Timeframe relevance in support and resistance

Hello Forex Factory!

I have been trading for sometime now and wish to delve more into intraday trading, just looking for a bit of advice. I recently read 2 books by Steve Nison on candlestick charting patterns and found it very informative and I hope to use some of the techniques I have learned in my upcoming trades.

My question is in regards to support and resistance on the 15m charts. I have grown accustom to the hourly time frames and higher, which in my opinion are easier to plot significant support and resistance. However seeing as the 15m chart will show a smaller sample of the price data, I am struggling to define what would be significant s/r?

I have read that plotting s/r areas onto the daily chart and then lowering the timeframe, using them to trade intraday would be the correct methodology? I have thrown a few lines onto a chart but it seems trading off these levels doesn't happen often and you'll tend to see price move in between these for quite sometime. I'd like to think I'm relatively patient, but there are several trades going a miss that I may have taken based on candle patterns, shorter term s/r and indicator confirmation.

Any insight would be much appreciated

Not sure how you can say M15 showing a smaller sample of price data could be a factor in being able to define S/Rs. If anything, I think it has enough number of BARS for you to plot lines, assuming you're talking about horizontal S/Rs.

If throwing a a few lines on a M15 doesn't generate enough trades, you could consider dropping down another timeframe or perhaps select another pair to trade.

If you use candlestick or bar charts, you could also consider toggling to a LINE chart to plot your S/Rs on, before toggling back.

Sorry, I guess saying that the 15m showing a smaller sample of the price data was probably an incorrect way of wording. I meant the 15m chart will not have the same support and resistance as the daily or higher tf. Of course, s/r levels on a daily chart will have greater significance than on a 15m chart.

I guess my main question would be if I was to trade the 15m chart, will I primarily be focusing on s/r levels solely for the 15m chart? And if so, how far back must the s/r be for it to no longer be relevant

Clearly, this is not an easy question.

First I want to say this: I am of the belief that Support/Resistance are not trade signals in and of themselves. Therefore, let's take the notion of going short simply because price is rising towards Resistance, and going long simply because price is falling towards Support, off the table.

I am also of the belief that a chart never lies. If a chart never lies, then we can say that all charts tell the truth. And if all charts tell the truth, why do we need to look at more than one? So if one can find the Support/Resistance points, or Supply/Demand Zones, that give the highest edge on the chart of any given time frame, that is all that is needed.

Take a look at the chart below.

I have taken off the scale, the time frame and even the market. This is not a post about why my method is superior to some other method.

There is an edge in taken entry signals in the Supply/Demand Zones. Yes, it is true that if this is a 1 Minute chart the move may be only 30 pips. Whereas if this was a Daily chart, the move may be 3000 pips. But that does not negate the fact that one could have simply looked at this one chart interval alone to find the trade. It may mean that one's zones need to be "better". Yet, that is more about how and why zones are draw, not about the necessity to use multiple time frames.

So, if you are comfortable with how you determine Support/Resistance, you may not need to worry about what time frame matters most.

No , it is not absolute . every tf has its own breading point , 15 tend to be the most airy tf to trade fx , every s&r @ each point of tf is made by price TICK not by price bar , at some point that some will experience , each and every tf has long and short signal from s & r . So volatelity and liquidity of the owner of the pair is ruling not s & r that public see .

Hey HiddenGap, nice to see ya still kickin!

Theory of market is that when support is broken, it will get tested as resistance...when resistance is broken it will get tested as support.

Much as I can agree with you on that these areas are not a signal to themselves, I see the area where we can clearly see where the sellers lost control, and will now look to balance the books and flip the charts.

Your charts and your scales...but there is definitely a hidden gap, below your hidden gap.