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Education post 19/100 – How to trade With Moving Averages?There are no trading strategies that will generate a profit every single time, but there are some really basic strategies that can produce some pretty good results. The Key to Success What you are basically trying to do is identify pairs that are in strong trends on two longer time frames, and then enter a position when you get an EMA crossover in the same direction on one of the shorter time frames because this is an example of a high probability trade. This is a lot more profitable than sticking to a single time frame, and is a strategy that many people, including myself, use to generate profits on a regular basis. Exit Strategies With regards to exit strategies, you have many options. One option is to run the position until the EMAs cross back in the other direction, ie when the trend runs to its conclusion, which can sometimes yield huge returns, but another option is to look to make a certain number of pips per trade, and move your stop loss to break-even as soon as it is in profit, which is another good strategy. Final Thoughts The point is that there are many ways that you can profit from the EMA crossover strategy, and the great thing is that you only really need to use two simple technical indicators. You don’t need to stick to the 5 and 20-period settings either because you may find that you get equally good results from using a 10 and 20-period EMA crossover strategy instead. Similarly, if you take a long-term view, the golden cross (upward crossover) and death cross (downward crossover) of the 50 and 200-day EMAs can be even more profitable if you wait for a pull-back and enter at the right time because the resulting price moves can be thousands of pips.
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Education post 17/100 – How to trade 10 forex trading rules?1. Research your broker, how do they stack up – It’s all very well to choose a broker because the interface is simple or you like the functionality, but do you know how they stack up to others? Have you really done your research? Make sure your broker is well regulated and licenced, well reputed, and that the spread they offer is consistently tight. 2. Only set aside capital that you can afford to lose – There is no fun in trading, if you are risking your livelihood in doing so. This will only encourage emotional trading and turn you into an emotional wreck. Only invest that which you can afford to comfortably and this will make it easier to relax into it and trust your strategy. 3. Don't let your emotions get the better of you – This is absolutely critical to successful trading. If you wake up, and your mind is not on its game, you are cloudy or your mind is full of other things, take the day off trading. It is no wise move to enter the market if you can’t concentrate, or if you carry anger at a loss. Trading in these scenarios will not do your strategy justice, and the market will eat you up and spit you out a poorer person. Learn your mind, your emotional responses to trading and how to master these things. If you face a situation where you can’t do this for whatever reason, walk away until you can. 4. Don’t be scared to take a break – If you stare at the charts and price action continuously, not only will you damage your eyes, but you will go slightly mad. Don’t be afraid to take regular breaks. Just make sure that when you do, you have reasonable stop losses in place, or no open trades at that time. This is more critical when scalping or intra-day trading rather than longer position trades where you don’t need to be quite as on top of the short term charts. Yes you might miss the occasional opportunity, but this is inevitable in a market that doesn’t sleep. 5. Plan Trades carefully – patience and analysis are your friends. If trading a trend, it is far better to place pending orders at a good price rather than just jumping into the market. Wait for the price to come back rather than entering at peaks just because you're impatient. 6. Reasonable Risk/Reward ratio at least 1:5 – Every time you enter the market you take a risk. So you really want to make sure you optimise a risk/reward ratio that allows you to make each trade worth the risk, without being too greedy. Spread is important in this, as the greater the spread, the greater the reward you will need to achieve to turn a profit, so the tighter the spread the better. 7. Risk no more than 5% of your trading capital – If you risk too much, you will hav e very short career in trading. Success takes time to achieve, and profit time to accumulate. Maintain consistency between trades and that way if your strategy is winning more than it loses, over the long term you will be profitable. If you are inconsistent with your risk, then you leave yourself over to uneven results from wins and losses. Potentially this could mean that regardless of winning on more trades than you lose, that the value of the losses outweighs the gains so be disciplined and consistent. 8. Don't place Stop Loss too narrow – Particularly when your trade is going the right way. A trade needs room to breathe, the more volatile the selected market, the more room it needs to breathe. If you pay attention to the trade, you can always move the stop loss up as the trade continues in the right direction, but always be careful to place it too high, or this will risk stopping the trade prematurely, creating a scenario where you could potentially miss out on the full potential of a trade. 9. Use Trailing Stops when applicable – These are particularly useful when not actively monitoring the trade. They can safeguard an acceptable level of profit if the market turns, while leaving room for some of your capital to generate further profit if it continues to move in the desired direction. If you are a dab hand at automatic trading or programming Expert Advisors, you can find or generate an EA that can do this automatically as per a set of rules you stipulate. This depends of course on your trading platform. 10. Have some patience, but don’t confuse this with greed – Patience is a virtue and greed is a sin. It is vital to learn patience, to control impulsiveness and trade by strategy and system rather than emotive. However, when it comes to taking a profit, be careful not to confuse patience with greed. Yes, let a profit run but don’t let it hypnotise you, you want to stop it before it turns especially if it turns sharp and quick.
