Ways to Best Apply the Trendline Strategy

Get the lowdown on using trend lines in your trading game. These simple yet powerful lines are key to spotting where the market's headed, making them a top tool in your trading toolkit. Whether you're into stocks or commodities, mastering trend lines can up your strategy, helping you catch trends, dodge reversals, and even nail those trend continuations. Dive into our guide to get savvy with one of the slickest moves in trading – using trend lines to ride the market waves and grab some profit along the way.

Nick Levinsky

May 02, 2024 17 min read

Table of Contents

Overview

1. What is a trendline?

1.1. Support line

1.2. Resistance line

2. How to draw trendlines correctly

2.1. Tips for Beginners

2.2. Choosing the Right Timeframe

3. Best Trendline Trading Strategies

3.1. Trading on The Rebound From the Trendline

3.2. Trend Line Breakout Strategy

3.3. Trend Reversal Strategy

4. What Strategy Should a Beginner Use?

5. Recap

How To Use Trading Strategy Properly?

In the trading universe, whether it’s stocks or commodities you’re after, following the trend is key, particularly when you’re leveraging trend lines. This strategy is straightforward and widely understood among traders. It’s a proven method that has stood the test of time, remaining effective today and promising for the future. Why? Because capitalizing on profits with minimal effort is best achieved by harnessing the power of trend continuation.

Curious about drawing trend lines and utilizing them effectively in your trading strategies? Stay tuned for insightful tips in this article, where we delve into trend line trading, illustrating how these powerful tools can enhance your trade setups. From identifying the direction of the trend to utilizing trendline bounce and breakout strategies, we cover the essentials of making trend lines a pivotal part of your trading arsenal. Whether you’re a day trader looking to capture quick moves or a swing trader aiming for larger swings, understanding how to classify and draw trendlines accurately is crucial. This piece will also touch on the significance of candlestick patterns and entry triggers in confirming trendline strategies, ensuring high probability setups for your trades.

What is a trendline?

Navigating the strategy behind trend lines can seem both straightforward and somewhat intricate. Identifying the trend’s direction is your first step—sketch a line across the lows for an uptrend or the highs for a downtrend. Essentially, a line drawn at support levels acts as your trend line in an uptrend, while a line at resistance levels serves this purpose in a downtrend. This process is fundamental in trendline trading.

However, the complexity arises when a novice trader struggles to accurately classify the trend, possibly drawing an incorrect trend line. Such a misstep could trigger a misinformed trade decision, increasing the risk of a financial setback. This scenario underscores the importance of not only mastering the art of drawing trendlines but also the need for a solid understanding of trend continuation and reversal indicators. It highlights why trading tools and strategies, such as price action trading and the use of candlestick patterns for entry triggers, are crucial for confirming the validity of trend lines and enhancing the probability of successful trades.

Support line

On the GBP/USD chart, we observe a clearly defined upward trend. A support line has been drawn in blue, distinctly indicating the trend’s direction as an ascending support line.

There’s a rule stating that for a trend line to be considered valid, it must intersect at least three low or high points, specifically at levels of support or resistance.

Therefore, in the example above, we have a valid trend line, confirmed by multiple touches of the price chart.

Resistance line

In the example above, a downward trend is depicted in the EUR/USD pair. Here, the trend line is drawn along the peak points, namely the resistance levels, clearly indicating the direction of the current trend. After three touches on the retracements by the price chart of the upper points, the trend line could already be considered confirmed, allowing traders to plan a trade to sell the asset.

It’s important to note, as professional traders well understand, that the price chart does not always precisely touch the support or resistance lines during retracements. As the trend develops, bears or bulls will continuously attempt to take control of the situation, and their attempts may vary in intensity. Therefore, the price may either not reach the trend line or break through it falsely.

Thus, novice traders should not wait for exact touches of the trend line exclusively; otherwise, instead of becoming traders, they might end up as “waiters,” which is unlikely to bring them any profit.

How to draw trendlines correctly

As we’ve pointed out before, a trend line’s credibility hinges on it being hit by the price action at least three times. Plus, for pinpointing the trend accurately, traders need to examine the chart both up close and from afar. This approach ensures traders don’t misread the market’s trajectory.

Getting too caught up in the details of a chart might cause traders to mistake a brief dip or correction for a trend’s continuation, which could lead to incorrect trades and financial losses. To avoid these traps, it’s wise to also consider the chart in a wider view or over a longer timeframe, giving you a comprehensive overview instead of zeroing in on the small stuff. This method of drawing trendlines and understanding the price action helps in making informed decisions, aligning with the best trading strategies for both trend continuation and spotting potential reversals.

Here’s an illustration of focusing too narrowly on the situation:

Example of a “Local” View of the Situation

The chart shows a clearly defined downward trend, and the validity of the trend line, drawn through the high points on the GBPUSD chart retracements, is confirmed by several touches.

However, if you look at the “global” picture on the 4H timeframe, you can see the following scenario:

Example of a “Global” View of the Situation

A section of the price chart highlighted in red, which in the zoomed-in view (30M timeframe) from the previous example appeared as a strong downward trend, is seen in this chart as merely a minor pullback within a larger upward trend. Thus, misidentifying the trend could lead to making a wrong decision and, as a result, incurring losses.

