Brandon Wendell, CMT
Brandon Wendell
Many people have the misconception that trading has to be complicated since so few people are truly successful at it. Truthfully, people fail at trading because they over-complicate trading. Trading is not easy by any measure. However, it is simple. Online Trading Academy’s core strategy depends upon a simple, proven approach that works by trading the way that institutional firms trade.
Take the trend identification for instance. Successful traders are aware of the importance of identifying the dominant trend for your trading time frame as well as the larger time frame. In our courses, we use the definition of a trend to help decide the direction in which trading would be most profitable. Identifying and trading in the direction of the dominant trend will put you on track for more profitable trades and reduce your risk.
Looking at the chart of the Qs, you can see that the trend was easily identified as downward as prices plummeted at the open. Price opened at a supply zone offering an opportunity to short. If you did not exit as prices started to turn upwards from $100, the higher lows and higher highs signaled a trend change that would have told you to book your remaining profits.
The day’s trend had changed. The introduction of higher lows and higher highs changed the direction to bullish. Traders should not have looked to short again until the trend told them to. That trend change did become apparent later in the morning when prices made lower highs and lower lows. This made it possible for the trader to look for shorts. If you had identified this, you would have been able to short the mid-day supply zone for an additional $1.00 per share profit.
Some of you may have been worried about the larger daily trend and how it would affect the intraday trends. In our courses, we also teach the proper way to use multiple time frames in trading. Even though the daily trend may not change, the smaller time frames can experience many fluctuations throughout the day.
This same technique can be used on longer term trading or investing. Looking at the S&P 500 index on a weekly chart, using the definition of a trend would have helped to identify major changes in the market trends and also protected your money in times of economic downturn.
Looking at the current trend of the S&P 500 on a monthly chart, the bullish trend that began in 2009-2010 has not only appeared to have ended, but the lower highs and lower lows suggest a new bear trend beginning. This has not occurred since the market crash in 2008.
Trend trading like this will not allow you to enter at the extreme tops or bottoms. To do that you will have to practice at identifying supply and demand zones in conjunction with multiple time frame analysis. To learn more about this, come take one of our courses at Online Trading Academy.
Neither Freedom Management Partners nor any of its personnel are registered broker-dealers or investment advisers. I will mention that I consider certain securities or positions to be good candidates for the types of strategies we are discussing or illustrating. Because I consider the securities or positions appropriate to the discussion or for illustration purposes does not mean that I am telling you to trade the strategies or securities. Keep in mind that we are not providing you with recommendations or personalized advice about your trading activities. The information we are providing is not tailored to any individual. Any mention of a particular security is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold that or any other security or a suggestion that it is suitable for any specific person. Keep in mind that all trading involves a risk of loss, and this will always be the situation, regardless of whether we are discussing strategies that are intended to limit risk. Also, Freedom Management Partners’ personnel are not subject to trading restrictions. I and others at Freedom Management Partners could have a position in a security or initiate a position in a security at any time.
Editors’ Picks
EUR/USD holds firm near 1.1850 amid USD weakness
EUR/USD remains strongly bid around 1.1850 in European trading on Monday. The USD/JPY slide-led broad US Dollar weakness helps the pair build on Friday's recovery ahead of the Eurozone Sentix Investor Confidence data for February.
GBP/USD holds medium-term bullish bias above 1.3600
The GBP/USD pair trades on a softer note around 1.3605 during the early European session on Monday. Growing expectation of the Bank of England’s interest-rate cut weighs on the Pound Sterling against the Greenback.
USD/JPY keeps the red below 157.00 on intervention risks
The Japanese Yen sticks to its modest intraday recovery gains against a broadly weaker US Dollar on the back of speculations that authorities will step in to stem weakness in the domestic currency. In fact, Japanese officials stepped up intervention warnings and confirmed close coordination with the US against disorderly FX moves. This, in turn, triggered an intraday USD/JPY turnaround from the 157.65 region, or a two-week top, touched in reaction to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's landslide win in Sunday's election.
Editors’ Picks
EUR/USD holds firm near 1.1850 amid USD weakness
EUR/USD remains strongly bid around 1.1850 in European trading on Monday. The USD/JPY slide-led broad US Dollar weakness helps the pair build on Friday's recovery ahead of the Eurozone Sentix Investor Confidence data for February.
USD/JPY keeps the red below 157.00 on intervention risks
The Japanese Yen sticks to its modest intraday recovery gains against a broadly weaker US Dollar on the back of speculations that authorities will step in to stem weakness in the domestic currency. In fact, Japanese officials stepped up intervention warnings and confirmed close coordination with the US against disorderly FX moves. This, in turn, triggered an intraday USD/JPY turnaround from the 157.65 region, or a two-week top, touched in reaction to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's landslide win in Sunday's election.
Gold remains supported by China's buying and USD weakness as traders eye US data
Gold struggles to capitalize on its intraday move up and remains below the $5,100 mark heading into the European session amid mixed cues. Data released over the weekend showed that the People's Bank of China extended its buying spree for a 15th month in January. Moreover, dovish US Fed expectations and concerns about the central bank's independence drag the US Dollar lower for the second straight day, providing an additional boost to the non-yielding yellow metal.
Cardano steadies as whale selling caps recovery
Cardano (ADA) steadies at $0.27 at the time of writing on Monday after slipping more than 5% in the previous week. On-chain data indicate a bearish trend, with certain whales offloading ADA. However, the technical outlook suggests bearish momentum is weakening, raising the possibility of a short-term relief rebound if buying interest picks up.
Japanese PM Takaichi nabs unprecedented victory – US data eyed this week
I do not think I would be exaggerating to say that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s snap general election gamble paid off over the weekend – and then some. This secured the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) an unprecedented mandate just three months into her tenure.
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