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Education post 16/100 – How to trade trend with HH,HL,LL,LH?Price on a given time frame is in an uptrend if it is making higher highs (HH) and higher lows (HL) and in a downtrend, if it is making lower highs (LH) and lower lows (LL). If the price is doing anything else, it is in a consolidation pattern – range, triangle, pennant, rectangle etc. The trend is considered in place until price is no longer making higher highs and higher lows in an uptrend or lower highs and lower lows in a downtrend. After a trend is broken, there is usually a period of consolidation that is easier to see on a lower time frame. With practice, you will be able to visualize this going on without looking at the lower time frame. Market Phases with HH,HL,LL,LH? Contrary to popular belief there are actually three ways the market can go; Up Down Sideways With the swing high/low definition now in mind we can start to build some layers on to the chart to identify these market phases and start to do a simple count of these swing highs and lows. In short The market is going up when price is making higher highs and higher lows The market is going down when price is making lower highs and lower lows The market is going sideways when price is not making higher highs and higher lows OR lower highs lower lows This may sound like child's play and a statement of the obvious but you will be surprised at how often people will forget these simple facts. One of the biggest questions I get asked is, which way is it a market going? By doing a simple exercise you can see which way that price is going and decide on your trading plan and more importantly timing of a trade. What do I mean by timing? It may be that you are looking for a shorting opportunity as the overall trend is down but price on your entry time frame is still going up (making HH's & HL's).  There is, at this stage, no point in trying to short a rising market until price action start to point down (making LH's & LL's. More on this shortly). More on our website...
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Education post 15/100 – How to trade Psychological Price Levels?What are Psychological levels? Psychological levels are price levels which tend to draw big market attention and typically witness a reaction by price when tested. These levels are the main round numbers (whole numbers), referred to as “Double Zeros such as .9800, .990. Plotting support and resistance levels is often a challenging and subjective task. It is also commonly one of the first areas of price action new traders attempt to tackle. Support and resistance can be established in numerous ways, such as: trendlines, moving averages, pivot point levels, Fibonacci levels, key high/low points etc. A common complaint with a lot of these methods though is subjectivity. This is why we believe psychological levels are appealing, as the numbers are effectively embedded within market structure and are entirely objective, as you’ll see going forward.  So...What are Psychological levels? Say that you’re the proud owner of new car, and a buddy down the pub asks how much it cost. Assuming it set you back $10,999, it’s unlikely that you would tell him that exact figure. Instead, to keep things simple, you’d probably round the number to the nearest thousand i.e. $11,000. And this is exactly what happens in the financial markets! It is far more likely that a trader will select 1.2500 over 1.2493, for example. Why do they work and how to trade them? Trading support and resistance can be a fantastic way to approach the market and for many new traders this is one of the first areas of technical analysis that they come to properly understand. There are a great many varieties of support and resistance in the market that traders can look to build strategies around such as: key highs/lows, trend lines, Fibonacci levels, moving averages, pivots, Bollinger bands and more. However, there are also levels that are already embedded within the market that can act as powerful support and resistance and traders don’t need any tools or to perform any complicated analysis to find them. These levels are called “Psychological levels” More on our website, link on Profile.
