Important Reminder
Forex and crypto trading are high risk and speculative. Everything on this website is for education only and not financial advice. Never trade with money you cannot afford to lose. Always start with a demo or paper trading account. For real investment decisions, consult licensed financial professionals in the Philippines.
What You'll Be Able to Do After This Lesson
- Create a free TradingView account and set up a clean, organized chart layout
- Understand what candlesticks show and how to read OHLC (Open, High, Low, Close)
- Switch between timeframes to view different periods of price action
- Navigate the TradingView Supercharts workspace with confidence
- Save your chart layout so you can pick up where you left off
Introduction: Your First Hands-On Lesson
Welcome to your first hands-on lesson! Up until now, you've been learning concepts—what forex and crypto are, how trends work, what indicators show, and why risk management matters. Now it's time to put that knowledge into action.
TradingView is going to be your practice playground. It's where you'll watch real market movements, test your analysis skills, and eventually place practice trades without risking a single peso. Think of it like a flight simulator for pilots—you get to practice in a safe environment before you ever consider flying a real plane.
Don't worry if the platform feels overwhelming at first. We're going to walk through everything step by step. By the end of this lesson, you'll have your chart set up and ready to go, and you'll understand how to read the price movements that happen every single day in the forex and crypto markets.
Creating Your TradingView Account
What is TradingView?
TradingView is one of the most popular charting platforms in the world. Millions of traders—from complete beginners to professionals—use it every day to analyze forex, crypto, stocks, commodities, and more. It's trusted, reliable, and best of all, it has a completely free plan that's perfect for learning.
The free plan has everything a beginner needs:
- Real-time price charts for thousands of markets
- Access to technical indicators like moving averages, RSI, and MACD
- The ability to practice trades using paper trading (fake money)
- Cloud-based, so you can access your charts from any device
Yes, you'll see some ads, and there are limits on how many indicators you can use at once (three on the free plan), but that's actually helpful when you're starting out—it forces you to focus on the essentials instead of cluttering your chart with too many tools.
How to Sign Up
Signing up is quick and easy. Here's what to do:
Go to tradingview.com in your web browser.
Look for the Sign Up button (usually in the top-right corner of the homepage).
Sign up using your email, Google account, or Apple ID. Pick whichever method is easiest for you.
Choose the Free Plan when prompted. Don't pay for anything yet—there's no need to upgrade until you've practiced for weeks or even months.
Save your login details in a secure password manager or write them down. You'll be logging in regularly.
Quick Tips for Account Security
Use a strong password that mixes letters, numbers, and symbols. Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) in your account settings for extra security. And never share your login—your TradingView account will eventually hold your practice trades and analysis notes.
Opening Your First Chart (Supercharts)
Finding the Search Bar
When you first log into TradingView, you'll see a clean homepage with a large search bar near the top. This search bar is your gateway to any market in the world. Let's open your first chart.
For Forex Traders
Type: EURUSD
This is the Euro vs US Dollar—one of the most traded pairs in the world. Great for learning!
For Crypto Traders
Type: BTCUSDT
This is Bitcoin vs Tether—one of the most liquid crypto trading pairs.
What is Supercharts?
The chart that opens is called Supercharts—this is your main workspace. Here's what you'll see:
- The price chart in the center (where candlesticks will appear)
- Timeframe buttons at the top (1m, 5m, 15m, 1H, 4H, D, W, M)
- A toolbar on the left side with drawing tools and indicators
- A panel on the right showing the current price and stats
Don't worry about memorizing everything right now. Just get familiar with the layout. You'll be spending a lot of time here, so it will become second nature soon.
Understanding Candlesticks (OHLC)
Why Candlesticks?
When you first open your chart, TradingView might show you a simple line chart or bar chart. But we want to change it to candlesticks because candlesticks give us much more information. They show us not just where the price ended, but also the story of what happened during that time period.
How to Switch to Candlesticks
Look for the chart type button near the top-left of your screen (it might look like a small icon with bars or lines). Click it and select Candles from the dropdown menu. Your chart will now display candlesticks.
What Do Candlesticks Show?
Each candlestick represents a specific period of time (like 1 hour or 1 day, depending on your timeframe). Every candle shows four key prices:
The Candle Body
The thick part of the candle is called the body. The body shows the distance between the open and close prices.
Price went UP
Buyers in control
Price went DOWN
Sellers in control
Real Example
Imagine a 1-hour candle on EURUSD. The candle opens at 1.1000, rises to 1.1020, falls to 1.0995, and closes at 1.1015. This would be a green (bullish) candle because the close (1.1015) is higher than the open (1.1000).
The Candle Wicks (or Shadows)
The thin lines above and below the body are called wicks (or shadows). Wicks show the highest and lowest prices reached during that time period.
- Long wick to the upside: Buyers tried to push price higher, but sellers fought back. This shows rejection at higher prices.
