[Dogpile]

I stopped using daily charts a while back and must say -- its been a really nice adjustment.

In a nutshell, daily charts give you a bias that you just shouldn't have.

Admittedly, I do use info from the last 2-4 days but for that I do not need a daily chart -- I can use 15, 30, 60 and 120-mins charts just fine to get the pertinent information.

I think there is some use in weekly charts -- but daily charts have been rendered meaningless by too many people using them --- just my opinion ---discussion/agreement/disagreement welcome...

Set yourself free and don't even look at a daily chart.

[brownsfan019]

Dog,
In context of an active day-trading setup, I agree 100%. This was part of the discussion I was having with BlowFish in another thread. I agree with you completely b/c you hit the nail on the head - you could get a bearish 'feel' from the daily, pass on all long trades, and depending on how you trade, those could be very profitable trades.

Obviously as a swing trader, the daily/weekly, etc. are incredibly important. But as a day trader (one who does not hold positions overnight), I think the daily, weekly, etc. are useless. And the main reason is that throughout the day, there's plenty of opportunities to go short or long and to eliminate those b/c of a bias you have off the daily does not work for me.

[Minetoo]

I concur, the only thing daily I use is pivots. The greatest difficulty one must overcome is to trade what you see not what you think or believe.

[james_gsx]

Of course for intraday positions they really don't do you much good. But they give you a feel for the market, at least for me. I feel more "in tune" with the market if I know where it's been and where I feel it's going. Of course that doesn't make me biased on where to place my trades, but I like to have a heads up.

[brownsfan019]

Originally Posted by james_gsx »

Of course that doesn't make me biased on where to place my trades, but I like to have a heads up.

James,
If you can ignore the daily or weekly feel and still daytrade, I say more power to you. I find that if I see a long or just feel bullish looking at the daily or weekly, I have a much harder time taking shorts intra-day.

[ant]

Originally Posted by Dogpile »

I stopped using daily charts a while back and must say -- its been a really nice adjustment.

In a nutshell, daily charts give you a bias that you just shouldn't have.

Admittedly, I do use info from the last 2-4 days but for that I do not need a daily chart -- I can use 15, 30, 60 and 120-mins charts just fine to get the pertinent information.

I think there is some use in weekly charts -- but daily charts have been rendered meaningless by too many people using them --- just my opinion ---discussion/agreement/disagreement welcome...

Set yourself free and don't even look at a daily chart.

Huh? In another thread, you mentioned that you use the Taylor Technique for your daily bias, but you don't use a daily chart? I think a daily chart and Taylor go hand-in-hand.

Personally, I rely on the daily chart for "bigger picture" stuff - to identify balance areas and other key levels that higher timeframe traders/investors may be looking at (especially confluence areas where levels from the daily and intraday charts line up). It's when multiple timeframes come together that you get really dynamic moves. I also examine the weekly and monthly charts, but they aren't as granular as the daily chart.

[Dogpile]

<<I think a daily chart and Taylor go hand-in-hand. >>

I actually do use a daily chart for the Taylor stuff --- busted... but taylor bias only uses last few days (generally 4 days) -- and looking at a daily chart is tough not to get some overly bullish or bearish bias that extends back further than 4 days... if you are a short-term trader, it is very easy to get a bias looking at a daily chart which might show the last 60-100+ days of trading -- a time-period that has cost me money over the years -- so I try to just block it out best I can and focus on lining up the last 2-4 days and the intradays...

I do see some use in weekly charts actually for bigger picture stuff -- I just think the daily timeframe is the most difficult timeframe of any to make money from looking at... classic MACD & MACD histogram, 3/10 oscillator, ADX, stochastics are all (more than) useless on the daily timeframe, in my view... will often just lead you to a bias that will lead you astray...

[ant]

So it sounds like you don't require much from the daily chart - you only need to determine the Taylor bias off of the last few daily bars. That makes sense to me. However, it's not clear why the weekly charts would help you when the daily charts do not, beyond the last few bars. That is, how do the weekly charts affect your trade decisions? Also, why wouldn't you use the trend in the daily chart to increase your trade size when price moves in that direction in the lower timeframe charts (i.e., the one you trade off)? This doesn't mean that you can't take countertrend trades (scalps) relative to the daily chart though. I hope I don't appear to presumptuous with my questions, I just want to better understand your position on daily/weekly charts.

EDIT: The trend in the daily chart is also important to the Taylor Technique; for example, if the market is in a trend according to the daily chart, you will often tend to get two buy days or sells days or so instead of one. That is, the swing cycle is shifted.