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Education post 13/100 – How to trade doji candlestick pattern?– A Doji is a small bodied Japanese candlestick pattern whose opening and closing are at the same or nearly the same price. – A Doji is usually part of common Japanese candlestick reversal patterns like the bullish Morning Star and bearish Evening star patterns – Because Dojis are found in a large number of reversal patterns, traders automatically think that the single doji is a reversal candlestick. But in fact, the doji by itself represents indecision in the marketplace. – A Doji breakout setup provides an excellent risk to reward opportunity for forex traders. The lowly doji is very unassuming in appearance. Typically, it looks like a plus sign but can appear as a capital “T” in the Dragonfly doji pattern or the shape of a nail in the Gravestone Doji. We are going to be discussing the first two types of dojis found in the “cheat sheet” above. These small candles can lead to large breakouts that either continue trends or reverses them. We are going to look at the way to trade these power packed price patterns with limited risk for maximum potential gain Typical candlesticks consist of a body that may be one of two colors; blue or red. A candle is blue if buyers were able to push prices above the opening price and were able to hold it until the close of the candle. A candle is red or bearish is sellers were able to push prices below the opening price and hold it there until the close. On the other hand, the doji candles have no color. The doji and long-legged doji illustrate the battle between buyers and sellers that ended in a tie. The opening price and closing price are in the same place as bulls were unable to close prices higher and bears were unable to close prices lower. How to Trade the Doji Breakout Ideally, you want to find a doji that has formed near a level of support like a trend line. You want to identify the doji high and the doji low as this will determine the support and resistance levels of a potential breakout.
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Education post 12/100 – How to trade hidden divergence?We covered regular divergences in the previous lesson, now let’s discuss what hidden divergences are. Divergences not only signal a potential trend reversal; they can also be used as a possible sign for a trend continuation (price continues to move in its current direction). Always remember, the trend is your friend, so whenever you can get a signal that the trend will continue, then good for you! Hidden bullish divergence happens when price is making a higher low (HL), but the oscillator is showing a lower low (LL). Hidden Bullish Divergence This can be seen when the pair is in a UPTREND. Once price makes a higher low (HL), look and see if the oscillator does the same. If it doesn’t and makes a lower low (LL), then we’ve got some hidden divergence in our hands. Hidden Bearish Divergence Lastly, we’ve got hidden bearish divergence. This occurs when price makes a lower high (LH), but the oscillator is making a higher high (HH). By now you’ve probably guessed that this occurs in a DOWNTREND. When you see hidden bearish divergence, chances are that the pair will continue to shoot lower and continue the downtrend. Let’s recap what you’ve learned so far about hidden divergence. If you’re a trend follower, then you should dedicate some time to spot some hidden divergence. If you do happen to spot it, it can help you jump in the trend early. Sounds good, yes? Keep in mind that regular divergences are possible signals for trend reversals while hidden divergences signal trend continuation. Regular divergences = signal possible trend reversal Hidden divergences = signal possible trend continuation
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Education post 11/100 – How to trade downside channel pattern?If we take this trend line theory one step further and draw a parallel line at the same angle of the uptrend or downtrend, we will have created a channel. No, we’re not talking about ESPN, National Geographic Channel or Cartoon Network. Still, this doesn’t mean that you should walk away like it’s a commercial break- channels can be just as exciting to watch as Game of Thrones or Keeping Up with the Kardashians! Channels are just another tool in technical analysis which can be used to determine good places to buy or sell. Both the tops and bottoms of channels represent potential areas of support or resistance. To create an up (ascending) channel, simply draw a parallel line at the same angle as an uptrend line and then move that line to position where it touches the most recent peak. This should be done at the same time you create the trend line. To create a down (descending) channel, simply draw a parallel line at the same angle as the downtrend line and then move that line to a position where it touches the most recent valley. This should be done at the same time you create the trend line.When prices hit the LOWER trend line, this may be used as a buying area. When prices hit the UPPER trend line, this may be used as a selling area. Types of channels There are three types of channels: Ascending channel (higher highs and higher lows) Descending channel (lower highs and lower lows) Horizontal channel (ranging) Important things to remember about drawing trend lines: When constructing a channel, both trend lines must be parallel to each other. Generally, the bottom of channel is considered a buy zone while the top of channel is considered a sell zone.Like in drawing trend lines, DO NOT EVER force the price to the channels that you draw! A channel boundary that is sloping at one angle while the corresponding channel boundary is sloping at another is not correct and could lead to bad trades.
