Why watch 4-hour, 1-hour, and 15-minute candlesticks?
Many people repeatedly fall into traps in the cryptocurrency world due to only focusing on one time frame.
Today, I will discuss my commonly used multi-timeframe candlestick trading method, which consists of three simple steps: grasping the direction, finding entry points, and timing.
1. 4-hour candlestick: determines your major direction for long or short positions.
This time frame is long enough to filter out short-term noise and clearly see the trend:
Uptrend: higher highs and higher lows → buy on pullbacks
Downtrend: lower highs and lower lows → short on rebounds
Sideways consolidation: prices fluctuate within a range, making it easy to get whipsawed; frequent trading is not recommended.
Remember this: Trading with the trend increases your win rate; trading against it will only lead to losses.
2. 1-hour candlestick: used to define ranges and find key levels.
Once the major trend is confirmed, the 1-hour chart can help you identify support/resistance levels:
Close to trend lines, moving averages, and previous lows are potential entry points.
Approaching previous highs, important resistance, or the formation of topping patterns means you should consider taking profits or reducing positions.
3. 15-minute candlestick: only for the final "trigger action."
This time frame is specifically for finding entry timing, not for trend analysis:
Wait for key price levels to show small cycle reversal signals (engulfing, bullish divergence, golden cross) before entering.
When volume increases, a breakout is reliable; otherwise, it may be a false move.
How to coordinate multiple timeframes?
1. First, determine the direction: use the 4-hour chart to decide whether to go long or short.
2. Find entry zones: use the 1-hour chart to outline support or resistance areas.
3. Make precise entries: use the 15-minute chart to find the final signals for entry.
A few additional points:
If the directions across several timeframes conflict, it’s better to stay on the sidelines and not take uncertain trades.
Small timeframe fluctuations are fast, so always use stop-losses to prevent being repeatedly stopped out.
The combination of trend + location + timing is much better than blindly guessing at the charts.
I have been using this multi-timeframe candlestick method for several years; it is a foundational configuration for stable output. Whether you can use it well depends on your willingness to look at charts more and summarize.
