Timeframe comparison
See the same price data grouped three ways, and discover how much of what looks like a trend is an artefact of the chart you chose.
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere. Educational only, and not investment advice.
How to use this calculator
Each step names a control you will find on screen above.
- Switch between the three timeframes
Identical underlying data, grouped into different candles. Nothing has been added or removed.
- Find a move that looks decisive on the short chart
Then locate the same period on the long one. It is usually a single candle, often a wick.
- Match your timeframe to your holding period
Analysing on a five-minute chart and holding for three months is the most common mismatch there is, and it guarantees you exit on noise.
Worked example: A "crash" that was one weekly candle
Find a sharp decline on the shortest timeframe, then look at the same dates on the longest.
What to enter
- Timeframe
- Short · Medium · Long
What it shows you
- On the short chart
- A sustained multi-session decline
- On the long chart
- One candle with a lower wick
- The trend on the long chart
- Unbroken
- What the short chart triggered
- An exit
Where this is taught
A calculator gives you a number. These explain what the number means and when it misleads you.
- Technical Analysis11 minIntraday, swing or positional — choosing honestlyFour styles, their real time cost, their real cost structure, and the one that suits almost everyone with a job.
- Technical Analysis11 minThe case for slowing downMost retail traders operate on timeframes that maximise noise, cost and stress while minimising their actual advantage. The weekly chart fixes all three.
- Technical Analysis9 minChart types and choosing a timeframeLine, bar and candlestick charts; linear versus logarithmic scale; and why picking the wrong timeframe is the most common beginner error.
- Technical Analysis13 minThe session does not divide by sixtyYou and a friend trade the same written rule off the same stock on the same day. Your hourly chart triggered at 11.15 and his never triggered at all. Both charts are correct, and the disagreement is arithmetic: 375 does not divide by 60, so somebody had to decide where the cuts fall.
- Technical Analysis9 minMulti-timeframe analysisThree charts, three jobs. How to use a higher timeframe for direction without letting it rescue a trade that has already failed.