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Education post 10/100 – How to trade double bottom pattern?Double Bottom The double bottom is also a trend reversal formation, but this time we are looking to go long instead of short. These formations occur after extended downtrends when two valleys or “bottoms” have been formed. You can see from the chart above that after the previous downtrend, the price formed two valleys because it wasn’t able to go below a certain level. Notice how the second bottom wasn’t able to significantly break the first bottom. This is a sign that the selling pressure is about finished, and that a reversal is about to occur. The price broke the neckline and made a nice move up. See how the price jumped by almost the same height as that of the double bottom formation? Remember, just like double tops, double bottoms are also trend reversal formations. You’ll want to look for these after a strong downtrend.
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Education post 9/100 – How to trade double top pattern?The double top pattern is one of the most common technical patterns used by Forex traders. It’s certainly one of my go-to methods of identifying a potential top. Just as the name implies, this price action pattern involves the formation of two highs at a critical resistance level. The idea that the market was rejected from this level not once, but twice, is an indication that the level is likely to hold. However, as simple as that may sound, there are a few critical things that must be present for this topping pattern to be useful (and profitable). By the time you finish with this lesson, you will know exactly how to identify a double top as well as how to enter and exit the pattern to maximize profits.
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Education post 8/100 – How to trade fibonacci retracement?The first thing you should know about the Fibonacci tool is that it works best when the forex market is trending. The idea is to go long (or buy) on a retracement at a Fibonacci support level when the market is trending up, and to go short (or sell) on a retracement at a Fibonacci resistance level when the market is trending down. Finding Fibonacci Retracement Levels In order to find these Fibonacci retracement levels, you have to find the recent significant Swing Highs and Swings Lows. Then, for downtrends, click on the Swing High and drag the cursor to the most recent Swing Low. For uptrends, do the opposite. Click on the Swing Low and drag the cursor to the most recent Swing High. Got that? Now, let’s take a look at some examples on how to apply Fibonacci retracements levels to the currency markets.
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Education post 7/100 – How to trade ABCD Pattern?The ABCD pattern (AB=CD) is one of the classic chart patterns which is repeated over and over again. The ABCD pattern shows perfect harmony between price and time and is also referred to as ‘measured moves’. It was developed by Scott Carney and Larry Pesavento after being originally discovered by H.M Gartley. Within the ABCD patterns, there are 3  types as mentioned below. Price and Time: Under this type of ABCD pattern the amount of distance and the time it takes for price to travel from A to B is equal to the time and distance from C to D Classic ABCD: In this pattern, the BC is a retracement of 61.8% – 78.6% of AB, with CD being the extension leg of 127.2% to 161.8% (equal in price distance) ABCD extension: CD leg is an extension of AB between 127.2% – 161.8% Trading the ABCD bullish pattern Swing points A and B form the highest high and the lowest low of the swing leg When AB is identified, the next step is to plot BC C must be lower than A and must be the intermediate high after the low point at B C usually retraces to 61.8% or 78.6% of AB In strong markets, C can trace only up to 38.2% or up to 50% of AB Point D must be a new low below point B CD must be 127.2% or 161.8% of AB or of CD Buy at point D Some variations to the rule include: CD can be an extension of AB anywhere from 1.272% up to 2.00% and even greater CD leg usually slopes at an angle that is wider than the AB leg When there is a gap formed after point C, it indicates that the CD leg will be much larger than the AB leg Appearance of wide range bars near point C is also an indication that CD will be an extended leg In most cases, AB and CD are equal in time and price If the CD leg is covered within just a few price bars as compared to the AB leg, then it is an indication that the CD leg will be an extension of AB The opposite rules apply for bearish ABCD patterns. The chart below illustrates a Buy trade example where we notice that BC retraced close to 61.8% (at 59.4%) after which CD travelled close to 139.6% of the AB leg. After the D point has been identified, a buy order would be place at or above the high of the candle at point D. Traders should note that the ABCD count should not be confused with the ABC corrective waves from the Elliott Wave count.
