"...What do you normally use when trading? I see you referencing 20min timeframes during a trading day..."
I use two different charting platforms. On one I have something like 2,7,20min,4hr charts and the other platform which is scanning, I have 20min, daily charts.
"..Do you see value in "going out" to say a 2 week TF like the ones above to give you confirmation of a trend? Why not 1 week?.."
I see no value whatsoever in a 2week or for that matter a weekly timeframe when day trading.. absolutely zip. When daytrading the only real timeframe that matters to me is the 20min. If all of a sudden a candle goes bang with volume, I go and look. I then compare that candles activity with other relative candles and also check to see where that candle is in relationship to either support/resistance etc. It does not matter if it goes bang at the beginning of a new candle or at/near its close, my scanner will pick it up, obviously would like it to happen earlier to give me a good heads up. Of late you may have seen some of my posts suggesting that a stock has just 'wiggled ?'. These are references mostly when something unusual has just occurred and pinkies crossed something may flow out of it. Most of the time nothing will, but hey that's life and part of everyday trading.
"...It is something I'm struggling with at present.. I have spent the last 9 months studying charting, volume and spread, but find that applied over..."
imo a 1min chart is way way too small and will likely get you into trouble 9 from 10 times and the time you happen to have a win could be seen as a fluke
I'm not sure what your average length to hold a stock is so hard to comment on that. A lot of my intraday trades would come from watching those multiple timeframes .. 2/7/20min/4hr. with the odd swing trade coming out of the 20min/daily charts.. but then again, I do find a lot of day trade potentials from scanning with the 20min/daily. A lot of my trading is to watch for sudden breakout/momentum style movements and for these I find it best to thing in a lateral sense and not to follow or look for any particular trend.
