After years of research and backtesting I learned the most important concept for the day trader is to buy below a given low and sell above a given high. Your rules and time determinants are secondary. A trader can expect a higher return to risk which is the definition of an edge.
They don't "lie", per se, but they can very easily be both misrepresented and misinterpreted, and they very often are. (Latest research demonstrates that "very often" means 78.2% of the time, by the way. )
Your profile says you are 18 and it looks like you are headed toward trading in a serrious way. It also looks like you are looking for Elitetrader to help you. I suggest you pay special attention to the posters mentioned in Rin4et's thread, Which Users Posts Havev Benefited You The Most: https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/which-users-posts-have-benefited-you-the-most.314260/ There are a zillion posters on Elite and the answers posted in this thread are among the better ones. _______ My list was: @lescor @Dustin @Xela @Daal Lescor and Dustin have made serrious money trading US stocks for many years. Xela wins trading FOREX and is wise beyond her years. Daal is the author of the relatively new book, which I found very helpful: Traders of the New Era (his book is not a post, but read the book!!!) (A new poster named @Truth_ recantly showed up with 49 interesting posts. Will continue to read) Since no one has mentioned Dustn, I expect some will consider him a hidden gem.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." - British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli
Great input. I think the interesting part is the longer the time duration the better the relative returns but any times less than a daily bar do not hold up statistically speaking probably due to the recent directional bias.
From what I've learned so far, it's more important for me to find ways to enter trades with minimal risk and the returns will follow. After all, negative compound returns cost more than positive compound returns gain.