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Education post 6/100 – How to trade supply and demand zones? Supply and demand is a trading and price action concept that analyses how financial markets move and how buyers and sellers drive the price. On every price chart, there are certain price points where you can observe a sudden shift between the buyers and the sellers. Those areas are usually characterized by strong and immediate turning points, or an explosive breakout. We as traders call those areas supply and demand zones. It can pay off to know how to spot such areas because just like the concept or support and resistance, supply and demand areas can add an other layer of confluence to our trading and help us find better trades. Order absorption – why common trading knowledge is wrong The scenario below is something we all have seen hundreds of times. It shows the classic price behavior around a support level. Common trading wisdom tells you that with each touch of a price level, the support area becomes stronger. This couldn’t be further from the truth. What makes the price go down is an imbalance between buyers and sellers and there is more selling activity than buying going on. Each time the price reaches the support level, buyers enter the market and cause a bounce by outnumbering the sellers. Then, the price rises until sellers become interested again, outnumber the buyers and drive the price down. Although this is a very simplistic view, it explains how markets move. But each time the price makes it to the support level, there will be fewer buyers waiting because, at one point, all buyers who were interested in buying have executed their trades. This is called order absorption. The screenshot shows that price bounced less high with each “touch” and eventually it broke the support level once there were no more buyers left and only the absorbing sellers remained. When everyone has bought and when there are no buyers left, the support level will break and price falls until it reaches a price level where buyers will get interested again. MORE ON OUR WEBSITE...
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Education post 5/100 – How to trade Head and Shoulders Pattern?Head and Shoulders A head and shoulders pattern is also a trend reversal formation. It is formed by a peak (shoulder), followed by a higher peak (head), and then another lower peak (shoulder). A “neckline” is drawn by connecting the lowest points of the two troughs. The slope of this line can either be up or down. Typically, when the slope is down, it produces a more reliable signal. In this example, we can easily see the head and shoulders pattern. The head is the second peak and is the highest point in the pattern. The two shoulders also form peaks but do not exceed the height of the head. With this formation, we put an entry order below the neckline. We can also calculate a target by measuring the high point of the head to the neckline. This distance is approximately how far the price will move after it breaks the neckline. You can see that once the price goes below the neckline it makes a move that is at least the size of the distance between the head and the neckline. We know you’re thinking to yourself, “the price kept moving even after it reached the target.” And our response is, “DON’T BE GREEDY!”
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Education post 4/100 – How to trade BUOB?What is a 'Bullish Outside Bar' A bullish engulfing pattern is a candlestick chart pattern that forms when a small black candlestick, showing a bearish trend, is followed the next day by a large white candlestick, showing a bullish trend, the body of which completely overlaps or engulfs the body of the previous day’s candlestick. Breaking Down 'Bullish Engulfing Pattern' A bullish engulfing pattern is not simply a white candlestick, representing upward price movement, following a black candlestick, representing downward price movement. For a bullish engulfing pattern to form, the stock must open at a lower price on Day 2 than it closed at on Day 1. If the price did not gap down, the body of the white candlestick would not have a chance to engulf the body of the previous day’s black candlestick. Because the stock both opens lower than it closed on Day 1 and closes higher than it opened on Day 1, the white candlestick in a bullish engulfing pattern represents a day in which bears controlled the price of the stock in the morning only to have bulls decisively take over by the end of the day. The white candlestick of a bullish engulfing pattern typically has a small upper wick, if any. That means the stock closed at or near its highest price, suggesting that the day ended while the price was still surging upward. This lack of an upper wick makes it more likely that the next day will produce another white candlestick that will close higher than the bullish engulfing pattern closed, though it’s also possible that the next day will produce a black candlestick after gapping up at the opening. Because bullish engulfing patterns tend to signify trend reversals, analysts pay particular attention to them. Bullish Engulfing Candle Reversals Investors should look not only to the two candlesticks which form the bullish engulfing pattern but also to the preceding candlesticks. This larger context will give a clearer picture of whether the bullish engulfing pattern marks a true trend reversal. Bullish engulfing patterns are more likely to signal reversals when they are preceded by four or more black candlesticks. The more preceding black candlesticks the bullish engulfing candle engulfs, the greater the chance a trend reversal is forming, confirmed by a second white candlestick closing higher than the bullish engulfing candle. Acting on a Bullish Engulfing Pattern Ultimately, traders want to know whether a bullish engulfing pattern represents a change of sentiment, which means it may be a good time to buy. If volume increases along with price, aggressive traders may choose to buy near the end of the day of the bullish engulfing candle, anticipating continuing upward movement the following day. More conservative traders may wait until the following day, trading potential gains for greater certainty that a trend reversal as begun.
