Timeframe Alignment: How To Align Timeframes For Expansion

TTrades explains timeframe alignment for trading: pairing higher-timeframe bias, structure, and lower-timeframe entry to catch expansion moves, with live TradingView examples.

Key Takeaways

Aligning higher-timeframe bias, structure, and lower-timeframe entry in the same direction is what produces aggressive expansion moves.
Wait for a structural shift and a key level (FVG, order block, high/low) before seeking a lower-timeframe entry.
Use predefined timeframe pairings (e.g., daily with 1-hour, 15-minute with 1-minute) to consistently derive bias and structure.
Confirm lower-timeframe entries with a change in the state of delivery after price reaches a point of interest.

What the video covers

The video teaches how to align timeframes from a higher-timeframe point of interest down to a lower-timeframe entry using an entry sequence.
Top-down analysis uses three timeframes: a higher timeframe for bias, a middle timeframe for structure, and a lower timeframe for entry.
Bias is set by identifying a swing point and anticipating price direction over the following session.
The structure timeframe must shift (via a change in the state of delivery or market structure shift) to align with the higher-timeframe bias.
Key levels such as fair value gaps, highs/lows, or order blocks serve as points of interest where price retraces.
The entry timeframe needs an order block formation that aligns with bias and structure; when all three are aligned, expansion occurs.
Recommended timeframe pairings: weekly with 4-hour, daily with 1-hour, 4-hour with 15-minute, 1-hour with 5-minute, 30-minute with 3-minute, and 15-minute with 1-minute.
Bias is derived the same way as structure: the chosen structure timeframe is paired with the next higher timeframe to determine bias.
Live examples on TradingView show retracements into old highs and swing lows, sweeps of liquidity, and confirmations via series of up-close candles.
The presenter targets 2R on the entry timeframe once alignment and confirmation are achieved, and mentions SMT divergence as lower-timeframe confirmation during New York reversal setups.

Chapters

What are the three timeframes used in top-down analysis according to this video?

The presenter uses a higher timeframe for bias, a middle timeframe for structure, and a lower timeframe for entry. Each is chosen so that the lower timeframe aligns with the middle, and the middle aligns with the higher.

What must happen on the structure timeframe before taking an entry?

The structure timeframe must shift to align with the higher-timeframe bias, through a change in the state of delivery or a market structure shift, and price must reach a key level such as a fair value gap, high/low, or order block.

Which timeframe pairings does the presenter recommend?

He pairs the weekly with the 4-hour, daily with 1-hour, 4-hour with 15-minute, 1-hour with 5-minute, 30-minute with 3-minute, and 15-minute with 1-minute.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

how's it going everyone? This video is going to be about time frame alignment. We're going to talk about how to align the time frames together, specifically how to go from a higher time frame point of interest to a lower time frame entry using the entry sequence.

Speaker A

using the entry sequence now the first thing we have to understand is how I use top down analysis with top- down analysis I am focused on three time frames a higher time frame for bias a middle time frame for structure and a

Speaker A

Now, the first thing we have to understand is how I use top-down analysis. With top-down analysis, I am focused on three time frames: a higher time frame for bias, a middle time frame for structure, and a lower time frame for entry. With the structure of this video, I'm just going to be focused on the structure and entry and how to align those with a bias. If you have questions regarding bias, please leave them in the comment section below or check out the other videos regarding daily bias on my YouTube channel.

Speaker A

or check out the other videos regarding daily bias on my YouTube channel so in this scenario we have formed a swing point and I'm anticipating price to continue lower in the next day so with that bias I would then go down to my

Speaker A

So in this scenario, we have formed a swing point, and I'm anticipating price to continue lower in the next day. With that bias, I would then go down to my structure and my entry time frame. Now, what do I look for on my structural time frame? Well, I want to be looking for one thing: this to align with my higher time frame bias. So if my bias is bearish, I want to wait for either a change in the state of delivery or a market structure shift to allow for my structural time frame to be bearish, which aligns with my bias.

Speaker A

wait for either a change in the state of delivery or a market structure shift to allow for my structal time frame to be bearish which aligns with my bias now once this is bearish then I want to wait

Speaker A

Now, once this is bearish, I want to wait for a key level. And what do I mean by a key level? Well, that is either going to be a fair value gap, a high or a low, or an order block. So you can see here price retraces into a fair value gap, retesting the change in the state of delivery. Now that my structural time frame is aligned bearish and I have reached into a point of interest, all I need to do is wait for my lower time frame entry to align with my higher time frame bias and structure.

Speaker A

the change in the state of delivery so now that my structural time frame is aligned bearish and I have reached into a point of Interest all I need to do is wait for my lower time frame entry to

Speaker A

After I have an order block formation on the lower time frame, in which price moves from bullish and then now it is bearish, all three of my time frames, from my lower time frame to my structural time frame to my bias, are all aligned bearish, and that is when expansion occurs.

