous spike hitting my SL, then goes my way).

The biggest problem with H1 is that when I sleep or go somewhere I miss like 8-12 bars. On a H4 timeframe I would miss only 2-3 bars, and the chances of missing a setup or exiting a trade without being able to adjust SL after price has moved sufficiently are much smaller there. The negative of the H4 timeframe is obviously only 1/4 of the number of trades (although this might only be 1/2 or 1/3 since I'm missing atleast 1/3 of the signals of H1 when sleeping) and that might be a problem with regard to sufficient experience trading demo/a small live account before going live with the full amount.

Any traders here that spent time trading H1/H4/Daily and feel it's a big improvement when they switched to another? I have pretty much all day for trading (1 hour here or there not being at the computer) but the main problem is overnight open trades.

... all

Are you trying to trade every single bar?

Any bar has the possibility of being an entry.

The problem is when I have opened a trade. I attempt to follow longer term trends, sometimes the holding period can end up a week or more. Often a few days is normal. When I'm asleep, 8-12 bars is alot and I could possibly miss a chunk of profit due to price going against me before I can adjust my SL. With missing 2-3 H4 bars this simply doesn't happen.

@Hilar:
I often see the similar signals on H1/H4. My entry on H4 will often be after a part of the move on H1. Maybe this explains the higher successrate on H4, as I'm only entering when price truly goes my way. I think going down to H1 and looking for a picture perfect entry to capture an extra 30 pips would not be worth it.

I set sound alerts on key prices (both positive and negative sides), when I sleep.

It takes a plane crash to wake me up.

I trade ONLY of the H1 charts, but I use Fractal support/resistance lines that are based on the H1, H4, and Daily charts. Works like a charm

Anything below H1 is too prone to suffering from big companies messing with it (they can only influence it in the short term), and anything above H4 results in too few trades (and you don't capture entire moves).

PS: I use the THV/Pipware system...