A prerequisite post to this post can be read here; https://www.reddit.com/Forex/comments/clx0v9/profiting_in_trends_planning_for_the_impulsive/
It will also be beneficial to read this;
https://www.reddit.com/Forex/comments/clbxk2/shorting_noobs_common_trend_following_mistakes_im/
Before getting into the meat of things, you need to understand the 'elastic band' effect of large moves in the market. What this means is most of the time before a market starts to make a big move in the direction it is ultimately going, it will make a strong and usually fast counter move. You know this already in a way. You've been taught from early on (I assume) that pin bars (hammers etc) are indications the market is reversing. You're told the wicks are formed by price pushing into an area and being rejected from it.
In a trend formation, this is what the intra-week price action would tend to look like when there is the formation of reversal candles at the close of the weekly timeframe.
https://preview.redd.it/nv1nbk0c9th31.png?width=909&format=png&auto=webp&s=f87d94ee33f0d07cde211c05d9234a236a487309
Here we would have been in a down trend and then for a week or two seen bullish momentum. The blue swing is the "elastic band" move. Or what I like to call the "ping swing".
The formation I have drawn here is not arbitrary. A lot of specific things are going on in this chart. Here I've highlighted the relevant ones. When we've seen all of these, we know there is a good chance we have reached the end of a C leg correction (read up on basic Elliot wave theory if you do not understand this terminology).
https://preview.redd.it/8u9bg43nath31.png?width=1066&format=png&auto=webp&s=1ddb04a27b9a99ddbcaab5eef4e3ca7eea78e000
There can be variance in the 4 and 5 area. I am being polite, I should be honest. This area is often a bitch to trade in. Sometimes there are deep retracements and sometimes they are really shallow. Personally I've not been able to find ways to get strong ideas of how to forecast which is more likely. It tends to be an area I lose money and one I continue to work on trying to develop better ways of dealing with.
Here are examples of each type from trades I've taken recently.
https://preview.redd.it/6n0x4k43cth31.png?width=744&format=png&auto=webp&s=f03fdbff3176e1df36727f3606dbf6fc67912e53
This is explained in more context at https://www.reddit.com/Forex/comments/cks8q1/shorting_noobs_problems_proofs_and_fine_tuning/
This chart is messy because a lot of positions are being taken rather than a specific strategy being followed, but as I've explained in the 'Shorting Noobs' series of posts, I am mot interested in trading off the 61.8% fib.
https://preview.redd.it/97cb1x0wcth31.png?width=719&format=png&auto=webp&s=d49bbac385242184d9f9ba2708d1e9fe92efba42
Here is one with EURUSD that had very shallow sell-off then made the ping swing.
https://preview.redd.it/dbiujru0fth31.png?width=1025&format=png&auto=webp&s=277682a868af7cb2dc2b612243a8abfef54e9de0
You maybe thinking at this point, "But the range bit looks like it should be the 5". I know! I told you it's a bitch. As you can see here regardless of this I have still sold the best price. I am doing this by having a clear SR level I am forecasting in this sort of move. (Explained in more detail in the shorting noob series [2] [3] )
Note, it is still entirely possible that this can make another ping swing and slightly spike out this high. If it does, we have a great opportunity. At this point, we are wiser to look for the better RR trade with trend continuation by considering we are possibly in this part of the move and we have the next (usually stronger than previous) sell off coming.
https://preview.redd.it/15xd09pzfth31.png?width=730&format=png&auto=webp&s=c5e3a70fbc9411b36d74a7e32ebf5c1aabf1ad05
Which actually fits inside another cycle for a ping swing.
https://preview.redd.it/31craqbkgth31.png?width=1018&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d7cc139aa406673213c62009220a3182e7e9e55
Here is a real time forecast of a ping swing we can watch for and set pending orders (or define areas to watch for reversal patterns)
GBPUSD
https://preview.redd.it/uz93cn53ith31.png?width=1082&format=png&auto=webp&s=3b2d9a7fc12c961dafb7ee3cc7aa4c1aec29c927
(Ignore the buy trades on this, they are from a different type of strategy)
This is a lot of information, and to intrinsically understand this you'd have to go over a lot of trending charts and watch how they have developed. I have spent a hell of a lot of time on this. I will round up with leaving you just a few simple rules we can take from understanding this general pattern that recurs in trends. Some of them will help you win, others will help to prevent you losing.
1 - When it starts to chop, it's time to stop.
When a trend that has been in a free flowing form starts to get choppy, it's time to stop following the trend for the time being. You should be aware the next breakout(s) can be false ones, and the next shallow correction for a "Retest & continue" type trade is likely a trap.
