How to Change Timeframes on the MT4 chart?

Time frame is a common term for trading time frames on financial markets. However, when starting to learn what a time frame is, new traders are often hasty in choosing a timeframe that suits their strategy and style without understanding the most thoroughly about time frames.

When studying time frames, the most important thing is to understand how each candle in each time frame represents the meaning. This helps traders analyze candlesticks on time frames more accurately. You would know how to combine multi-timeframe analysis for the best trading efficiency.

What is the Timeframe?

The time frame is the volatility period of a candle in a trading session. Each candle is formed after a certain period of time.

Time frames range from 1 minute to 1 month. 

In a 1-minute time frame, each candle shows the price movement for a period of 1 minute, and every minute one candle is formed.

Similarly, each candle is formed after one day (from 0:00 to 23:59) in a 1-day time frame.

How to change Timeframes on MT4

There are 9 Timeframes offered on MT4, including:

• M1: 1 minute 
• M5: 5 minutes
• M15: 15 minutes
• M30: 30-minute timeframe
• H1: 1 hour
• H4: 4 hours
• D1: 1 day 
• W1: 1 week 
• MN: 1 month 

How to change the Timeframes on the MT4 chart

There are two ways to customize the timeframe. The first way is quite simple. You need to click on any timeframe in the toolbar, just above the chart.

Alternatively, you can also switch between timeframes by right-clicking on the chart and selecting ‘Timeframes‘, and selecting whichever timeframe is displayed (from 1-minute charts to monthly charts.)

What Do Timeframes Mean in Forex trading?

Time frames help traders determine how long the movement of a candle or a session is and the opening, high, low, and closing prices of the asset during that period. 

For example, the H1 time frame of the EUR/USD currency pair. When observing the price chart on this time frame, we are provided with the following information:

• For past candles, each candle fluctuates over a period of one hour. If you choose H1. Then you know which candle corresponds to that period, the price fluctuates up or down in that one hour, how much is the highest price, what is the lowest price, and the opening and how much is the closing price.
• Assuming you are observing the current candle at 16:30, it means that this candle has been formed since 15:00 and will end at 15:59. The opening price is determined at 15:00, and the closing price will be determined at 15:59. The highest and lowest prices will not be known until the candle is over.

The image above is the price chart of the EUR/USD currency pair on the H1 timeframe.

Using the horizontal time coordinates below to determine which candle belongs to which period is challenging. So you just need to put the pointer on the High price of the bullish candle (hollow candle) or Low price of a bearish candle (white candle). All trading information of that candle appears as shown in the picture, including time (starting time of the candle) ), Open, High, Low, Close price, and also trading volume.

What are the best timeframes in forex trading?

There are four popular trading styles in the forex market, classified according to the length of the position, including scalping trading, day trading, swing trading, and position trading. Each style is suitable for different time frames.

It is essential not to choose which time frame. However, to determine what style you are trading or what type of trading you will shape yourself into.

New traders are often eager to see immediate profits, so they often choose very short time frames to trade like M1 or M5. Most of them fail miserably because trading with short time frames requires traders with experience, knowledge, and professional skills improvisation to unexpected market fluctuations.

Another point to note when choosing a time frame for trading is the suitability of the account’s capital. If trading on a short time frame, you can completely set the stop loss or take profit levels further than the entry point because the distance between these points on the short time frame is negligible. Conversely, if the transaction on time frame is significant like D1 or W1, these distances are valuable, requiring you to have more substantial capital.

The picture on the left is time frame M5, on the right is time frame D1. The distance from the entry point to the stop loss on the M5 frame is quite straightforward, but it is shorter in the D1 time frame. The distance corresponding to the number of pips is unchanged.

In conclusion, I want to emphasize to you that there is no best time frame for anyone, it depends on each person’s strategy and goals. However, when you first step into the market, you should focus more on the daily frame, and gradually get used to multi-timeframe analysis for the best trading effect.

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