Structure
How To Trade Off Liquidity Levels Following A Structure BreakoutGrasping how to trade around liquidity levels is crucial. The fundamentals of technical analysis revolve around identifying and leveraging these points.
One common mistake that new traders make is not choosing the right price levels for trades. This can lead to inadequate risk-reward setups and inconsistency in trading results.
What Are Liquidity Levels?
For large institutions and traders needing to execute substantial orders, locating sufficient liquidity is vital. A market’s liquidity significantly influences price volatility. When major players enter the market, they aim to achieve the best possible prices. However, due to the size of their orders, they need ample counter-orders to fill their trades while minimizing slippage. If a trader attempts to enter a position in a low-liquidity area, the resulting volatility can negatively impact their average entry price. Conversely, entering at a high-liquidity level usually means less price fluctuation, leading to a more favorable average price.
So, where can you find these liquidity levels? Look at where stop-loss orders are likely placed. This is where the concept of “stop-loss hunting” comes from—large players need liquidity to accumulate significant positions, which makes these areas of interest since they help reduce slippage.
A liquidity level arises from an initial imbalance in supply and demand, forming what we know as swing highs or lows. As more traders take positions, these levels become historical reference points for placing stops. When these levels are revisited, a decision point occurs, leading to either a breakout or a reversal.
A useful guideline is to watch for rejections that don’t reach a 50% retracement of the previous high or low, as this might indicate a lower-quality liquidity level. Strong rejections tend to indicate better chances of holding during retests. I personally look for rejections that result in a breakout into new highs or lows. Other factors, such as market conditions (risk-on/risk-off), broader market structure, and relevant economic data, also play a crucial role in assessing whether a level will hold.
Trading EUR/USD Using Liquidity Levels
To illustrate how to identify potential buying or selling opportunities based on liquidity levels, draw a horizontal line from the latest wick or swing high/low and extend it until it meets price again.
In the EUR/USD hourly chart example below, I selected a month’s worth of data, marking blue lines for liquidity levels that led to market structure breakouts (higher highs or lower lows) and red lines for levels where retests failed to break the structure. I recommend a strategy of targeting a 2:1 risk-reward ratio, setting stop-loss orders at half the size of the previous swing, moving to break even at 1:1.
By the end of this exercise, it should be clear that trading on liquidity levels with a breakout condition (blue lines) significantly increases your chances of success compared to trades that go against the prevailing market structure (red lines). If you focused solely on the blue levels, you might have experienced 6 winning trades and only 1 loss at a 2:1 risk-reward ratio.
By combining this approach with additional factors like aligning with higher timeframe cycles, considering fundamental analysis, and practicing disciplined risk management, you may find this strategy aligns with your trading style. I encourage you to explore this methodology through your own backtesting and see how it can enhance your trading arsenal.
This Simple Strategy Could Make You a Fortune in the Gold Marketprice action of Gold Spot (XAU/USD) in relation to the trendlines and patterns indicated.
Chart Analysis
1. Weekly Flag Trendline:
- The first chart shows a trendline forming a "flag" pattern on a higher time frame (possibly weekly or daily). This flag appears to be a bullish continuation pattern, indicating that after the consolidation within the flag, the price might continue in the direction of the prior trend, which seems to be up.
2. Price Action Inside the Flag:
- Within the flag, there is a period of consolidation marked by the parallel trendlines. The price has been respecting these lines, creating higher lows and lower highs, indicating indecision or preparation for a breakout.
3. Potential Breakout Zones:
- Key breakout zones are marked by the upper resistance of the flag pattern around the 2,530 level and the lower support trendline of the flag around the 2,470 level. A breakout above the upper resistance could signal a continuation of the prior uptrend, while a break below the lower support could indicate a reversal or deeper pullback.
4. Smaller Patterns:
- On the second chart (1-hour time frame), there's a more detailed view of recent price action with a potential bearish flag or pennant forming, suggesting a temporary pullback or consolidation within the larger flag. This smaller pattern appears to be within a trading range bounded by the horizontal support and resistance levels.
5. Key Support and Resistance Levels:
- The charts show horizontal support around the 2,433.301 level, which aligns with a historical low that could serve as a significant support level. Similarly, the resistance level is around 2,530, where the price has repeatedly failed to break above.
