Technical Analysis Using Multiple Timeframes Brian Shannon

This is your anchor. This chart tells you the "weather." Are we in a bull market or a bear market?

Most traders are linear thinkers. They look at a daily chart and see an uptrend, so they buy. Brian Shannon argues that this is like navigating a cross-country road trip using only a satellite image of the Earth. It gives you the big picture but misses the potholes, gas stations, and traffic jams.

Shannon’s philosophy is rooted in Dow Theory but modernized for the high-speed electronic markets of the 21st century.

He famously states that price movement is fractal. What you see on the weekly chart is the tide. What you see on the daily chart is the wave. What you see on the hourly chart is the ripple. technical analysis using multiple timeframes brian shannon

Without analyzing all three, you will either sell too early (fighting the tide) or buy too late (chasing the ripple).

While some analysts use three or four timeframes, Shannon typically advocates for keeping it simple with two primary views: the Intermediate Term (for trend direction) and the Short Term (for entry timing).

While the title of his book highlights timeframes, Shannon is equally famous for his emphasis on Volume. He teaches that price is the vehicle, but volume is the fuel. This is your anchor

When analyzing the Intermediate Timeframe, Shannon looks for:

Once the weekly chart confirms a bullish bias, move down to the daily chart. Here, Shannon looks for the "Fallen Angel" or "Slingshot"—a stock that has pulled back to a logical support level (like the 50-day SMA or a previous resistance-turned-support) without breaking the weekly trend.

The daily chart answers the question: Is the current pullback healthy or broken? Without analyzing all three, you will either sell

Shannon pays close attention to Volume. He wants to see volume drying up on the pullback (sellers exhausting) and volume expanding on the bounce (buyers returning).

Shannon teaches that looking at a single timeframe is like looking at a single frame of a movie—you don’t know if the character is running toward something or running away. He utilizes three distinct timeframes, each serving a specific purpose:

Shannon emphasizes that MTA reduces emotional trading: