Many people believe that the markets are random. In fact, one of the most prominent investing books out there is "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" (1973) by Burton G. Malkiel, who argues that throwing darts at a dartboard is likely to yield results similar to those achieved by a fund manager (and Malkiel does have many valid points).

However, many others argue that although prices may appear to be random, they do in fact follow a pattern in the form of trends. One of the most basic ways in which traders can determine such trends is through the use of fractals. Fractals essentially break down larger trends into extremely simple and predictable reversal patterns. This article will explain what fractals are and how you might apply them to your trading to enhance your profits.

What Are Fractals?
When many people think of fractals in the mathematical sense, they think of chaos theory and abstract mathematics. While these concepts do apply to the market (it being a nonlinear, dynamic system), most traders refer to fractals in a more literal sense. That is, as recurring patterns that can predict reversals among larger, more chaotic price movements.

These basic fractals are composed of five or more bars. The rules for identifying fractals are as follows:

* A bearish turning point occurs when there is a pattern with the highest high in the middle and two lower highs on each side.
* A bullish turning point occurs when there is a pattern with the lowest low in the middle and two higher lows on each side.

The fractals shown in Figure 1 are two examples of perfect patterns. Note that many other less perfect patterns can occur, but the basic pattern should remain intact for the fractal to be valid.

The obvious drawback here is that fractals are lagging indicators - that is, a fractal can't be drawn until we are two days into the reversal. While this may be true, most significant reversals last many more bars, so most of the trend will remain intact (as we will see in the example below).

Applying Fractals to Trading
Like many trading indicators, fractals are best used in conjunction with other indicators or forms of analysis. Perhaps the most common confirmation indicator used with fractals is the "Alligator indicator", a tool that is created by using moving averages that factor in the use of fractal geometry. The standard rule states that all buy rules are only valid if below the "alligator's teeth" (the center average), and all sell rules are only valid if above the alligator's teeth.

Figure 2 is an example of such a setup:

Figure2
As you can see, the primary drawback to this system is the large swings that take place. Notice, for example, that the latest fractal had a drawdown of over 100 pips and still has not hit an exit point. However, there are countless other techniques that can be applied in conjunction with fractals to produce profitable trading systems.

Figure 3 shows a forex trading setup that uses a combination of fractals (multiple time frames), Fibonacci-based moving averages (placed at 89, 144, 233, 377 and their inverses) and a momentum indicator. Let's look at a recent trade setup for the GBP/USD currency pair to see how fractals can help:

Figure 3
Here is a basic rule setup that is used when using a chart with a four-hour time frame:

* Initiate a position when the price has hit the farthest Fibonacci band, but only after a daily (D1) fractal takes place.
* Exit a position after a daily (D1) fractal reversal takes place.

Notice how the fractals pinpoint meaningful tops and bottoms? This helps to take the guesswork out of deciding at which Fibonacci level to trade - all we have to do is check to see if the daily fractal occurred. We should also note that the trend strength began increasing at the sell fractal, and topped at the buy fractal. Although we lose some pips with the confirmation, it saves us from losing out on mere market noise - 139 pips certainly isn't bad for three days! (For further reading, see Trading Without Noise.)

Things to Consider
Here are a few things to remember when using fractals:

* They are lagging indicators. They are best used as confirmation indicators to help confirm that a reversal did take place. Real-time tops and bottoms can be surmised with other techniques.
* The longer the time period (i.e. the number of bars required for a fractal), the more reliable the reversal. However, you should also remember that the longer the time period, the lower the number of signals generated.
* It is best to plot fractals in multiple time frames and use them in conjunction with one another. For example, only trade short-term fractals in the direction of the long-term ones. Along these same lines, long-term fractals are more reliable than short-term fractals.
* Always use fractals in conjunction with other indicators or systems. They work best as decision support tools, not as indicators on their own.

Conclusion
As you can see, fractals can be extremely powerful tools when used in conjunction with other indicators and techniques, especially when used to confirm reversals. The most common usage is with the "Alligator indicator"; however, there are other uses too, as we've seen here. Overall, fractals make excellent decision support tools for any trading method.


--- by Justin Kuepper / investopdia ------

Recently I was invited to beta test the new LMT Forex Formula system by Dean Saunders, the creator of the immensly popular 10 Minute Forex Wealth Builder. I am a great fan of the 10 Minute Forex system, so I was very excited to see what this new product was all about. Is this system worth buying? I believe it is..see my full review below.
The LMT Forex Formula promises to be the perfect solution for the part time Forex trader - a trading system that is 100% mechanical, 82% accurate and only requires 15 minutes of work every day. What exactly is the LMT Forex Formula? Let’s start by looking at what this system is NOT. The LMT Forex Formula is not a Forex Robot that trades automatically. It is Not a robot that trades for you. They have a software which shows you the trades but they do NOT place trades for you. You will
manually make the trades which keeps you informed on your trades.

This system is designed to earn 100’s of pips per trade.
It is good for real traders who want to have control over the
trades that you want to make.