- Long wick to the downside: Sellers tried to push price lower, but buyers fought back. This shows rejection at lower prices.
Why Candlesticks Matter
Candlesticks help you see the battle between buyers and sellers. They tell you not just where the price ended, but also what happened during the journey. Did buyers dominate? Did sellers dominate? Was there a fight that ended in a draw?
Over time, you'll learn to recognize patterns in candlesticks—like a candle with a tiny body and long wicks (called a doji), which often means the market is undecided. But for now, just focus on reading the basics: color (bullish or bearish), body size (strength of movement), and wick length (rejection).
Changing Timeframes
What Are Timeframes?
A timeframe tells you how much time each candlestick represents. If you're on the 1-hour (1H) chart, each candle shows 1 hour of price movement. If you're on the daily (D) chart, each candle shows 1 full day.
Different timeframes give you different perspectives on the market.
How to Change Timeframes
At the top of your chart, you'll see buttons with labels like 1m, 5m, 15m, 1H, 4H, D, W, M. To change timeframes, simply click on any of these buttons. The chart will reload and show you the same market, but with candles representing the new time period.
Which Timeframes Should Beginners Use?
As a beginner, we strongly recommend starting with the 1-hour (1H) and daily (D) charts. Here's why:
1-Hour Chart (1H)
Shows clear trends without being too fast. Each candle represents 1 hour, so you can see intraday movements without feeling overwhelmed. Perfect for practicing your analysis skills.
Daily Chart (D)
Shows the bigger picture. Each candle represents a full trading day. Helps you identify major trends and support/resistance levels. Slower, calmer, great for understanding long-term market direction.
Why Avoid Lower Timeframes (1m, 5m) as a Beginner?
Lower timeframes like the 1-minute or 5-minute charts move very fast. Prices jump up and down constantly, and it's easy to feel anxious, confused, or pressured to make quick decisions. These charts are full of "noise"—small, random movements that don't follow any clear pattern. For beginners, lower timeframes can be overwhelming and can lead to overtrading. Stick to 1H and D charts while you're learning.
Pro Tip: Use Multiple Timeframes
Professional traders often look at more than one timeframe. For example, you might check the daily chart to see the overall trend, then switch to the 1-hour chart to find a good entry point. This is called multi-timeframe analysis. But don't worry about this yet—for now, just get comfortable switching between 1H and D.
Saving Your Layout
Why Save Your Layout?
Once you've set up your chart the way you like it—with the right timeframe, candlestick view, and maybe some indicators (which we'll add in the next lesson)—you'll want to save it. If you don't save, TradingView might reset your settings when you log out, and you'll have to rebuild everything next time.
Saving your layout makes your life easier. You can open TradingView, click on your saved layout, and pick up right where you left off.
How to Save Your Layout
Look for the Layouts button near the top-right corner of your chart (it might look like stacked rectangles).
Click on Layouts, then click Save As.
Give your layout a simple, clear name like "My Beginner Setup", "Practice Chart", or "EURUSD 1H Setup".
Click Save. Your layout is now stored in your TradingView account and ready to load anytime.
Pro Tip: Create Multiple Layouts
You can create multiple layouts for different purposes. For example, one layout for forex, another for crypto, and another for practicing with different indicators. As you grow as a trader, you'll appreciate having organized workspaces.
Key Takeaways
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The free plan is more than enough for learning. Don't pay for premium features until you've practiced for weeks or months and truly understand what extra tools you need.
These charts are noisy, fast, and stressful. They can make you feel anxious and lead to poor decisions. Stick to 1H and daily charts while learning.
If you don't save, you'll have to rebuild your chart setup every time you log in. This wastes time and can be frustrating.
TradingView has a lot of tools, and that's okay. You don't need to learn everything at once. Focus on the basics first—chart type, timeframe, candlesticks. The rest will come naturally as you practice.
Practice Task (Optional)
Now it's your turn! Open TradingView and practice the following steps:
-
1
Search and Open Your Chart Search for EURUSD (forex) or BTCUSDT (crypto) and open the chart.
-
2
Switch to Candlesticks Change the chart type to Candles if it's not already in candlestick view.
-
3
Explore Timeframes Switch between the 1H and D timeframes. Notice how the chart looks different at each timeframe.
-
4
Read the Candles Look at the last 10 candles. Identify which are bullish (green) and bearish (red). Can you see the wicks?
-
5
Save Your Layout Save your layout with a simple name like "My First Chart" or "Practice Setup".
This practice task should take about 10–15 minutes. Don't rush. Play around with the platform and get comfortable!
Remember
Trading is high risk. This is education only. Never trade with money you cannot afford to lose. Always practice first with demo or paper trading. Congratulations on completing Lesson 5.1—you've taken your first real step into the world of trading platforms!