Why go top-down
A 5-minute chart shows noise; a daily chart shows direction. Starting high and working down keeps you from shorting a strong uptrend because of one red candle.
1. Daily or weekly: direction and key levels
Ask: are highs and lows rising, falling, or going sideways? Mark the two or three most obvious levels above and below price. Write the bias in one sentence, e.g. 'Uptrend, buying near support only.'
2. 4-hour or 1-hour: structure
Look for where price sits relative to those levels. Is it pulling back into support in an uptrend? Breaking a range? This is where you identify the setup — a retest, a zone, a range edge.
3. 15-minute or 5-minute: trigger
Only now drop to a low timeframe and wait for your trigger: a break of a small trendline, a rejection candle, or a higher low. No trigger at your level means no trade.
A checklist before every trade
- Does the trade agree with the higher-timeframe bias?
- Is entry at a level I marked before the session, not one I drew in the moment?
- Is there at least 2:1 room to the next opposing level?
- Is high-impact news due in the next 30 minutes?
Use the chart on Fomo Avoider
The TradingView chart on our home page lets you switch symbols and timeframes quickly. Do your marking before the session opens, then log your planned levels in the trade notes.