This system comes with special indicators that alert you when trading opportunities occur, but you still place and manage the trades yourself. This means that you are not tied to a specific broker and always remain 100% in control of your own trading.
The second thing that the LMT Forex Formula is not is a scalping or intraday trading system that requires you to place many small trades every day. This system is all about large movements in the currencies and is designed to earn hundreds of pips per trade. You will get around 2-3 trades per week and sometimes stay in these trades for days before taking large profits.

What I like about the LMT Forex Formula
I have only tested the LMT Forex Formula for a short while, but the beta testing results I have seen so far has been very impressive. Those who trade actively with this system frequently report large winning trades of more than 300 pips and conservative results show that it is possible to easily make around 500 pips per month by only trading the one or two best setups every week.

Another great thing about this system is that you can use it with ANY broker, you are not forced to use a Metatrader broker like you are with all the Forex robots. The custom indicator requires Metatrader, but you can easily use a free Metatrader demo account for your trade signals and charting while doing your actual trading at a different broker.

The launch price is very affordable. Just the money management techniques that Dean teaches in this system alone is worth this price and if you consider that the product comes with a 60 day money back guarantee, then this is really a low-risk purchase.

Conclusions and Recommendations
Any Forex product by Dean Saunders is always worth investigating and the LMT Forex Formula is definitely one of the the easiest, most accurate Forex trading systems I have ever come across. If you are looking for a system that is almost 100% mechanical, but still under your full control, then I definitely recommend that you check this one out. Once you feel what it is like to take 500 pips profit in one trade off the daily charts you will never be interested in short term scalping methods again.

---- by:fxtradingreviews ------

SEE...FapTurbo Forex Robot Review and Free Download...Forex Trader Reveals : What you must know before you buy Forex Robot.

a Simple One That’s Proven and Made Millions
Enclosed you will find a free Forex trading system with one rule which is simple and has made savvy traders huge gains for over 25 years. Let’s take a look at how you can use it for bigger Forex gains…

Of course you can buy a forex trading system but most sold are junk and only have simulated back tested results - this one on the other hand has made gains for over 25 years and will continue to do so.

The system was devised by one of the trading greats - Richard Donchian who is considered the grandfather of modern trend following and his insight on channels and the 4 Week Rule (the trading system below) are two methods all traders should know about.

Let’s take a look at how it works and it’s based on one simple rule, here it is.

Buy a new 4 week high and hold the position, until a 4 week low is hit then liquidate the long position and go short. Keep doing the following - buy new 4 week highs and sell new 4 week lows thereafter and always keep a position in the market.

You can’t get a much simpler system than the above and you don’t even have to think about what to do, the rule is clear and objective, you can simply follow it and it works; here’s why.

Forex markets tend to trend for long periods and these trends can be for many weeks or months. These trends tend to start and continue from new market highs or lows, so this system will put you in on every major trend and help you get a good chunk of the profits.

Don’t worry about its simplicity - forex markets are best suited to simple, robust systems. The trader who complicates his trading strategy normally will see it fail, as it has too many elements to break.

While the system is simple and works, most traders can’t follow it.

It takes tremendous discipline to follow long term trends and they prefer to use shorter term systems which make them feel better or safer - but of course don’t work. They also follow for the myths perpetrated by vendors, that you don’t get drawdowns in Forex - but you do, even the best systems have them. You have to trade through them, learn to take short term losses and look at the big picture which is longer term gains.

This system will never go out of date and is simple to understand, it also doesn’t take long to operate about 15 - 30 minutes a day and the rule tells you exactly what to do.

If you are looking for a long term Forex trading system that’s proven, rather than a simulated one which has never been traded and won’t work, then check out the free Forex trading system which is the 4 Week Rule and you maybe glad you did.

Leading vs. Lagging Indicators

We’ve covered a lot of tools that can help you analyze charts and identify trends. In fact, you may now have too much information to use effectively.

In this lesson, we’re going to look at streamlining your use of these chart indicators. We want you to fully understand the strengths and weaknesses of each tool, so you’ll be able to determine which ones work for you and your trading plan… and which ones don’t.

Leading versus Lagging Indicators

Let’s discuss some concepts first. There are two types of indicators: leading and lagging.

A leading indicator gives a buy signal before the new trend or reversal occurs.

A lagging indicator gives a signal after the trend has started and basically informs you “hey buddy, pay attention, the trend has started, you’re missing the boat.”

You’re probably thinking, “Ooooh, I’m going to get rich with leading indicators!” since you would be able to profit from a new trend right at the start. You’re right – you would “catch” the entire trend every single time, IF the leading indicator was correct every single time. But it’s not.

When you use leading indicators, you will experience a lot of fake-outs. Leading indicators are notorious for giving bogus signals which will “mislead” you. Get it? Leading indicators that "mislead" you? Ha-ha. Man we're so funny we even crack ourselves up.

The other option is to use lagging indicators, which aren’t as prone to bogus signals. Lagging indicators only give signals after the price change is clearly forming a trend. The downside is that you’d be a little late in entering a position. Often the biggest gains of a trend occur in the first few bars, so by using a lagging indicator you could potentially miss out on much of the profit. Which sucks.

Oscillators and Trend Following Indicators

For the purpose of this lesson, let’s broadly categorize all of our technical indicators into one of two categories:

1. Oscillators
2. Trend following or momentum indicators

Oscillators are leading indicators.

Momentum indicators are lagging indicators.

While the two can be supportive of each other, they're more likely to conflict with each other. We’re not saying that one or the other should be used exclusively, but you must understand the potential pitfalls of each.

Oscillators / Leading Indicators

An oscillator is any object or data that moves back and forth between two points. In other words, it’s an item that is going to always fall somewhere between point A and point B. Think of when you hit the oscillating switch on your electric fan.

Think of our technical indicators as either being “on” or “off”. More specifically, an oscillator will usually signal “buy” or “sell”, with the only exception being instances when the oscillator is not clearly at either end of the buy/sell range.

Does this sound familiar? It should! Stochastics, Parabolic SAR, and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) are all oscillators. Each of these indicators is designed to signal a possible reversal, where the previous trend has run its course and the price is ready to change direction.

Let’s take a look at a few examples.

On the 1-hour chart of USD/EUR below, we have added a Parabolic SAR indicator, as well as an RSI and Stochastic oscillator. As you have already learned, when the Stochastic and RSI begin to leave their “oversold” region that is a buy signal.

Here we get buy signals between the hours 3:00 am EST and 7:00 am EST on 08/24/05. All three of these buy signals occurred within one or two hours of each other, and this would have been a good trade.

We also got a sell signal from all three indicators between the hours of 2:00 am EST and 5:00 am EST on 08/25/05. As you can see, the Stochastic indicator remained in the overbought for a pretty long time - about 20 hours. Usually when an oscillator remains in the overbought or oversold levels for a long period of time, that means there is a strong trend occurring. In this example, since Stochastic stayed overbought, you see there was a strong uptrend present.

Now let’s take a look at the same leading oscillators messing up, just so you know these signals aren’t perfect. Looking at the chart below, you can quickly see that there were a lot of false buy signals popping up. You’ll see how one indicator says to buy, while the other one is still saying sell.

Around 1 am EST on 08/16/05, both RSI and Stochastic gave buy signals, while Parabolic SAR still showed a sell signal. Yes, Parabolic SAR gave a buy signal 3 hours later at 4 am EST, but then Parabolic SAR turned into a sell signal one bar later. If you actually look at the bar with the Parabolic SAR below it, notice how it’s a strong looking red bar with very short shadows. Also, notice how the next bar closed below it. This would not have been a good long trade.

On the last two oversold (buy) signals given by Stochastic, notice how there is no indicator at all for RSI, but Parabolic SAR is giving sell signals. What’s going on here? They are each giving you different signals!

What happened to such a good set of indicators?

The answer lies in the method of calculation for each one. Stochastic is based on the high-to-low range of the time period (in this case, it’s hourly), yet doesn’t account for changes from one hour to the next. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) uses change from one closing price to the next. And Parabolic SAR has its own unique calculations that can further cause conflict.

That’s the nature of oscillators – they assume that a particular chart pattern always results in the same reversal. Of course, that’s hogwash.

While being aware of why a leading indicator may be in error, there’s no way to avoid them. If you’re getting mixed signals, you’re better off doing nothing than taking a ‘best guess’. If a chart doesn’t meet all your criteria, don’t force the trade! Move on to the next one that does meet your criteria.

Momentum / Lagging Indicators

So how do we spot a trend? The indicators that can do so have already been identified as MACD and moving averages. These indicators will spot trends once they have been established, at the expense of delayed entry. The bright side is that there’s less chance of being wrong.

On this 1-hour chart of EUR/USD, there was a bullish crossover for MACD at 3:00 am EST on 08/03/05 and the 10 period EMA crossed over the 20 period EMA at 5:00 am. These two signals were all accurate, but if you waited for both indicators to give you a bull signal, you would have missed out on the big move. If you calculate from the start of the uptrend at 10:00 pm EST on 08/02/05 to the close of the candle at 5:00 am EST on 08/03/05, you would have watched a gain of 159 pips while sitting on the sidelines.

Let’s take a look at the same chart so you can see how these crossover signals can sometimes give false signals. We like to call them “fake-outs”. Look at how there was a bearish MACD crossover after the uptrend we just discussed.

Ten hours later, the 20 EMA crossed below the 10 EMA giving a “sell” signal. As you can see, the price didn’t drop but stayed pretty much sideways, then continued its uptrend. By the time both indicators were in agreement, you would’ve entered a short trade at the bottom and set yourself up for a loss. Bummer, dude!

Summary of Leading & Lagging Indicators

The Million Dollar Question

How do you figure out whether to freakin’ use oscillators, or trend following indicators, or both? After all, we know they don’t always work in tandem.

This is probably the most challenging part about technical analysis. And why I call it the million dollar question.

We will provide the million dollar answer in a future lesson.

For now, just know that once you're able to identify the type of market you are trading in, you will then know which indicators will give accurate signals, and which ones are worthless at that time.

This is no piece of cake. But it's a skill you will slowly improve upon as your experience grows.

