You may know a "fair few bits and bobs" but it takes a lot more understanding to be a competent chartist.
I am going to ASSUME that you are a day trader and you are not looking at the charting interval but rather the overall time frame for the the complete chart or maybe that is what you mean (written communication is not your strong point)
What I think you mean is you are going to only hold a trade for 30 mins or one day and you want to know what kind of chart should you look at.
So you are a day trader...with not much experience (traded here and there). Well here is one approach to charting (we assume that you have found a good prospect for a day trade) Ideally you would have a L2 chart as this is a chart that continuously updates on a time interval of your choice...usually a 5 minute interval is sufficient or you can change it to 1 minute when a critical point in the action is reached.
I really don't know why you would pick a timeframe for the total chart to be 30 minutes (actually you could not pick a chart that size if you wanted to)...how do you know the day trade play will last that long or that it will not end in that time.....you don't know.
So If I was to day trade (and I don't day trade but if I did) I would start with a 2 day chart with a 5 min interval at the start of the day...I want the last day's numbers to see what the chart is doing leading into today's action.
this is not a L2 chart....there is a 15 minute delay...but it will get the message across.
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/kaavio....
this is how I would set the chart up and I would have it ready BEFORE the trading day.
Why would this chart be interesting....it would be because of the Bollinger bands at the end of the last day....that combined with the increase in volume...the rise of the MACD blue line (the signal line is useles to my way of thinking) and the divergence of the Blue line of the DMI.
This would lead me to expect a good day the following day.
So I get luck and buy in around $0.42 - $0.43 after the trading day starts.....
Notice the small volume in the first 5 mins...then larger volume in the second 5 mins...then even higher volume in the next 5 mins...followed by a severe drop in volume in the 4th 5 min segment....this is one clue the trade is over
Look at the price in relation to the upper bollinger band....during the time I mentioned above....the price is above the upper Bollinger band....it does not stay that way for long....another clue the party is over
Now you look at the blue line of the MACD (you can see why I hate the traditional signal line....it is always late)..the MACD line is topping out quickly....another clue
Look at the DMI blue line...see that it has topped out already after 2 intervals and is falling fast.
Combine these clues and they tell you to exit the trade and if you are lucky you can sell at $0.46 - $0.47 and you would make 4 to 5 cents on the 25 minute trade...roughly 10% on your money for a few minutes of work.
if you continued to follow this chart looking for another opportunity there is no clue as to another rise.
Despite your question....this is how I would do a day trade....it is a lot of stress though...especially if you have not worked out a plan (which seems to be you IMHO) and I prefer a life :)
Hope this example helps....
The main problem of almost every trader is the thoughts that trading is game or it's easy money. Before profitable trading you should learn a lot about this field. So, even don't try to trade with real money. You can learn how to make real money from this course ( http://forexsignal.kyma.info ) Second, you should choose the right broker. There are some brokers that plays against their own clients. So, your main goal - find good broker. Third, yo can generate more profits with automated trading software. As you maybe know, there is a lot of different scammers on trading market so it will be hard to find really profitable trading system. That strategy brings me a lot of money every month, all thanks to the course that I posted above. Hope you will follow my recommendations, bye!
I've traded here and there. I know a fair few bits and bobs... News, MACDs and all this..
Look at a 30minute chart frame for a 30 minute time frame of trade?
Look at 1day chart frame for a 1 day time frame of trade?
What's ball to the reformed Gekko peoples?