6. Current Market Context:
- The price is currently hovering around 2,497, near the middle of the trading range, suggesting indecision. This midpoint could be a neutral zone where the price could move in either direction based on upcoming market momentum or news.
Trading Strategy and Considerations
- Entry Points:
- If considering a bullish scenario, a long entry could be planned near the lower support line of the flag, around 2,470, with a stop loss slightly below the flag's support to manage risk. A breakout above the 2,530 resistance could also provide a good entry point for a continuation of the uptrend.
- For a bearish scenario, a short entry could be considered if the price breaks below the 2,470 support level, confirming a breakdown from the flag pattern.
- Risk Management:
- The proximity of the price to both upper and lower boundaries of the flag pattern provides clear levels for stop placement. This helps in managing risk effectively, keeping losses contained if the trade goes against the initial bias.
- Monitoring Price Action:
- Watch for potential breakouts from the smaller patterns within the flag, as these could provide early signals of the larger move's direction. It would also be essential to keep an eye on volume changes, as increased volume could confirm the validity of a breakout or breakdown.
By aligning your trades with these patterns and key levels, you can take advantage of the potential setups provided by the price action within these consolidating formations. Ensure to adapt to new market conditions and stay disciplined in executing your trading plan.
[EDU-Bite Sized Mini Series]Understanding Forex Market StructureHello fellow traders , my regular and new friends!
Welcome and thanks for dropping by my post.
Let's begin with our topic today!
The forex market, being decentralized and over-the-counter (OTC), operates differently from traditional centralized exchanges. To navigate it effectively, traders need to comprehend its unique structure.
Market structure refers to the arrangement of price action within a given market, encompassing key elements such as trends, support and resistance levels, and price behavior.
1. Trends:
Trends are one of the fundamental aspects of market structure. They depict the overall direction of price movement over time. Traders often classify trends as bullish (upward), bearish (downward), or ranging (sideways). Understanding the prevailing trend helps traders align their strategies accordingly.
2. Support and Resistance Levels:
Support and resistance levels (or known as supply and demand levels/zones) are areas where price tends to stall, reverse, or exhibit significant buying or selling pressures. These levels/areas form the building blocks of market structure and are crucial for identifying potential entry and exit points. Support represents levels where buying interest outweighs selling pressure, preventing prices from falling further. Conversely, resistance denotes areas where selling pressure surpasses buying interest, hindering further upward movement. If you have cluster of candle's tail in a area/levels, likely it would be supply/demand liquidity pocket
3. Price Behavior:
Price behavior within market structure provides valuable insights into market sentiment and participant dynamics. Patterns such as higher highs and higher lows in an uptrend, or lower highs and lower lows in a downtrend, signify the strength or weakness of a trend. Additionally, the manner in which price interacts with support and resistance levels can indicate potential reversals or continuations.
4. Market Phases:
Understanding different phases of the market, such as accumulation, markup, distribution, and markdown, aids in deciphering market structure. Each phase reflects the behavior of market participants and their collective impact on price action. Recognizing these phases enables traders to anticipate potential shifts in market direction and adjust their strategies accordingly.
Conclusion:
In summary, comprehending forex market structure is essential for effective trading. By analyzing trends, identifying key support and resistance levels, observing price behavior, and recognizing market phases, traders can make informed decisions and navigate the forex market with confidence.
Do check out my recorded video (in trading ideas) for the week to have more explanation in place.
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Disclaimers:
The analysis shared through this channel are purely for educational and entertainment purposes only. They are by no means professional advice for individual/s to enter trades for investment or trading purposes.
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What is FLAT in the markets, practical tips☝️Do not act based on my analysis, do your own research!!
The main purpose of my resources is free, actionable education for anyone who wants to learn trading and improve mental and technical trading skills. Learn from hundreds of videos and the real story of a particular trader, with all the mistakes and pain on the way to consistency. I'm always glad to discuss and answer questions. 🙌
☝️ALL videos here are for sharing my experience purposes only, not financial advice, NOT A SIGNAL. YOUR TRADES ARE YOUR COMPLETE RESPONSIBILITY. Everything here should be treated as a simulated, educational environment. Important disclaimer - this idea is just a possibility and my extremely subjective opinion. Do not act based on my analysis, do your own research!!