Speaker A

to my structural time frame to my bias are all aligned bearish and that is when expansion occurs so what time frames do I pair together I pair the weekly with the 4 Hour the daily with the 1 hour the

Speaker A

So what time frames do I pair together? I pair the weekly with the 4-hour, the daily with the 1-hour, the 4-hour with the 15-minute, the 1-hour with the 5-minute, the 30-minute with the 3-minute, and the 15-minute with the 1-minute. Now, I align my bias the same way as I would align my structure. So let's say I want to take an entry on the 5-minute that aligns with the 1-hour. So now I have my entry time frame and my structural time frame, but where do I get bias? Well, I want to see what aligns with the hourly, so finding the hourly, I align it with the daily to get bias. So let's say I want to take an entry on the 1-minute that aligns with the 15-minute. The 15-minute aligns with the 4-hour time frame, so I'd use the 4-hour for bias, the 15-minute for structure, and the 1-minute for entry.

Speaker A

to take an entry on the 5 minute that aligns with the 1 hour so now I have my entry time frame and my structural time frame but where do I get bias well I want to see what aligns with the hourly

Speaker A

So what does an example of this look like? Well, you can see here we retrace into a swing low, which is a key level and a point of interest on our structure time frame. So then, using the time frame alignment, I would look for an entry on the entry time frame using my entry sequence. For example, if this is a daily chart, what would this be? An hourly chart, because the daily aligns with the hour.

Speaker A

I'd use the 4H hour for bias the 15-minute with structure and the 1 minute for entry so what does an example of this look like well you can see here we retrace into a swing low which is a

Speaker A

So let's hop into TradingView for some examples. Here we are with our first example of time frame alignment. If you are wondering what time frame I'm on or the asset I am on, it will be in the bottom right-hand corner here. So you can see, similar to the previous example, we have retraced into an old high. If I'm anticipating price to reverse off this old high or get a retracement entering a new phase of price delivery, I would then want to go to its lower time frame pairing and wait for a reversal. So using the weekly time frame, I would then go down to the 4-hour time frame. Down here on the 4-hour time frame, I'd want to wait for a shift in trend, which I use a change in the state of delivery, which is the series of up-close candles into that important level. And you can see we have not closed below that yet, so we haven't shifted the structure from bullish to bearish. Here you can see we are entering a consolidation, and now we sweep out these highs to our left. With sweeping out our highs to our left, here we have made a new high, which then, using the series of up-close candles into an important level, is now my shift in structure or my change in the state of delivery.

Speaker A

a daily chart what would this be an hourly chart because the daily aligns with the hour so let's hop into trading view for some examples so here we are with our first first example of time frame alignment if you are wondering

Speaker A

With this, I could look to trade the reversal if I want now that the time frames are aligned, or I could wait for another continuation entry. So you can see here we get a retracement back into the range, and once again, now we have a new order block formation. With our time frames bearish, I then could either look to take an entry here or go to a lower time frame to seek an entry there as well.

Speaker A

to reverse off this old high or get a retracement entering a new phase of price delivery I would then want to go to its lower time frame pairing and wait for a reversal so using the weekly time frame I would then go down to the 4-Hour

Speaker A

So what would that look like? We can drop down to the 15-minute time frame here, because that aligns with the 4-hour time frame. So now, down here on the 15-minute time frame, we have our 4-hour order block level, and so when price reaches into that, we want to align our 15-minute time frame with our 4-hour time frame, so waiting for a change in the state of delivery here. Let's see if we can get it and then get on side with this move. You can see we cannot close below it, so letting this continue, we now make a new high. With making a new high, we now have a new series of up-close candles, and now you can see we get this closure below. So now I could anticipate, since this price action here is now bearish, I'm expecting this high to hold. I could get on side with this move here. Now I can look to target 2R on my entry time frame, and there you see we have hit 2R.

Speaker A

and you can see we have not closed below that yet so we haven't shifted the structure from bullish to bearish here you can see we are entering a consolidation and now we sweep out these highs to our left so with sweeping out

Speaker A

So just to review what happened here: if we go back out to our 4-hour time frame, we used a bias or a point of interest from the weekly time frame to wait for a 4-hour reversal. Once this 4-hour is in bearish structure, I then can look for entries on the 4-hour chart to go lower, or I can also use that to then drop down to a lower time frame pairing to look for entries that align. So in this scenario, we aligned the 15-minute bearish with the 4-hour bearish and then the weekly bearish as well. Dropping back out to the weekly time frame, you can also see we put in a swing point there, so we were trading an expansion candle short.

