How Far Back Should A Trader Look When Viewing Charts?

Originally published at: https://optimusfutures.com/tradeblog/archives/futures-trading-chart-history/%20

This article on futures trading chart history is the opinion of Optimus Futures. One question that many day traders tend to ask is how far back in time they should go to contextualize their trades. That’s a reasonable question. If you’re trading on, say, a one-minute chart, then yesterday’s trading levels might provide valuable insight toward today’s trade. But then where does it stop—a week, month, year, or several years? When is the timescale no longer helpful or valid? For example, how useful is a 5-year old support and resistance when you trade on a 1-minute, 5-minute, or 15-minutes chart?…