Trading on Trend & Range
Trend and range trading are two distinct trading strategies which entail completely different mindsets and money management techniques.
Introduction:
Quite often traders’ especially new traders face a dilemma whether to
trade trends or trade ranges. This dilemma not only faces Forex traders
but also stock traders, futures traders and option traders. However,
even though trading trends or ranges requires two different mind sets
and two different types of money management strategies, the Forex market
is ideal for traders to trade both trends and ranges.
Trading Trend or Range:
A trend is defined as a series of higher lows (uptrend) or a series of
lower highs (downtrend) as indicated by the arrows on the chart below.
Another way of defining a trend is by using a 20 period simple moving average where if prices are above the 20 SMA they are in an uptrend and when prices are below the 20 SMA they are in a down trend. (This is Trading by Range)
Whichever way a trader defines a trend the end goal is the same, to
make a profit. To do this the trend trader needs to identify the trend
early and enter the appropriate trade on the right side of the trend.
More On Trends
In
other words don’t buck the trend as the ‘trend is your friend’. If
there is an up trend the trader should go long and if there is a down
trend the trader should go short. Then stay in the trade until the trend
changes direction. If you trend trade then you should not risk more
than 2.5% of your capital on any one trade and your stops should be
fairly tight and no more than 25 pips behind your entry price. This
clearly means that the market should be liquid and the likelihood of
slippage very low and there should be no gap risk as there is in the
stock and bond markets. The Forex market with its average daily turnover
of over $1.5 trillion per day is in fact the most highly liquid
financial market in the world. The capacity for large profits for a
trend trader is magnified with leverage. A typical leverage is 100:1
therefore you can invest $100 of your own money and control $10,000. Which
means a trend move of 300 pips gives you a nice profit of $300 very
quickly. Of course you could also lose the same amount of money and more
just as quickly if you decide to buck the market and go against the
trend or decide not to use any stops.
More On Ranges
On the other hand range trading is another strategy altogether. Not the type of range trading
where the price oscillates (Repeats) between tight bands. This is still trend
trading but on shorter trends. Real range trading is where the trader
doesn’t care in which direction the price is going because the underling
strategy or philosophy is the price will always return to its original
point. The trader doesn’t actually care in which direction prices are
going because the strategy and assumption is such that the trader is in a
win/win situation.
If for example the EUR/USD price is at 1.2800 and the trader sells the
currency pair and the price rises. The trader would sell the currency
every 20 pips the price goes up and then buy it back as it moves down
every 15 pips. It will eventually fall back to the 1.2800 price again
and the trader would have gained a big profit. If the price falls the
trader simply rides the downward trend.
Is it better to trade trends or ranges? That is up to the trader and how comfortable he feels about both strategies. Trading both strategies is also a common trading plan.
I'm More Comfortable with trend trading, because it is graphical , easy to analyze, quick and easy.
The Rules??? Here Are the rules
That's a Upward Trend - You Buy / Up
That's a Downward Trend - You Sell / Down
That's a Neutral Trend - You STAY AWAY!!!
Its Just That Simple
Plus the Cardinal Rule In E-Trading
Never Ever invest all your money in one trade EVER!!!
Even when you follow the system perfectly, it is normal to lose some
of the positions that you open, it is very unlikely to win all of the
trades you will do.
My method of trend following will enable you to win more trading then
the ones that will be lost, which leads to you earning significantly on
your account.
There may be a bad day where you will make several losing trades, that
is why it is important to follow up with this strict rule of investment:
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And so on: each position you open should not represent more than 20% of your capital if you have up to $500 in your account,
and up to 10% if you have more than $500 in your account.
Read More On my Etoro Page