Speaker A

delivery now with this I could look to trade the reversal if I want now that the time frames are aligned or I could wait for another continuation entry so you can see here we get a retracement back into the range and once

Speaker A

So going back to the 4-hour time frame, let's say I don't want to go to the lower time frame and get caught up. What would that look like? That would look like taking an entry on the 4-hour time frame and using a 4-hour chart for my invalidation as well. There you can see we would have hit 2R, or if we wait for a swing low to get taken out, let's see what this looks like. And you can see we hit our take-profit there as well.

Speaker A

what would that look like we can drop down to the 15-minute time frame here because that aligns with the 4-Hour time frame so now down here on the 15minute time frame we have our 4-Hour order Block Level and so when price reaches

Speaker A

The main point I'm trying to get across here is if I'm entering on the 15-minute chart, I also want my 4-hour chart bearish, and I also want my weekly chart bearish. The whole goal of catching expansions is to have all of my time frames aligned in one direction, and that is when you get this aggressive expansion move.

Speaker A

move you can see we cannot close below it so letting this continue we now make a new high with making a new high we now have a new series of up closed candles and now you can see we get this

Speaker A

So let's hop into a few more examples. Here we are with our next example, and you can see we are on the gold daily chart. Do we have a point of interest or a reason to be looking for a setup? Here we have three days of expansion into an old high, so we're looking for a new phase of price delivery. If we're going to form a reversal, that would occur off the previous day high. So let's drop down to the hourly chart, since that is what aligns with the daily chart. Here we are on the hourly time frame, and if we are looking for a reversal off the previous day high, we want to wait for that to get swept out. Here you can see we sweep out our previous day high. Looking at this series of up-close candles into that point of interest, I am then looking for that as my change in the state of delivery. So now, aligned with my daily point of interest of an old high and the context of price trading back towards the weekly open, we now have aligned our hourly with our daily time frame. Now, with t

Speaker A

time frame and there you see we have hit 2 R so just to review what happened here if we go back out to our 4-Hour time frame we used a bias or a point of interest from the weekly time frame to wait for a

Speaker A

4-Hour reversal once this 4H hour is in bearish structure I then can look for entries on the 4H hour chart to go lower or I can also use that to then drop down to a lower time frame pairing to look

Speaker A

for entries that align so in this scenario we aligned the 15-minute bearish with the 4-Hour bearish and then the weekly bearish as well so dropping back out to the weekly time frame you can also see we put in a swing point

Speaker A

there so we were trading an expansion candle short so going back to the 4our time frame let's say I don't want to go to the lower time frame and get caught up what would that look like that would

Speaker A

look like taking an entry on the 4-Hour time frame and using a 4 hour chart for my invalidation as well there you can see we would have hit 2 r or if we wait for a swing low to get taken out let's

Speaker A

see what this looks like and you can see we hit our takeprofit there as well the main point I'm trying to get across here is if I'm entering on the 15minute chart I also want my 4-Hour chart bearish and I also

Speaker A

want my weekly chart bearish the whole goal of catching expansions is to have all of my time frames aligned in One Direction and that is when you get this aggressive expansion move so let's hop into a few more examples so here we are

Speaker A

with our next example and you can see we are on the gold daily chart do we have a point of Interest or a reason to be looking for a setup and here we have 3 days of expansion into an old high so

Speaker A

looking for a new phase of price delivery if we're going to form a reversal that would occur off previous day high so let's drop down to the hourly chart since that is what aligns with the daily chart so here we are on

Speaker A

the hourly time frame and if we are looking for a reversal off previous day high we want to wait for that to get swept out here you can see we sweep out our previous day high so looking at this

Speaker A

series of up Clos candles into that point of Interest I am then looking for that as my change in the state of delivery so now aligned with my daily point of interest of an old high and the context of price trading back towards

Speaker A

the weekly open we now have aligned our hourly with our daily time frame now with this I could look to take an entry here or once again I could wait for the New York session or a lower time frame

Speaker A

point of interest to be hit so you can see we reach back into this little fair value Gap and retest our change in the state of delivery so now what would I want to see here well I'd want to see

Speaker A

either a lower time frame setup or a new opposing candle or order block formation so you can see we don't close below there but now we close below here so what is this this is now a propulsion block because it is an order block

Speaker A

formed off of another order block so I could either look to take an entry here or drop down to the 5 minute so down here on the 5 minute you can see where price retested our hourly order block

Speaker A

here and we have then Clos below the up Clos candles into that point of Interest so now the 5 minute is aligned bearish the hourly is aligned bearish and that also aligns with our bias so with all directions pointing down it is then set

Speaker A

up for expansion so looking to get on side at the open of the new candle you can see here we start to get a little bit of consolidation but then we eventually expand lower hitting our to our take