Trading with ASI indicator involves the following details:
ASI has positive value — uptrend.
ASI has negative value — downtrend.
ASI trend line breakout — validates a breakout on the price chart.
Details
What is Accumulative Swing Index
Welles Wilder, the creator of ASI indicator said, "Somewhere amidst the maze of Open, High, Low and Close prices is a phantom line that is the real market." The Accumulation Swing Index shows this phantom line - the line of the real market.
The Accumulative Swing Index uses a scale from 0 to 100 for an up trend and 0 to -100 for a down trend.

How to interpret ASI indicator
If a long-term trend is up, the ASI has a positive value; and if long-term trend is down indicator appears in a negative value. During sideways moving market, the ASI moves between + and - values.
Accumulative Swing Index is widely used to confirm or deny trend lines breakouts on Forex charts.
Trend lines are drawn on both: a chart and indicator’s graph and then compared against each other to confirm/dismiss trend line breakout signals.

How to trade with Accumulative Swing Index
Welles Wilder, developer of Accumulative Swing Index indicator, describes in his book "New Concepts in Technical Trading Systems" why ASI can be used for trend line breakout confirmations. He said, that ASI is able to show the real strength and direction of the market and since Accumulative Swing Index is heavily weighted in favor of the close price, daily upward and downward spikes do not adversely affect ASI.
Here is a quote from his book:
"When the Index is plotted on the same chart as the daily bar chart, trend lines drawn on the ASI can be compared to trend lines drawn on the bar chart. For those who know how to draw meaningful trend lines, the ASI can be a good tool to confirm trend-line breakouts. Often erroneous breaking of trend lines drawn on bar charts will not be confirmed by the trend lines drawn on the ASI. Since the ASI is heavily weighted in favor of the close price, a quick run up or down during a day's trading does not adversely affect the index."
Signal Buy with ASI occurs when indicator exceeds its previous Swing High.
Signal Sell occurs when ASI dips below its previous Swing Low.

Forex Tips & Strategy : How To Draw Proper Trend Line
Drawing trend line is sometime that is very subjective for most traders. From those trading books that are in the market, trend line is drawn by joining 2 or more swing lows or 2 or more swing highs. However the problem lies with there are a lot of swing highs and lows in most chart and which one should you use and which one should you ignore?

This is a topic that is suggested by one of our active newsletter subscriber who is a fellow trader. Therefore I am going to spend some time on this post to go through how you can draw proper trend line.

Basically there are 2 main types of trend line you can draw and they are

1) Common Sense Trend Line: This type of trend line is the most commonly used by traders and it basically makes use of 2 or more swing highs or lows to connect to form the line. Swing lows are formed when there is a candle that has 2 higher candles on its left and right and swing highs are formed when there is a candle that has 2 lower candles on its left and right.

Since there are quite a number of swing highs and lows in a particular chart, you need to be able to prioritise which are the more important ones.

Swing low usually forms a V-shaped pattern while swing high forms an N-shaped pattern. For swing low, the one with more higher candles on its left and right will be more significant than the one with lesser higher candles on its left and right and it works the same for the swing highs except that you should be looking for more lower candles.


When drawing common sense trend line, you will try to connect a few points and the line that has the most points connected will be the line you should be using to trade. The more swing highs or lows you manage to connect to form a trend line, the more powerful it is because there is more time the market is trying to break the line but failed and it will serve as a strong support or resistance.

One more thing to take note, if the trend line is breached by a candle, it will be no longer useful and you need to redraw another new trend line.


Personally I use a mix of these 2 ways of drawing trend line. The common sense trend line sometime serves as a long term trend line for me while the Tom Demark trend line serves as a short term trend line for me and both of them works rather well so far.
Hope that this post on how to draw trend line is useful for you.

--- by ; Kelvin / forex tips

Trading Double Tops and Double Bottoms
No chart pattern is more common in trading than the double bottom or double top. In fact this pattern appears so often that it alone may serve as proof positive that price action is not as wildly random as many academics claim. Price charts simply express trader sentiment and double tops and double bottoms represent a re-testing of temporary extremes. If prices were truly random, why do they pause so frequently at just those points? To traders the answer is that many participants are making their stand at those clearly demarcated levels.

If these levels undergo and repel attacks, they instill even more confidence in the traders who've defended the barrier and, as such, are likely to generate strong profitable countermoves. Here we look at the difficult task of spotting the important double bottom and double tops, and we demonstrate how Bollinger Bands can help you set appropriate stops when you're trading these patterns.


React or Anticipate?
One great criticism of technical pattern trading is that setups always look obvious in hindsight but that executing them in real time is actually very difficult. Double tops and double bottoms are no exception. Though these patterns appear almost daily, successfully identifying and trading them is no easy task.

There are two approaches to this problem and both have their merits and drawbacks. In short, traders can either anticipate these formations or wait for confirmation and react to them. Which approach you chose is more a function of your personality than relative merit. Those who have a fader mentality - who love to fight the tape, sell into strength and buy weakness - will try to anticipate the pattern by stepping in front of the price move.



Reactive traders, who want to see confirmation of the pattern before entering, have the advantage of knowing that the pattern exists but there's a tradeoff: they must pay worse prices and suffer greater losses should the pattern fail.


What's Obvious Is Not Often Right
Most traders are inclined to place a stop right at the bottom of a double bottom or top of the double top. The conventional wisdom says that once the pattern is broken, the trader should get out. But conventional wisdom is often wrong.

Leaving the trade early may seem prudent and logical, but markets are rarely that straightforward. Many retail traders play double tops/bottoms, and, knowing this, dealers and institutional traders love to exploit the retail traders' behavior of exiting early, forcing the weak hands out of the trade before price changes direction. The net effect is a series of frustrating stops out of positions that often would have turned out to be successful trades.



What Are Stops For?
Most traders make the mistake of using stops for risk control. But risk control in trading should be achieved through proper position size, not stops. The general rule of thumb is never to risk more than 2% of capital per trade. For smaller traders, that can sometimes mean ridiculously small trades.

Fortunately in FX where many dealers allow flexible lot sizes, down to one unit per lot - the 2% rule of thumb is easily possible. Nevertheless, many traders insist on using tight stops on highly leveraged positions. In fact, it is quite common for a trader to generate 10 consecutive losing trades under such tight stop methods. So, we could say that in FX, instead of controlling risk, ineffective stops might even increase it. Their function, then, is to determine the highest probability for a point of failure. An effective stop poses little doubt to the trader over whether he or she is wrong.

Implementing the True Function of Stops
A technique using Bollinger Bands can help traders set those proper stops. Because Bollinger Bands incorporate volatility by using standard deviations in their calculations, they can accurately project price levels at which traders should abandon their trades.
The method for using Bollinger-Bands stops for double tops and double bottoms is quite simple:

1. Isolate the point of the first top or bottom, and overlay Bollinger Bands with four standard-deviation parameters.
2. Draw a line from the first top or bottom to the Bollinger Band. The point of intersection becomes your stop.

At first glance four standard deviations may seem like an extreme choice. After all, two standard deviations cover 95% of possible scenarios in a normal distribution of a dataset. However, all those who have traded financial markets know that price action is anything but normal - if it were, the type of crashes that happen in financial markets every five or 10 years would occur only once every 6,000 years. Classic statistical assumptions are not very useful for traders. Therefore setting a wider standard-deviation parameter is a must.
The four standard deviations cover more than 99% of all probabilities and therefore seem to offer a reasonable cut-off point. More importantly they work well in actual testing, providing stops that are not too tight, yet not so wide as to become prohibitively costly. Note how well they work on the following GBP/USD example.


More importantly, take a look at the next example. A true sign of a proper stop is a capacity to protect the trader from runaway losses. In the following chart, the trade is clearly wrong but is stopped out well before the one-way move causes major damage to the trader's account.

Conclusion
The genius of Bollinger Bands is their adaptability. By constantly incorporating volatility, they adjust quickly to the rhythm of the market. Using them to set proper stops when trading double bottoms and double tops - the most frequent price patterns in forex - makes those common trades much more effective.

--- by; Boris Schlossberg / director of currency research at GFT Forex. ----

Profitable Trading System
Open any chart for any currency pair, any time frame. I will use EUR/USD 1H as an example.
Next, attach Bollinger bands and OsMA indicators. Default settings for both.
What we are going to use here is a classic trading method called Divergence trading. divergence simply happens when the indicator and price are going in opposite directions.

The indicator we are going to use for Divergence is the OsMA indiactor.

To avoid false Divergence signals, we are going to use Bollinger bands. Valid signals are only the ones that happens when price hits overbought – oversold levels of Bollinger bands.
Images1


When that happens we should know that price will reverse. In the above example, price was going up. So we are waiting for a sell signal. If price was going down, that means we are waiting for a buy signal.


Entry Rules –
Buy signal :

1 – Divergence
2 – Price hits Bollinger band’s oversold levels

Entry signal:
1 – when price starts to reverse up from the oversold level
2 – OsMA forms a new bar above 0 level.

Images2

Entry Rules –
Sell signal :
1 – Divergence
2 – Price hits Bollinger band’s overbought levels

Entry signal:
1 – when price starts to reverse down from the overbought level
2 – OsMA forms a new bar below 0 level.

Images3

Stop Loss :Last support/ resistance level.
Target :You have the choice to exist your trades when ..
1 – price hits the opposite Bollinger band’s level Or
2 – an opposite signals is generated

This system works great on 15M time frames and higher. Not recommended for smaller time frames.
The system is not to be used with major news releases.

It’s not the holy grail, but it’s a very good start. Try it and remember that practice makes perfect.

----- by ; Forex Warlord -------

Joe Ross has been trading and investing since his first trade at the age of 14, and is a well known Master Trader and Investor. He has survived all the up and downs of the markets because of his adaptable trading style, using a low-risk approach that produces consistent profits. Joe Ross is the creator of the Ross Hook ™ (Rh), and has set new standards for low-risk trading with his concepts of "The Law of Charts™" and the "Traders Trick Entry™" (TTE). Joe Ross has a few preferred trading signals, but we will present here the Ross Hook and the Traders Trick Entry.

