✓ Smart Trading Checklist
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Not affiliated with any broker or trading platform. Check your checklist before you trade, and decide from the facts rather than from emotion.

How to decide which strategy

Scalp, Intraday and Swing are three ways to read the same checklist. Each button fills Higher, Middle and Entry with a matching set of charts. The useful choice is the one you can follow on an ordinary day, with the time and costs you actually have.

Side by side

The charts below are the ones the checklist buttons set. Higher sets the trend, Middle shows the pullback, Entry times the trade.

Scalp Intraday Swing
Charts (higher / middle / entry) 15M / 5M / 1M 1H / 15M / 3M 1D / 4H / 1H
Typical hold A few seconds to about 15 minutes From several minutes to a few hours, closed the same day Several hours to several days
Time at the screen High. You stay at the chart for the whole session. Medium. One session, such as London or New York, then you are done. Low. Plan once, then check the chart a few times a day.
How many trades Many small trades in one session A few planned trades a day A few trades a week
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Scalp

15M / 5M / 1M

You trade the turn on the 1-minute chart, only in the direction of the 15-minute trend. The target is small, so the spread has to be small too.

A good fit: Traders who can sit still, click without hesitating, and stop after a daily loss limit. Liquid majors and gold during London or New York, when the spread is tight.

Advantages

  • The trade is finished in minutes, so there is no overnight gap and no swap.
  • One loss is a small part of the session. You get many chances to follow the same plan.
  • The 1-minute chart shows the exact turn, so the stop can sit just beyond that small swing.
  • You find out quickly whether the read was right. That makes review the same day possible.

Disadvantages

  • The spread and any slippage are a large share of a 1-minute target. A wide spread can turn a correct idea into a loss.
  • You need uninterrupted attention. A minute away from the screen is enough to miss the stop or the exit.
  • The 15-minute trend changes often. A shorter higher timeframe is a weaker bias than a 1-hour or daily trend.
  • More trades means more decisions, and more chances to revenge-trade after a loss.
  • News, a sudden spread widen, and requotes hurt a scalp more than a slower trade.

Intraday

1H / 15M / 3M

The 1-hour chart sets the direction for the session. You wait for a pullback on the 15-minute chart and enter on the 3-minute chart. The position is flat before the day ends.

A good fit: Traders who can give one market session their attention and then stop. This is the usual starting point if you are still building the habit of checking a trade before you enter.

Advantages

  • You finish flat. There is no overnight gap and no swap to pay.
  • A 1-hour trend usually lasts through a session, so the bias is steadier than a 15-minute trend.
  • A handful of trades is enough time to run the full checklist on each one.
  • The stop comes from the 3-minute structure and the target from the 1-hour move, which often leaves room for 1:2 or better.
  • London and New York give enough movement on majors and gold without requiring a 1-minute chart.

Disadvantages

  • You need to be available for the session you chose. A job that interrupts you every few minutes fights this style.
  • A news release inside the session can erase a valid setup in seconds.
  • Some days offer only one clean setup. Taking a second trade because the first one was missed is a common leak.
  • The 3-minute entry can still be spiked by a spread widen, so the stop needs a little room past the swing.
  • Holding through a quiet lunch hour often gives back open profit. Have an exit plan before that happens.

Swing

1D / 4H / 1H

The daily chart decides the direction. The 4-hour chart shows the pullback, and the 1-hour chart times the entry. You can hold through the night when the daily trend is still intact.

A good fit: Traders with a job, limited screen time, or a preference for fewer decisions. Also the better fit when the spread on your market is too wide for a fast target.

Advantages

  • The daily trend is the most stable of the three. Longer timeframes count as more reliable in the checklist probability.
  • Screen time stays low. You can plan in the evening and check once or twice during the day.
  • The spread is a small part of a daily move, so being a few pips late barely changes the trade.
  • Fewer trades means each one can go through the checklist properly.
  • It fits around other work. You do not need a free morning to catch the entry.

Disadvantages

  • Price can gap through the stop overnight or over the weekend. The loss can be larger than the planned risk.
  • Holding for days means swap on forex and gold, or funding on crypto. That cost adds up on a slow trade.
  • The stop is wider in price, so the position size has to be smaller to keep the same risk percent.
  • You may wait days for a setup, then sit through a pullback that looks like the trade has failed.
  • Fewer trades means you learn more slowly, and one loss feels larger because it was the trade of the week.

How to choose

Answer these in order. The first clear answer is usually the right preset. Profit targets come after the style fits your day.

  1. 1. How much quiet time do you have?

    • Under an hour, and not every day. Use Swing (1D / 4H / 1H). You plan the trade, then check it later.
    • One full market session. Use Intraday. You can watch the 15-minute pullback and still close before the day ends.
    • You can sit through a session without stepping away. Scalping is possible. If you get interrupted, the 1-minute chart will move without you.

  2. 2. What does the spread cost compared with the target?

    Write down the usual spread on the symbol you trade, then compare it with a normal target for that style. If the spread is more than about a quarter of the target, the style is too fast for that market. Scalping gold or a major pair only makes sense in London or New York, when the spread is tight. A wide-spread crypto pair belongs on the swing charts, where the daily move is much larger than the spread.

  3. 3. How do you behave after a loss?

    If a loss makes you want another trade immediately, scalping gives you that chance every few minutes. Swing removes it: the next setup may be tomorrow. Intraday sits in between, as long as you stop after the session plan is done. Pick the speed that makes waiting easier, then keep a written loss limit for the day or the week.

  4. 4. How long have you been placing live trades?

    The 1-minute chart punishes a slow click and a late checklist. If you are still learning to mark trend, level and stop, start with Intraday or Swing. Both give you time to answer the checklist before price has already left. Move to Scalp only after the slower style is boring because you already follow it.

  5. 5. Stay with one preset

    Use the same button for at least 20 to 30 checklist trades. Changing from Swing to Scalp because the last trade lost is the same habit as flipping charts until one of them agrees with you. The checklist always reads the three charts the same way: Higher for direction, Middle for the pullback, Entry for the trigger. Only the speed changes.

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Use it on the checklist

Open the checklist and press Scalp, Intraday or Swing. The three timeframe fields fill in, and you can still edit them. The higher timeframe carries the most weight in the Buy / Sell probability. If that chart has no clear trend, the result is wait. For the reading method itself, see the multi-timeframe analysis guide.

Back to the checklist

This page is education about how to choose a working style. It is not a forecast and it is not financial advice. Trading Forex and crypto can lose more than the risk you planned, especially when price gaps.