High probability setupThis is what I'm going to be looking in the market for the next long term journey, this is a special setup based on patience, strategy and price action, high probabilities and high R:R, works better in high timeframes, we have just wait for the firt confirmation which is:
1. Shift of structure, after watching that we have to look for:
2. A good RESISTANCE/SUPPORT zone where the price is rejecting in Daily of 4H and search for a:
3. Chart pattern which can be a HEAD AND SHOULDERS OR DOUBLE BOTTOM, DOUBLE TOP..., if we have these confirmations, we can look for the last which is:
4. Candlestick pattern: in the shift of the structure which can be an engulfing, an evening/morning star or marubozu, also can be a doji with the wick for our direction
Each one of these confirmations are 22% probabilities for our strategy, after getting all them we can enter the trade, put the stop loss a bit above or below the last structure point and take a 1:3 risk reward and the most important part is:
SET THE TRADE AND FORGET, Allow the price to go where it has to go, don't change the T.P, don't change the S.L, accept the risk of the trade and take a loss if is the case or take a win if the market allows that, and continue with the plan, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE A 100% CHANCES, so even if you have all this confirmation, you can lose and you have to ACCEPT IT, for that:
Stick to the RISK MANAGEMENT thinking in percentage, I recommend to use a 1%-2% per trade, and that's all
BE PATIENT AND SMART, THINK IN LONG TERM
Remember: "The market is a mechanism for transferring money from the impatient to the patient"
SIMPLE RULE BASED Structure FOR BEGINNERS☝️The main purpose of my resources is free, actionable education for anyone who wants to learn trading and improve mental and technical trading skills. Learn from hundreds of videos and the real story of a particular trader, with all the mistakes and pain on the way to consistency. I'm always glad to discuss and answer questions. 🙌
☝️ALL videos here are for sharing my experience purposes only, not financial advice, NOT A SIGNAL. YOUR TRADES ARE YOUR COMPLETE RESPONSIBILITY. Everything here should be treated as a simulated, educational environment.
Market structure, Right side of the marketMarket structure is one of the most important thing one can learn in trading. If you are day trading or investing staying on right side of the market is very important. Market structure help to identify the right side of the market. Lets say market is making HH (Higher high) and HL (higher low) that's bullish market structure. Meaning buyers are in control and its a bull trend. If market making LL (Lower low) and LH (Lower high) then seller are in control making it a bear trend.
Market are always in trend or trading range. In trend you are either in a bull trend or a bear trend. Market usually don't go from bull trend to bear trend. Often it will stay a trading range after a trend. If market breaks that trading range in trend direction then we call that flag pattern. If it was a bull tend a bull flag and on a bear trend a bear flag, but if price fails to continue going in earlier trend direction then its become a failed flag and then trader thinks we might get a trend reversal.
lets say market is in a bull trend so its making HH and HL . But if market fail to make a HH or HL and it ends up making LH then people start to think if this bull trend is still a strong bull trend which can cause market to shift from bull trend to trading range. And after a LL many bull will get out of their position which could create a LH and end up reversing a trend. In which case if price in a bull structure and market making HH and HL you should only be a buyer and after market structure change its direction then you can think if you should sell.
Learn How Support Becomes Resistance
Support and resistance levels are important points in time where the forces of supply and demand meet. These support and resistance levels are seen by technical analysts as crucial when determining market psychology and supply and demand.
Support is the level at which demand is strong enough to stop the asset from falling any further.
Resistance is the level at which supply is strong enough to stop the asset from moving higher.
The psychology behind support and resistance.
First let’s assume there are buyers who’ve been buying a stock close to a support area. Let’s say that support level is $50. They buy some stock at $50 and now it moves up and away from that level to $55. The buyers want to buy more stock at $50, but not $55. They decide if the price moves back down to $50, they will buy more. They’re creating demand at the $50 level.
Let’s take another group of investors. They were thinking about buying the stock at $50 but never did before. Now the stock is at $55 and they regret not buying it. If it gets to $50 again, they will not make the same mistake and they will buy the stock. This creates potential demand.