Ross hook could be created on charts after:

1. First correction after a 1-2-3 pattern breakout;
2. First correction after a ledge pattern breakout (A ledge consists of a minimum of four price bars. It must have two matching lows and two matching highs. The matching highs must be separated by at least one price bar, and the matching lows must be separated by at least one price bar.);

First correction after a trading range breakout (A Trading Range is similar to a ledge, but must consist of more than ten price bars.).

The definitions are from "Law of Charts" by Joe Ross. This is very useful reading also.

During an uptrend when the market fails to make new high, a Ross Hook is formed. During a downtrend when the market fails to make new low, a Ross Hook is formed. Every directional price move reaches a point of exhaustion and needs new participants to continue. That is why the market takes its breath and at this point a Ross hook occurs. The Ross hook could be identified when the market is trending not when it is in a phase of consolidation. We skip the signal if the market opens with gap beyond the Ross Hook.

With the Traders Trick Entry TTE we try to open position before the other traders. We can make profits in trading only if we take other people's money. We have to learn how we can be one step ahead of the other market players. When Ross Hook, 1-2-3 pattern or other chart formation occurs most of the traders will place their orders at these levels. The Big boys know this very well and often target these order to make easy profits. They move the prices towards the nearest major level and activate the orders around only to reverse the price movement towards the stop losses. TTE is designed for such cases. When we see Ross hook and expect a test of this level we try to open a position early and make a nice profit if the break is successful with good risk/reward ratio. In most of the cases if the break of the Rh is false we can close our position with small profit



Long Position

1. The high of the last period is lower than the high of the previous Ross hook is formed;
2. The price retraces lower and the high of every period is lower than the previous one. The retracement should be 3-5 periods max;
3. We place a buy order above the high of the last period with stop loss below its low;
4. When the long position is opened we place limit order according to our money management rules. We suggest closing part of the position and move the stop loss to break even when the Rh level is reached.

Short Position

1. The low of the last period is higher than the low of the previous Ross hook is formed;
2. The price retraces higher and the low of every period is higher than the previous one. The retracement should be 3-5 periods max;
3. We place a sell order below the low of the last period with stop loss above its high;
4. When the short position is opened we place limit order according to our money management rules. We suggest closing part of the position and move the stop loss to break even when the Rh level is reached.

---- by : Svetlin Minev ------

Directional Movement Index and Parabolic SAR
DMI and Parabolic SAR are very efficient trend indicators and are used often by traders for developing of their strategies. These indicators could be used separately and in combination with other technical studies. The DMI system is plotted by three lines: ADX, +DI and -DI, and could be used for generating of signals or trend filter:

Rising ADX shows that the market has a clear direction and is in a trending mode;

Declining ADX shows that the trend is losing steam or the market is in consolidation phase;
When ADX is above 20-25, the market is in a clear trend.

DMI system generates the following signals:
Rules for long position

1. ADX is above 25 and rising;

2. The Parabolic SAR goes form below to above the chart of the price. The bar when this happens is marked as Signal bar.

3. Long position is initiated when the price breaks 2-3 pips above the high of the Signal bar.

4. After the position is open an initial stop loss order is placed 2-3 pips below the low of the signal bar.

5. A limit order is placed according our Money management rules.
Rules for short position

1. ADX is above 25 and rising;

2. The Parabolic SAR goes form above to below the chart of the price. The bar when this happens is marked as Signal bar..

3. Short position is initiated when the price breaks 2-3 pips below the low of the Signal bar.

4. After the position is open an initial stop loss order is placed 2-3 pips above the high signal bar.

5. A limit order is placed according to our Money management rules.

Indicator chart



----- by ; Svetlin Minev / M.Popov ------

Leading vs. Lagging Indicators

We’ve covered a lot of tools that can help you analyze charts and identify trends. In fact, you may now have too much information to use effectively.

In this lesson, we’re going to look at streamlining your use of these chart indicators. We want you to fully understand the strengths and weaknesses of each tool, so you’ll be able to determine which ones work for you and your trading plan… and which ones don’t.

Leading versus Lagging Indicators

Let’s discuss some concepts first. There are two types of indicators: leading and lagging.

A leading indicator gives a buy signal before the new trend or reversal occurs.

A lagging indicator gives a signal after the trend has started and basically informs you “hey buddy, pay attention, the trend has started, you’re missing the boat.”

You’re probably thinking, “Ooooh, I’m going to get rich with leading indicators!” since you would be able to profit from a new trend right at the start. You’re right – you would “catch” the entire trend every single time, IF the leading indicator was correct every single time. But it’s not.

When you use leading indicators, you will experience a lot of fake-outs. Leading indicators are notorious for giving bogus signals which will “mislead” you. Get it? Leading indicators that "mislead" you? Ha-ha. Man we're so funny we even crack ourselves up.

The other option is to use lagging indicators, which aren’t as prone to bogus signals. Lagging indicators only give signals after the price change is clearly forming a trend. The downside is that you’d be a little late in entering a position. Often the biggest gains of a trend occur in the first few bars, so by using a lagging indicator you could potentially miss out on much of the profit. Which sucks.

