Which time frame is best for swing trading?

[Zeynep Tufekcioglu]

Hello Asktraders. Can you tell me what's the best time frame for swing trading?

[Rishabh Tyagi]

The core for finding a right trading time-frame is to get a clear picture of momentum.

In swing, you can expect the price to at least move by 8-10%, which means, a clear picture of the moves in lower time-frames is not possible.

You need to analyze the buildup, and then track your positions. Day frame is ideal to do that.

That being said, when doing your technical analysis, you can using 15min, 30 min, 1hr, and 1 week time-frames to get more confirmation and idea for the momentum.      

The same is true for every trading style, eg: for my day trading, I trade on 5 min frame, but I use 15mins, 1 hr and 1 day to get the overall momentum in the stock. 

 

To learn more on swing trading, you can check out these arcticles;

Swing trading tutorial & strategies: https://www.asktraders.com/learn-to-trade/trading-strategies/swing-trading/ 

How to swing trading: https://www.asktraders.com/learn-to-trade/stock-trading/swing-trade-stocks/

[Ulrich Meyer]

Hello,

While some might argue, in my experience the best timeframe for swing trading is daily bars. It is certainly possible to swing trade in other time frames, however, the daily timeframe offers some really good benefits which are quite hard to ignore.

First of all, out of all available time frames, daily timeframe is one of the most used ones. This involves both retail traders and mutual funds as well as other entities who have the ability to move the market. 

Minute bars, on the other hand, is not a timeframe that’s as nearly used as the daily time frame and as a result, it’s not as reliable either.

Also, daily bars are really great as they close and open once a day, and traders who want to enter on the open of each bar have a whole night to make their move, providing traders with great flexibility. 
 

[Predrag V]

Hello Zeynep!

Swing trading is a very popular trading technique used to capitalize on swings in the price action. In essence, swing traders seek to make a profit over from ups and downs on a chart. They tend to stay in trades starting from a period of a few days to a maximum of a couple of weeks.

Swing traders focus on capturing a piece of a potential trend direction change. This type of investors is therefore focused on selecting the right time frame to capitalize on swings in the price action. Swing traders usually focus their charts on hourly, 4H or daily charts. There's no point in using weekly or monthly charts as that time frame is too long for their appetite. Conversely, the lower time frames are usually used by scalpers. 
I hope this answer will help you better understand the concept of swing trading!