The third group bought the stock below $50; let’s say they bought it at $40. When the stock got to $50, they sold their stock, only to watch it go to $55. Now they want to buy it back at the same price they sold it, $50. They’ve changed their sentiment from sellers to buyers. This creates more demand.
A key concept of technical analysis is that when a resistance or support level is broken, its role is reversed. If the price falls below a support level, that level will become resistance. If the price rises above a resistance level, it will often become support. As the price moves past a level of support or resistance, it is thought that supply and demand has shifted, causing the breached level to reverse its role.
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Trade With The Trend And Watch Out For Liquidity SweepsHello traders
In this example, we will explain how to trade with the trend and use liquidity as an additional confluence.
1) Price makes a new higher high, momentum is present.
2) After momentum, the price begins to create liquidity, as we talked about in one of the previous posts. Liquidity is a trap for retail and other traders.
3) We see that this is precisely why the manipulation took place, liquidity was picked up, and then the price moved impulsively towards the uptrend.
4) Price creates a new demand zone and impulsively continues bullish again. We see strong momentum.
5) In this situation, we see an excellent trend, we know that the price wants to continue bullish.
6) The price creates liquidity again and at one point, manipulation occurs again, we see a liquidity sweep, and the price from our zone impulsively continues to the uptrend.
- In the next post, we will show you this example on a chart so that you can better understand this concept.
- This is all about today's example, if you liked it, leave a like and write below in the comments if you have any questions.
2 Simple modules to pass FTMO ChallengeThese are the two types of entry modules that can be used across any market to take low risk high rewards trade. Pay close attention to annotations made. First High / Low acts as a trap for early sellers or buyers as this point is used to create liquidity for the market makers. Market makers sweeps this liquidity and mitigates extreme POI like orderblocks etc. and thus finally the banks load their short orders/long orders to break the structure.
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Market Structure Identification ✅Hello traders!
✅ MARKET STRUCUTURE .
Today we will talk about market structure in the financial markets, market structure is basically the understading where the institutional traders/investors are positioned are they short or long on certain financial asset, it is very important to be positioned your trading opportunities with the trend as the saying says trend is your friend follow the trend when you are taking trades that are alligned with the strucutre you have a better probability of them closing in profit.
✅ Types of Market Structure
Bearish Market Structure - institutions are positioned LONG, look only to enter long/buy trades, we are spotingt the bullish market strucutre if price is making higher highs (hh) and higher lows (hl)
Bullish Market Structure - institutions are positioned SHORT, look only to enter short/sell trades, we are spoting the bearish market strucutre when price is making lower highs (lh) and lower lows (ll)
Range Market Structure - the volumes on short/long trades are equall instiutions dont have a clear direction we are spoting this strucutre if we see price making equal highs and equal lows and is accumulating .
I hope I was clear enough so you can understand this very important trading concept, remember its not in the number its in the quality of the trades and to have a better quality try to allign every trading idea with the actual strucutre
How the higher time frames help you to avoid unnecessary losses Hello everyone:
Today I want to discuss the importance of higher time frame analysis.
Doesn't matter what type of trading strategy, method or style you use,
the higher time frame often will help us to strengthen our bias overall and give us a good perspective of the possible direction for the price to go.
In addition, it helps traders to avoid unnecessary losses and mediocre entries that will eat up your profits.
More often I hear traders will execute trades on the lower time frames, and not factor the overall higher time frame bias and perspective.
Although entering on the smaller time frame can potentially give you more Risk:Reward, it's often more risky and trades can easily reverse, then hit the stop loss.
This often creates stress, negativity, and revenge trading psychology for traders which ended up blowing accounts.
I want to give a few examples of higher time frame analysis, how they can help traders to avoid “traps” on the lower time frames, avoid unnecessary losses, and keep the emotion at bay to trade another day.
When having a bullish bias on the HTFs, its good risk management to not consider any short term, bearish sell setups.
These sell setups may form on the LTFs, but they can easily not continue to your desired target, and reverse up before you have time to react.
In addition, traders hate to see profit come and go.
So if a trader has a short position running in some profit, but decides to hold onto the trade, and once the position reverses, traders don't want to exit, and then end up holding a losing position to its SL.
