Been using time periods for trading... 5/15/60 minutes depending on instrument and time in trade... However, I have started to do analysis on tick charts. Tick seems to make sense for TA, as it shows the supply/demand over a number of trades, rather than time period. Seems to be a more clear way of showing price action and volatility, and would be a more true representation of momentum. Do you guys use tick or time? Thoughts?
the thing with timeframes is that you need to cycle through them to find one that will favor your setup. Sometimes its smoother \ noisier (depending on the one you want) on the 5 mins, sometimes on the 3000volume sometimes on the 233 tics, sometimes on the 20range etc. if you trade a trend setup, you want your timeframe to show you beautiful pullbacks and nice abcd patterns etc. not some noise wicks and sticks chop etc. sometimes the day is noisy on the 5\10\15 mins chart but you have beautiful price action on the 900volume chart, you only go for smaller tgts and stops with setups on a faster timeframe charts, thats all. Sticking to one timeframe only is imo not the best thing to do.