For intraday traders
Intraday buy and sell signals for traders who are flat by the close
An intraday trader on NSE has from 9:15 am to 3:30 pm, and every position is closed before the bell. On MCX the day runs late into the evening. Either way there is no overnight in which a trade can come right. The stop-loss has to be known before entry, and the exit has to happen today.
WizeBuySell is charting software that plots buy and sell signals on your own AmiBroker or TradingView chart. Each signal carries an entry, three targets, a stop-loss and its timeframe, and is confirmed only when the candle closes. This page covers which timeframe to use, how many signals to expect, and where day traders actually lose money.
How an NSE session moves between 9:15 and 3:30
The first 30 to 45 minutes are the open drive. Overnight news, the gap and pending orders get priced in at once. Ranges are wide and direction can flip twice before 10 am. Signals here move fast in both directions, and the stop-loss usually sits further away than it will later in the day.
From roughly 11 am to 1:30 pm the market often drifts. Volume thins and price crosses back and forth over the same level. This is where whipsaws come from: a buy, a stop-loss, a sell, another stop-loss. Directionless price gives directionless signals, and many experienced day traders simply trade less in this window.
The last hour brings volume back as positions are squared off. Moves can be clean, but a signal at 2:50 pm has little time to reach T2 or T3. MCX traders see a similar shape shifted later, with crude oil and natural gas most active in the evening when US markets are open.
What each intraday timeframe gives you and what it costs
| Timeframe | Signals in a session | Stop-loss distance | What goes wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-minute | Many | Very tight | Mostly noise; costs take most of the move |
| 3-minute | Many | Tight | Frequent whipsaws in the mid-day drift |
| 5-minute | Moderate | Moderate | Early entries; needs constant attention |
| 15-minute | Few | Wider | Later entries, fewer false starts |
| 30-minute | Very few | Widest | Some days no signal; late ones run out of session |
Counts are relative descriptions, not promises.
Why candle-close confirmation matters more at 5 minutes than at 15
A WizeBuySell signal is confirmed when the candle closes, and after that it does not move or vanish. Mid-candle, price can poke through a level and come straight back. A tool that printed a signal at that poke and erased it later would show a clean history your account never saw. That is repainting, and it is the first thing to test in a trial.
On a 5-minute chart you wait at most five minutes, and the entry is close to where the move began. On a 15-minute chart, a fast Bank Nifty move can travel a fair distance before the candle closes. You enter later with a wider stop-loss, but fewer signals are false starts. The 5-minute trader pays in whipsaws; the 15-minute trader pays in late entries.
A daily routine built around fresh signals
A routine removes most of the decisions that go wrong under pressure.
- 01
Build the watchlist before the open
Before 9:15, pick three to six instruments you know: an index and a few liquid F&O stocks. Note yesterday's high, low and close, and any scheduled event.
- 02
Let the open settle, then scan at 9:30
Skip the first few candles. Around 9:30, run the AmiBroker Exploration scanner on your watchlist, or check your TradingView alerts, for confirmed signals on your timeframe.
- 03
Act only on fresh signals
Take a signal on the candle after it confirms. If price has already run halfway to T1 when you notice, let it go. Chasing changes the risk you agreed to.
- 04
Trail the stop-loss order yourself
Place the stop-loss order with your broker as soon as the entry fills. The chart trails the stop-loss to entry at T1 and to T1 at T2. Modify your order to match.
- 05
Stop after your loss limit for the day
Fix a maximum loss before the open, in rupees or in number of stop-losses. When you reach it, close the terminal. The next signal is not owed to you.
- 06
Review after the close
Log each trade: signal time, entry, exit, reason for exit. Mark the ones you took late or skipped. Ten minutes a day teaches more than any settings change.
How many signals to expect, and what costs do to small targets
Some days give several signals on a 5-minute index chart. Some days give none worth taking, because price is stuck in a narrow range and T1 barely covers costs. We do not promise a number per day and we publish no accuracy percentage. Stop-losses get hit.
Every intraday trade pays brokerage, exchange charges, taxes and slippage on both legs. On a 1-minute chart these can take a large share of the distance to T1. Slippage is worst at the open and in thin stock futures. If round-trip cost is a big fraction of the target, the fix is a longer timeframe or a more liquid instrument, not a bigger position.
Overtrading and revenge trading do more damage than bad signals
Day traders rarely go broke on one wrong signal. It is the fourth trade after two stop-losses, taken at double size to get back to zero before lunch. An alert is information, not an instruction, and nothing on the chart knows your account size or your mood.
WizeBuySell is not investment advice and we are not SEBI-registered advisers. It does not place orders or predict news. Position size, the daily loss limit and the decision to sit out are yours.
Square-off discipline in the last hour
Brokers square off intraday positions before the close, at a time they set, and often charge for doing it. Do not leave that exit to them. Set your own cut-off, for example no new trades after 2:45 pm and flat by 3:15 pm, and treat it like a stop-loss.
A position that has reached T1, with the stop-loss trailed to entry, is the only kind worth holding into the last half hour. A losing intraday trade converted to delivery or carried overnight in futures is a different trade, with gap risk you did not plan for.
Questions about Intraday traders
Which timeframe should I use for intraday signals?
Most intraday users run 5, 15 or 30-minute charts. Five minutes gives earlier entries and more whipsaws; fifteen gives fewer signals with wider stop-losses. We suggest starting the trial on a 15-minute index chart and only then trying 5 minutes. One-minute and 3-minute charts work technically, but costs and noise make them hard to trade.
How many intraday signals will I get in a day?
It depends on the timeframe, the instrument and the day. A trending day on a 5-minute chart may give several; a narrow range may give none worth taking. We do not promise a count, and more signals is not better. The scanner shows which watchlist symbols have a fresh confirmed signal.
Can the software square off my position or place the stop-loss for me?
No. WizeBuySell plots signals and sends alerts; it does not place, modify or exit orders. You enter the trade, the stop-loss order and every trailing change in your own broker terminal. That takes a few seconds each time, so on 1-minute or 3-minute charts you may not keep up.
Does it work for MCX crude oil in the evening session?
Yes. MCX non-agri commodities trade from 9:00 am to about 11:30 pm, and crude oil and natural gas move most in the evening. Be careful around the weekly US inventory data, Wednesday evening for crude and Thursday evening for natural gas, because price can jump through a stop-loss on the release.
What happens if a signal fires late in the session?
It plots like any other, but you have less time. A buy at 2:50 pm on NSE may reach T1 and seldom has room for T3 before square-off. The software does not filter by time of day, so that rule has to come from you.