Course › Level 1 — The tools of the trade
Timeframes — zooming in and out
The same market looks completely different depending on how much time each candle covers. On MT5 you'll mostly touch:
- D1 (daily) — each candle is a day. The big picture: where is this market going overall?
- H1 (hourly) — the medium picture: what's happening today?
- M15 (15 minutes) — the fine detail: where exactly could I enter?
The rule that keeps beginners out of trouble
Read the market top-down: D1 first, then H1, then M15. The big timeframe is the tide; the small one is the waves. Swim with the tide.
A trade that looks great on M15 but fights the D1 direction is how beginners buy the top of a falling market. When two timeframes disagree, the bigger one wins.
That's Level 1 done — you know what the broker, the platform and the chart are. Next: reading the chart like a trader.
Quick check
If the daily chart points down but M15 looks bullish, you should…