2 - Big corrections rarely feature only one leg.
When you see a really big move against the trend it gets really tempting to rejoin the trend once it starts to form price action reversal candles. Any time you're entering without the market having previously faked and then spiked out early sellers at least a couple of times, you have a more risky trade.
3 - Forecast where early sellers will lose.
Quite simply, if you see a downtrend and then a spike up and what looks like the continuation of a downtrend you can assume there are sellers into what they think will be the new downtrend move. It's also quite likely these sellers have it very wrong on their stop area. It will be just above the previous highs and the consolation range. This is the very area we'd expect the ping swing to spike into and then make the proper trend move after whipsawing those who sold too early.
Where they are getting stopped out, you want to be entering. Not sure where this is? Look in Forex forums, they'll tell you.
4 - Velocity does not mean victory!
As price comes into the reversal area it will usually be carrying a lot of short term momentum and moving fast. Moving quickly into an area is not in any way an indication of a break of that area or a reversal. In fact, once you've identified where you think the ping swing will end, the more parabolic that move is into that area the better for the reversal trade. Plan ahead, do not be caught up in the moment. The moment will be deceptive.
5 - Have excellent exit plans on both sides of this sort of move.
If the move fails, the counter move running against you can be persistent. Stop losses should be around 78% of the swing. Small spike outs of the 61.8% level are to be expected. Breaks of the 76% level are not. Similarly, profits can come lightening quickly. Which can actually be a problem if you've not planned the areas you want to exit or how to trail your stops. So be well prepared to exit before you enter.
The things I have explained in this post have validity on all timeframes. I scalp with it, and I swing with it. It transfers readily to any market with trending properties. If you were to master this (especially at an intraday level - which is harder) , it would be highly likely you significantly beat what most people would think are "good returns" when the markets are trending.
It would be possible for someone who has sufficient skill in doing this to make themselves substantial profits even starting from a small amount of money and using moderate risk over the course of just trading 4 - 5 major trend moves on daily and weekly charts. This is quite an easy setup in my opinion (once it's been highlighted at least) and for as long as you can find trends to use it, it will outperform most strategies I see on public display.
(All bets are off in ranges. This will make a mockery of you if you try to do it in ranges)
Happy trend following :)
submitted by whatthefx to Forex [link] [comments] It will also be beneficial to read this;
https://www.reddit.com/Forex/comments/clbxk2/shorting_noobs_common_trend_following_mistakes_im/
Before getting into the meat of things, you need to understand the 'elastic band' effect of large moves in the market. What this means is most of the time before a market starts to make a big move in the direction it is ultimately going, it will make a strong and usually fast counter move. You know this already in a way. You've been taught from early on (I assume) that pin bars (hammers etc) are indications the market is reversing. You're told the wicks are formed by price pushing into an area and being rejected from it.
In a trend formation, this is what the intra-week price action would tend to look like when there is the formation of reversal candles at the close of the weekly timeframe.
https://preview.redd.it/nv1nbk0c9th31.png?width=909&format=png&auto=webp&s=f87d94ee33f0d07cde211c05d9234a236a487309
Here we would have been in a down trend and then for a week or two seen bullish momentum. The blue swing is the "elastic band" move. Or what I like to call the "ping swing".
The formation I have drawn here is not arbitrary. A lot of specific things are going on in this chart. Here I've highlighted the relevant ones. When we've seen all of these, we know there is a good chance we have reached the end of a C leg correction (read up on basic Elliot wave theory if you do not understand this terminology).
https://preview.redd.it/8u9bg43nath31.png?width=1066&format=png&auto=webp&s=1ddb04a27b9a99ddbcaab5eef4e3ca7eea78e000
There can be variance in the 4 and 5 area. I am being polite, I should be honest. This area is often a bitch to trade in. Sometimes there are deep retracements and sometimes they are really shallow. Personally I've not been able to find ways to get strong ideas of how to forecast which is more likely. It tends to be an area I lose money and one I continue to work on trying to develop better ways of dealing with.