Oscillators and Trend Following Indicators

For the purpose of this lesson, let’s broadly categorize all of our technical indicators into one of two categories:

1. Oscillators
2. Trend following or momentum indicators

Oscillators are leading indicators.

Momentum indicators are lagging indicators.

While the two can be supportive of each other, they're more likely to conflict with each other. We’re not saying that one or the other should be used exclusively, but you must understand the potential pitfalls of each.

Oscillators / Leading Indicators

An oscillator is any object or data that moves back and forth between two points. In other words, it’s an item that is going to always fall somewhere between point A and point B. Think of when you hit the oscillating switch on your electric fan.

Think of our technical indicators as either being “on” or “off”. More specifically, an oscillator will usually signal “buy” or “sell”, with the only exception being instances when the oscillator is not clearly at either end of the buy/sell range.

Does this sound familiar? It should! Stochastics, Parabolic SAR, and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) are all oscillators. Each of these indicators is designed to signal a possible reversal, where the previous trend has run its course and the price is ready to change direction.

Let’s take a look at a few examples.

On the 1-hour chart of USD/EUR below, we have added a Parabolic SAR indicator, as well as an RSI and Stochastic oscillator. As you have already learned, when the Stochastic and RSI begin to leave their “oversold” region that is a buy signal.

Here we get buy signals between the hours 3:00 am EST and 7:00 am EST on 08/24/05. All three of these buy signals occurred within one or two hours of each other, and this would have been a good trade.

We also got a sell signal from all three indicators between the hours of 2:00 am EST and 5:00 am EST on 08/25/05. As you can see, the Stochastic indicator remained in the overbought for a pretty long time - about 20 hours. Usually when an oscillator remains in the overbought or oversold levels for a long period of time, that means there is a strong trend occurring. In this example, since Stochastic stayed overbought, you see there was a strong uptrend present.

Now let’s take a look at the same leading oscillators messing up, just so you know these signals aren’t perfect. Looking at the chart below, you can quickly see that there were a lot of false buy signals popping up. You’ll see how one indicator says to buy, while the other one is still saying sell.

Around 1 am EST on 08/16/05, both RSI and Stochastic gave buy signals, while Parabolic SAR still showed a sell signal. Yes, Parabolic SAR gave a buy signal 3 hours later at 4 am EST, but then Parabolic SAR turned into a sell signal one bar later. If you actually look at the bar with the Parabolic SAR below it, notice how it’s a strong looking red bar with very short shadows. Also, notice how the next bar closed below it. This would not have been a good long trade.

On the last two oversold (buy) signals given by Stochastic, notice how there is no indicator at all for RSI, but Parabolic SAR is giving sell signals. What’s going on here? They are each giving you different signals!

What happened to such a good set of indicators?

The answer lies in the method of calculation for each one. Stochastic is based on the high-to-low range of the time period (in this case, it’s hourly), yet doesn’t account for changes from one hour to the next. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) uses change from one closing price to the next. And Parabolic SAR has its own unique calculations that can further cause conflict.

That’s the nature of oscillators – they assume that a particular chart pattern always results in the same reversal. Of course, that’s hogwash.

While being aware of why a leading indicator may be in error, there’s no way to avoid them. If you’re getting mixed signals, you’re better off doing nothing than taking a ‘best guess’. If a chart doesn’t meet all your criteria, don’t force the trade! Move on to the next one that does meet your criteria.

Momentum / Lagging Indicators

So how do we spot a trend? The indicators that can do so have already been identified as MACD and moving averages. These indicators will spot trends once they have been established, at the expense of delayed entry. The bright side is that there’s less chance of being wrong.

On this 1-hour chart of EUR/USD, there was a bullish crossover for MACD at 3:00 am EST on 08/03/05 and the 10 period EMA crossed over the 20 period EMA at 5:00 am. These two signals were all accurate, but if you waited for both indicators to give you a bull signal, you would have missed out on the big move. If you calculate from the start of the uptrend at 10:00 pm EST on 08/02/05 to the close of the candle at 5:00 am EST on 08/03/05, you would have watched a gain of 159 pips while sitting on the sidelines.

Let’s take a look at the same chart so you can see how these crossover signals can sometimes give false signals. We like to call them “fake-outs”. Look at how there was a bearish MACD crossover after the uptrend we just discussed.

Ten hours later, the 20 EMA crossed below the 10 EMA giving a “sell” signal. As you can see, the price didn’t drop but stayed pretty much sideways, then continued its uptrend. By the time both indicators were in agreement, you would’ve entered a short trade at the bottom and set yourself up for a loss. Bummer, dude!

Source : http://www.babypips.com/school/momentum_lagging_indicators.html

Bollinger Bands

Congratulations on making it to the 5th grade! Each time you make it to the next grade you continue to add more and more tools to your trader’s toolbox. “What’s a trader’s toolbox?” you say… Simple! Your trader’s toolbox is what you will use to “build” your trading account. The more tools (education) you have in your trader’s toolbox (YOUR BRAIN), the easier it will be for you to build.

So for this lesson, as you learn each of these indicators, think of them as a new tool that you can add to that toolbox of yours. You might not necessarily use all of these tools, but it’s always nice to have the option, right? Now, enough about tools already! Let’s get started!