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Education post 3/100 – How to trade inside bar?What is an Inside Bar ? The inside bar is a two bar candlestick pattern, which indicates price consolidation. In order to confirm this pattern you need to see a candle on the chart, which is fully contained within the previous bar. In this manner, the inside bar candle should have a higher low and a lower high than the previous candle on the chart. The Inside Bar is fairly easy to spot on the chart, but using an Inside Bar indicator can assist the trader in quickly finding these patterns on their price chart as well.  Psychology behind the Inside Bar Since the inside candle has a lower high and a higher low than the previous candlestick on the chart, this indicates that the currency pair is consolidating. Why is it consolidating? It is consolidating because the bulls cannot manage to create a higher high and at the same time the bears fail to create a lower low. As such, there is not sufficient buying or selling pressure to break the previous bar’s high or low. Entering an Inside Bar Trade When the price action completes an inside candle on the chart, you should mark the low and high of the Inside Bar consolidation range. These two levels are used to trigger of a potential trade. Remember, the inside candle clues us in to the eventual breakout and likelihood of a continuation outside the range in the direction the break, however, it doesn’t give us information about the direction of the breakout through the range, prior to the actual move. In simple terms, if the price action interrupts the range upwards, then you should go long. If the price action breaks the range downwards, then you should trade the short side. Stop Loss when Trading Inside Bars The usage of a stop loss order is recommended for any Forex trading strategy. The inside bar trading system is no different. You should always put a stop loss when trading inside candles. But where? The proper location of your stop loss is slightly beyond the inside candle’s top, or bottom, depending on the direction of the break. In other words, if the inside range gets broken upwards, you can buy the Forex pair and place a stop loss order right below the lower candlewick of the inside candle. The same is in force for bearish breakout of the inside range, but in the opposite direction. In this case you could sell the Forex pair and you put a stop loss right above the upper candlewick of the inside bar. Take Profit on Inside Bar Setup Projecting the potential move with Inside Bar Breakouts can be challenging. Often Inside Bar trades can lead to a prolonged impulse move after the breakout, so employing a trailing stop after price has moved in your favor is a smart trade management strategy. Along with this, I typically like to use a fixed Take Profit target at 1.5:1 or 2:1 reward to risk ratio to scale out of inside bars trades. In this manner, if the stop loss is 80 pips from the entry, then the minimum target would be located at 120 pips distance. Let’s take a closer look at the inside bar pattern on the Forex chart upside.
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Education post 2/100 - How to trade triangle pattern?Symmetrical Triangle A symmetrical triangle is a chart formation where the slope of the price’s highs and the slope of the price’s lows converge together to a point where it looks like a triangle. What’s happening during this formation is that the market is making lower highs and higher lows. This means that neither the buyers nor the sellers are pushing the price far enough to make a clear trend. If this were a battle between the buyers and sellers, then this would be a draw. This is also a type of consolidation. In the chart above, we can see that neither the buyers nor the sellers could push the price in their direction. When this happens we get lower highs and higher lows. As these two slopes get closer to each other, it means that a breakout is getting near. We don’t know what direction the breakout will be, but we do know that the market will most likely break out. Eventually, one side of the market will give in. So how can we take advantage of this? Simple. We can place entry orders above the slope of the lower highs and below the slope of the higher lows. Since we already know that the price is going to break out, we can just hitch a ride in whatever direction the market moves. In this example, if we placed an entry order above the slope of the lower highs, we would’ve been taken along for a nice ride up. If you had placed another entry order below the slope of the higher lows, then you would cancel it as soon as the first order was hit.
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