Here are examples of each type from trades I've taken recently.
https://preview.redd.it/6n0x4k43cth31.png?width=744&format=png&auto=webp&s=f03fdbff3176e1df36727f3606dbf6fc67912e53
This is explained in more context at https://www.reddit.com/Forex/comments/cks8q1/shorting_noobs_problems_proofs_and_fine_tuning/
This chart is messy because a lot of positions are being taken rather than a specific strategy being followed, but as I've explained in the 'Shorting Noobs' series of posts, I am mot interested in trading off the 61.8% fib.
https://preview.redd.it/97cb1x0wcth31.png?width=719&format=png&auto=webp&s=d49bbac385242184d9f9ba2708d1e9fe92efba42
Here is one with EURUSD that had very shallow sell-off then made the ping swing.
https://preview.redd.it/dbiujru0fth31.png?width=1025&format=png&auto=webp&s=277682a868af7cb2dc2b612243a8abfef54e9de0
You maybe thinking at this point, "But the range bit looks like it should be the 5". I know! I told you it's a bitch. As you can see here regardless of this I have still sold the best price. I am doing this by having a clear SR level I am forecasting in this sort of move. (Explained in more detail in the shorting noob series [2] [3] )
Note, it is still entirely possible that this can make another ping swing and slightly spike out this high. If it does, we have a great opportunity. At this point, we are wiser to look for the better RR trade with trend continuation by considering we are possibly in this part of the move and we have the next (usually stronger than previous) sell off coming.
https://preview.redd.it/15xd09pzfth31.png?width=730&format=png&auto=webp&s=c5e3a70fbc9411b36d74a7e32ebf5c1aabf1ad05
Which actually fits inside another cycle for a ping swing.
https://preview.redd.it/31craqbkgth31.png?width=1018&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d7cc139aa406673213c62009220a3182e7e9e55
Here is a real time forecast of a ping swing we can watch for and set pending orders (or define areas to watch for reversal patterns)
GBPUSD
https://preview.redd.it/uz93cn53ith31.png?width=1082&format=png&auto=webp&s=3b2d9a7fc12c961dafb7ee3cc7aa4c1aec29c927
(Ignore the buy trades on this, they are from a different type of strategy)
This is a lot of information, and to intrinsically understand this you'd have to go over a lot of trending charts and watch how they have developed. I have spent a hell of a lot of time on this. I will round up with leaving you just a few simple rules we can take from understanding this general pattern that recurs in trends. Some of them will help you win, others will help to prevent you losing.
1 - When it starts to chop, it's time to stop.
When a trend that has been in a free flowing form starts to get choppy, it's time to stop following the trend for the time being. You should be aware the next breakout(s) can be false ones, and the next shallow correction for a "Retest & continue" type trade is likely a trap.
2 - Big corrections rarely feature only one leg.
When you see a really big move against the trend it gets really tempting to rejoin the trend once it starts to form price action reversal candles. Any time you're entering without the market having previously faked and then spiked out early sellers at least a couple of times, you have a more risky trade.
3 - Forecast where early sellers will lose.
Quite simply, if you see a downtrend and then a spike up and what looks like the continuation of a downtrend you can assume there are sellers into what they think will be the new downtrend move. It's also quite likely these sellers have it very wrong on their stop area. It will be just above the previous highs and the consolation range. This is the very area we'd expect the ping swing to spike into and then make the proper trend move after whipsawing those who sold too early.
Where they are getting stopped out, you want to be entering. Not sure where this is? Look in Forex forums, they'll tell you.
4 - Velocity does not mean victory!
As price comes into the reversal area it will usually be carrying a lot of short term momentum and moving fast. Moving quickly into an area is not in any way an indication of a break of that area or a reversal. In fact, once you've identified where you think the ping swing will end, the more parabolic that move is into that area the better for the reversal trade. Plan ahead, do not be caught up in the moment. The moment will be deceptive.
5 - Have excellent exit plans on both sides of this sort of move.
If the move fails, the counter move running against you can be persistent. Stop losses should be around 78% of the swing. Small spike outs of the 61.8% level are to be expected. Breaks of the 76% level are not. Similarly, profits can come lightening quickly. Which can actually be a problem if you've not planned the areas you want to exit or how to trail your stops. So be well prepared to exit before you enter.
The things I have explained in this post have validity on all timeframes. I scalp with it, and I swing with it. It transfers readily to any market with trending properties. If you were to master this (especially at an intraday level - which is harder) , it would be highly likely you significantly beat what most people would think are "good returns" when the markets are trending.
It would be possible for someone who has sufficient skill in doing this to make themselves substantial profits even starting from a small amount of money and using moderate risk over the course of just trading 4 - 5 major trend moves on daily and weekly charts. This is quite an easy setup in my opinion (once it's been highlighted at least) and for as long as you can find trends to use it, it will outperform most strategies I see on public display.
(All bets are off in ranges. This will make a mockery of you if you try to do it in ranges)
Happy trend following :)
