Bias threads on the strategy board range from step-by-step routines to the "higher timeframe isn't always right" argument. Seven of them fit together into one workable approach, with a couple of real disagreements, so here's the summary.
A routine short enough to actually do
The top-down in ten minutes thread gives the cleanest version for scalpers:
- H4, about three minutes: trending, ranging, or at a major level? Note the closest H4 level on each side.
- H1 or M15, about four minutes: where did the previous session finish against those levels? Add the Asian range plus yesterday's high and low.
- Bias, one minute: write one line.
The Sunday bias sheet thread does the weekly version: one line per pair with weekly context, last week's high and low, one or two daily levels, and the week's releases for both currencies in your own time zone.
Opens as reference lines
The daily and weekly open thread and the true day open thread use the open as a simple filter: above it, buyers have controlled the period so far, below it, sellers have. A reply in the true day open thread points out the post was using the open in two ways that pull against each other: as a filter, where price above the open is bullish, and as a target, where price returning to the open is expected. You can't use both at once on the same trade without deciding which one you mean. Another reply calls the midnight open a reference point and nothing more.
When timeframes disagree
The 4H/1H/15M thread says conflicting timeframes are normal and usually mean a retracement inside a larger trend. Anchor to the higher timeframe, read the middle one as the pullback, and use the lowest for timing. A reply adds a cause people forget: a single data release can flip M15 in one candle while H4 hasn't noticed yet.
The higher timeframe myth
The myth thread pushes back on the absolute version. Higher timeframes carry more weight, but they're slower, and the daily can be right about direction while taking you through a 200 pip correction that's ten times an intraday stop. Being right on the daily doesn't help a scalper caught in that pullback.
The fix suggested in a reply is the one I'd go with: add a column to your journal marking each trade as aligned or counter to the higher timeframe, then compare. For some setups the gap is huge. For others it barely exists, and the rule is costing you trades for nothing.
Overall
The threads agree the bias is a filter, not a trigger, and that it should be written before the session. They disagree on how much weight it deserves, which is exactly what your own aligned-versus-counter data can settle.
How often do you write "no bias" in your prep? And have you checked whether your counter-trend trades are actually worse?
Threads this pulls from
- Daily Bias, How to Decide Buy or Sell Before the Session
- Top-Down Bias in Ten Minutes: An H4-M15-M1 Routine for Scalpers
- When the 4H, 1H and 15M Disagree
- Myth: The Higher Timeframe Is Always Right
- True Day Open and Midnight Open as Bias Filters
- Daily and Weekly Open: The Reference Price Everyone Watches
- Sunday Bias Sheet: Writing a One-Line View per Pair Before the Week