Speaker A

profit so just to review going back out to our hourly time frame we have a reason to be looking for a short setup from the bias of expanding away from the weekly open into a point of Interest 3

Speaker A

days of expansion but most importantly I'm not going to look for entries until my lower time frame or my structure time frame shifts in that direction and then I'm looking to align my lower time frame with that higher time frame structure so

Speaker A

in this case using a 5-minute entry I want to have a 5- minute bearish setup that aligns with the hourly bearish structure and you can see that is when you get expansion condition so here we are with our next example and

Speaker A

we are on the Dow 30 minute chart now we don't sweep out this low but we do have an smt so using the daily profile we have all these failure swings on the highs we're in the New York session we

Speaker A

have an smt this is looking like a New York reversal setup Now with an smt I can use this as my lower time frame confirmation and once we get a closure over that that is then telling me that

Speaker A

this low should hold and with that being held I want to wait for a point of interest to be hit on the 30 minute chart before dropping down to my aligned 3 minute chart and you can see here we have

Speaker A

formed a bullish fair value Gap so if price reaches into this on the 3-minute chart I then want to wait for the 3-minute chart to align with the 30-minute chart let's drop down to the 3-minute time frame so here we have that

Speaker A

30 minute fair value Gap and you can see as we let this play out here this is bearish price action here and when we reach into the 30 minute fair value Gap I want to wait for this to align with my

Speaker A

higher time frame which is the 30 minute chart bullish once we get the closure through the down close candles into the point of Interest also sweeping out the lower time frame lows here I can then anticipate this low to hold as we have

Speaker A

aligned our time frames and set it up for expansion so getting on side here my stop on the low and then looking for 2 r let's see how this plays out you can see we get tagged in and we

Speaker A

continue to 2 R so the main thing I want to show here is we let the reversal form on the higher time frame right and then we have a 30 minute chart trending up so when we align the 3 minute chart with

Speaker A

that 30 minute chart in a point of interest that is when expansion occurs so let's take a look at our last example here you can see that Euro USD is trending downwards here and what do we have we have price retracing into a fair

Speaker A

value Gap and sweeping out this high so viewing this as a consolidation if we sweep out the high of the consolidation what should we reach for the low of the consolidation and that is because we have accumulation manipulation and then

Speaker A

I'd anticipate distribution so using this as my bias let's go all the way top down from a daily bias to aligning that with the hourly time frame and then aligning the 5 minute with that as well so here we are down on the hourly chart

Speaker A

we have our bearish bias from the daily chart looking to trade from consolidation highs to consolidation lows now to align our hourly time frame bearish to align with our bias do we have that confirmation we do because into that

Speaker A

important level or sweeping out those highs we have this series of up closed candles and those were closed below so looking for the lower half or the mean threshold of that change in the state of delivery I want to see this area of

Speaker A

respect to continue lower so as we continue in towards this London session you can see we start to retrace up into this point of Interest so if we are going to have this area respect price and push it lower we'd want to

Speaker A

wait on the 5 minute time frame to align with our hourly so we're tracing back into this hourly point of interest from the change in the state of delivery our fair value up here and sweeping out our high to our left here let's drop down to

Speaker A

the 5minute time frame because we got this candle closure here which I could anticipate a reversal so down here on the 5 minute time frame we have aligned our daily with our hourly now is our 5 minute time

Speaker A

frame aligned not yet because we have not had that 5minute confirmation that price is beish yet so I have to wait for the closure through this series of up closed candles into an important level so now with this closure I could look to

Speaker A

get on side here with a short setup with my stop on the high or wait for any retests so with this consolidation I'm not anticipating price to reverse from a consolidation are we respecting 0. five of this change in the state of delivery

Speaker A

we are as we have not closed over so looking for this to become a propulsion block do we get the closure below this and there we get the closure below this so now I would not anticipate price to trade to this high so I would look to

Speaker A

get on side here with my stop over this swing High looking for 2 R now since I'm aligning my daily with the hourly and the 5 minute what I can do is I can look for this to have my target be hit or get

Speaker A

stopped out but what else can I do since I'm aligning these time frames together I can also draw targets from my hourly time frame so if I'm using my hourly time frame here I could then look for runners to go take out this low here

Speaker A

this short-term low or to go reach for this low down here or the consolidation low on The Daily time frame and you can see when you align all the time frames together that is when you get expansion and there we go and take out

Speaker A

that low so so I hope you found this video helpful if you did please consider liking and subscribing and I hope you have a great rest of your day see you guys next time

Topics:timeframe alignmenttop-down analysisorder blockfair value gapchange in state of deliverymarket structure shiftexpansionsmart money conceptsTradingViewentry sequence

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