Bollinger Bands

Bollinger bands are used to measure a market’s volatility. Basically, this little tool tells us whether the market is quiet or whether the market is LOUD! When the market is quiet, the bands contract; and when the market is LOUD, the bands expand. Notice on the chart below that when the price was quiet, the bands were close together, but when the price moved up, the bands spread apart.

That’s all there is to it. Yes, we could go on and bore you by going into the history of the Bollinger band, how it is calculated, the mathematical formulas behind it, and so on and so forth, but we really didn’t feel like typing it all out.

In all honesty, you don’t need to know any of that junk. We think it’s more important that we show you some ways you can apply the Bollinger bands to your trading.

Note: If you really want to learn about the calculations of a Bollinger band, then you can go to www.bollingerbands.com

The Bollinger Bounce

One thing you should know about Bollinger Bands is that price tends to return to the middle of the bands. That is the whole idea behind the Bollinger bounce (smart, huh?). If this is the case, then by looking at the chart below, can you tell us where the price might go next?

If you said down, then you are correct! As you can see, the price settled back down towards the middle area of the bands.

That’s all there is to it. What you just saw was a classic Bollinger bounce. The reason these bounces occur is because Bollinger Bands act like mini support and resistance levels. The longer the time frame you are in, the stronger these bands are. Many traders have developed systems that thrive on these bounces, and this strategy is best used when the market is ranging and there is no clear trend.

Now let’s look at a way to use Bollinger Bands when the market does trend.

Bollinger Squeeze

The Bollinger squeeze is pretty self explanatory. When the bands “squeeze” together, it usually means that a breakout is going to occur. If the candles start to break out above the top band, then the move will usually continue to go up. If the candles start to break out below the lower band, then the move will usually continue to go down.

Looking at the chart above, you can see the bands squeezing together. The price has just started to break out of the top band. Based on this information, where do you think the price will go?

If you said up, you are correct! This is how a typical Bollinger Squeeze works. This strategy is designed for you to catch a move as early as possible. Setups like these don’t occur everyday, but you can probably spot them a few times a week if you are looking at a 15 minute chart.

So now you know what Bollinger Bands are, and you know how to use them. There are many other things you can do with Bollinger Bands, but these are the 2 most common strategies associated with them. So now you can put this in your trader’s toolbox, and we can move on to the next indicator.

Parabolic SAR

Up until now, we’ve looked at indicators that mainly focus on catching the beginning of new trends. And although it is important to be able to identify new trends, it is equally important to be able to identify where a trend ends. After all, what good is a well-timed entry without a well-timed exit?

One indicator that can help us determine where a trend might be ending is the Parabolic SAR (Stop And Reversal). A Parabolic SAR places dots, or points, on a chart that indicate potential reversals in price movement. From the chart above, you can see that the dots shift from being below the candles during the uptrend, to above the candles when the trend reverses into a downtrend.

Stochastics

Stochastics

Stochastics are another indicator that helps us determine where a trend might be ending. By definition, a stochastic is an oscillator that measures overbought and oversold conditions in the market. The 2 lines are similar to the MACD lines in the sense that one line is faster than the other.

How to Apply Stochastics

Like I said earlier, stochastics tells us when the market is overbought or oversold. Stochastics are scaled from 0 to 100. When the stochastic lines are above 70 (the red dotted line in the chart above), then it means the market is overbought. When the stochastic lines are below 30 (the blue dotted line), then it means that the market is oversold. As a rule of thumb, we buy when the market is oversold, and we sell when the market is overbought.

Looking at the chart above, you can see that the stochastics has been showing overbought conditions for quite some time. Based upon this information, can you guess where the price might go?

If you said the price would drop, then you are absolutely correct! Because the market was overbought for such a long period of time, a reversal was bound to happen.

That is the basics of stochastics. Many traders use stochastics in different ways, but the main purpose of the indicator is to show us where the market is overbought and oversold. Over time, you will learn to use stochastics to fit your own personal trading style. Okay, let's move on to RSI.

Relative Strength Index

Relative Strength Index, or RSI, is similar to stochastics in that it identifies overbought and oversold conditions in the market. It is also scaled from 0 to 100. Typically, readings below 20 indicate oversold, while readings over 80 indicate overbought.

Using RSI

RSI can be used just like stochastics. From the chart above you can see that when RSI dropped below 20, it correctly identified an oversold market. After the drop, the price quickly shot back up.

RSI is a very popular tool because it can also be used to confirm trend formations. If you think a trend is forming, take a quick look at the RSI and look at whether it is above or below 50. If you are looking at a possible uptrend, then make sure the RSI is above 50. If you are looking at a possible downtrend, then make sure the RSI is below 50.

In the beginning of the chart above, we can see that a possible uptrend was forming. To avoid fakeouts, we can wait for RSI to cross above 50 to confirm our trend. Sure enough, as RSI passes above 50, it is a good confirmation that an uptrend has actually formed. Okey dokey, we've covered a smorgasbord of indicators, let's see how we can put all of what you just learned together...