Examples:
AUDUSD:
HTF: Overall bias and perspective in bullish
LTF: Many LTF bearish setups/development, but due to going against the HTF, they ended up with losses
NZDUSD:
HTF: Overall bias and perspective in bullish
LTF: Many LTF bearish setups/development, but due to going against the HTF, they ended up with losses
AUDCHF:
HTF: Overall bias and perspective in bullish
LTF: LTF bearish setups/development, but due to going against the HTF, ended up with loss
NZDCHF:
HTF: Overall bias and perspective in bullish
LTF: LTF bearish setups/development, but due to going against the HTF, ended up with loss
NZDCAD:
HTF: Overall bias and perspective in bullish
LTF: LTF bearish setups/development, but due to going against the HTF, ended up with loss
SILVER:
HTF: Overall bias and perspective in bullish
LTF: LTF bearish setups/development, but due to going against the HTF, ended up with loss
How to analyze any market from scratch #3Hello everyone:
Many of you have asked me to continue making more of these analysing from scratch video, so I have prepared another one here for you today.
Not only will we refresh the previous 2 educational videos on this topic, I will go into a bit more details on the confirmation on the lower time frames with multiple examples in the chart.
Recall from the previous videos I made, when we want to analyze the chart from scratch, we always start:
1. From the higher time frames (HTF) to identify the impulse/correction phases of the market conditions so we can come up with a possible bias and direction of the current price.
2. Once we have a possible direction and bias, then we go down to the lower time frames (LTF) to also identify the impulse/correction phases which will lead to your confirmation and entry.
These are simple steps to follow, based on multi-time frame analysis, top down approach.
Many have told me it's not hard to identify the HTF’s impulse and correction, but what can be classified as a LTF confirmation before entry?
Let's take a detail look into a few examples:
A LTF confirmation is when the price is developing a few more price action structures/patterns that align with your HTF direction and bias.
These can be continuation/reversal corrections on the LTF; impulse phases on the LTF that go with your bias on the HTF; multiple corrections within the larger corrections (patterns within patterns)...etc.
The more of these LTF price actions you can identify, the more it strengthens your analysis and forecast on the HTF.
Thank you
Do check out my previous educational contents on this same topic to better learn my approach to analyse any market from scratch.
How to analyze any market from scratch #1
How to analyze any market from scratch #2
The importance of confirmationsHey Traders,
How many times in your trading career have you had a set up that you are so confident in and is so clean that you just enter it without checking for confirmations? How many times have you seen price retract into a demand or supply area with so much force that you simply think it cannot go wrong? This trade setup right here is a prime example of why it is so important to check for confirmations and ensure that the lower time frames are indicating exactly what you want to see prior to entering a trade and not entering a trade out of fear of missing out and buying as soon as the price dips into a demand zone. Let me know in the comments if this relates to you or you've ever had an issue like this.
The analysis on the four hour had me very confident once we had broken over the recent highs. We indicated after a very long and steady downtrend that we could potentially start seeing a movement to the upside. Once we did get a clear structure break, it was followed by a strong push to the downside in which I like to call The Archers pullback. Price retraced straight back down into our demand area, which means we ticked step one and now we were looking for step 2 and Step 3.
As you can see, looking at the one hour chart, we had a steady downtrend formed prior to having a strong news release which pushed price down into the demand zone. Once we had this trendline formed, what I simply wanted to see was an area of consolidation, potentially a descending channel. Then a break of this trend line followed by a pull back followed by a break of structure down on the 15 minute. But what you can notice is as we have this trendline drawn an we dip into the demand zone, that price didn't break the trend line. It simply went sideways and did form a descending channel, but to the point where we broke the recent demand and set a lower low. In turn, it made this analysis invalid.
It is highly important that with all trade setups like this, especially trading the higher time frames, that we dive into the lower timeframes to ensure that the demand or the supply is entering the market the way we're anticipating so we can trade the distance with confidence. If we do not wait for confirmations then we are sitting blind and entering what you would call FOMO trades. Entering with much higher risk. As we can see here, price can just rip straight through these areas and we must be prepared to not take trades. If we were to enter blindly into these areas, this trade would of resulted in a loss on the account.
Do you find this analysis helpful? Should we chat more about this in the future?