In this scenario, by examining the chart on a 4H timeframe, a trader could identify the long-term upward trend and, by using the pullback to the ascending support line (trend line), enter the market to buy GBPUSD and secure a substantial profit.

Tips for Beginners

For skilled traders, two or three touches might be enough to confirm a trend’s validity, but beginners are advised to wait for at least three touches. Moreover, it’s beneficial to pair the trend line with indicators like moving averages (MAs). If the trend line aligns with a long-period MA, it could serve as confirmation of the trend line’s accuracy. Otherwise, novice traders should wait for an additional one or two touches.

Similar to MAs, Bollinger Bands can also be utilized, where the middle line (MA) may act as interim support or resistance. If it aligns with the trend line, it could be a good point to open a position. The widening of the bands indicates the strength of the trend.

Using MAs and/or Bollinger Bands is also effective for setting protective stop-loss orders.

Beyond technical indicators, don’t overlook technical analysis patterns, which can be either trend continuation or reversal patterns. The formation of the latter after breaking through a trend line significantly reduces the risk of falling for a false breakout.

In addition to touches, traders should consider the slope of the line – both upward and downward. It’s generally believed that the angle should be around 45 degrees. If less, the trend might be fading or weak, potentially shifting into a sideways movement. If greater, there might be a rapid move in the desired direction, making it challenging to catch a pullback at a price suitable for opening a trade.

Choosing the Right Timeframe

When it comes to picking a timeframe, there’s no one-size-fits-all advice because it largely depends on the trader’s strategy. For short-term trades, timeframes like 15M, 30M, and 45M are more suitable, while medium-term trades work best from 1H to 4H, and long-term trades go beyond 4H. Medium- and long-term movements are generally considered to be more reliable and stable.

Best Trendline Trading Strategies

Trading on The Rebound From the Trendline

The most common and reliable strategy for trading with trend lines is definitely trading along with the trend. When an upward trend is identified and an ascending support line (trend line) is drawn, buy trades are opened on pullbacks to this line. They can be closed at the ascending resistance line or based on individual calculations and forecasts.

Solid Upward Trend is Evident on the EUR/USD chart.

Looking at the EUR/USD 1H chart, we see a strong trend going up. This trend got the green light after the line at the bottom was hit three times, which might have been a hint to consider buying. Whenever the price dropped back to this line, it was a good chance to jump in for a longer play. You’d want to set your safety net (stop-loss) just a bit lower than this line, just in case the price decides to dip a bit more. For deciding when to take your winnings (profit targets), look at where the price bounced back up before (those straight lines across). Basically, this situation looked pretty good for making some profit with not too much risk.

Here’s an example of selling during a downtrend:

On the GBP/USD chart, there’s a really obvious trend where prices are dropping. After spotting this trend and drawing a line to show it’s going down (this line is called resistance), the smart move was to sell when prices bounced back up to this line. You’d also want to put in a safety net (a stop-loss order) just a bit above this line in case prices trick you by going up a bit before falling again. This way, you’re not risking too much for the chance to make some money.

If you’re feeling brave or you’ve got a lot of trading experience, you might try to go against the trend. This means you’d sell when prices are at their highest in an uptrend, betting they’ll drop, or buy when they’re really low, betting they’ll go up. But this is pretty risky, especially for newbies, because prices can move fast and not always in the way you expect, like what happened with the GBP/USD chart.

Another approach is to wait until prices break through that trend line (either going up or down) and then make your move, hoping the trend is about to change direction. But be careful, because sometimes what looks like a big change is just a fake-out, and prices might not really be changing direction after all.

Trend Line Breakout Strategy

Another popular trading strategy worth mentioning is the trend line breakout strategy.

Breakouts can lead to some of the most explosive movements in the Forex market. By using this strategy, you have the opportunity to profit from these movements as they occur.

To achieve the best results during bullish/bearish trends, look for buying/selling opportunities on a higher timeframe.

How to open a long position:

Mark the bearish trend line on your chart in red.
When a breakout of the trend line occurs, open a long position.
For a conservative market entry, wait for a retest of the broken trend line resistance, now acting as support.
Set a stop-loss below the previous swing low and choose a risk-to-reward ratio that fits your strategy.

Remember, the opposite applies when opening short positions.

Trend Reversal Strategy

Another simple and frequently used strategy is trading on a reversal from the trend line.

Trading on a trend reversal is considered a safe trading strategy. The price will respect support and resistance levels until it breaks through them. That’s why many traders prefer to trust them, trading on reversals rather than breakouts.

And let’s repeat: the trend is your friend. Look for buying entries when the market is in a bullish trend, and for selling when the trend is bearish.

To open a short position, follow these steps:

Mark the bearish trend line on your chart in red.
When a bounce off the trend line occurs, open a short position.
Place a stop-loss above the previous swing high and again choose the risk-to-reward ratio that suits your strategy.

Remember, the opposite is true for opening long positions.

What Strategy Should a Beginner Use?

For beginners, the clearest choice is to stick with trading along the trend, especially when prices bounce back towards the trend line. This method is less risky compared to others, making it more suitable for those just starting out, while the riskier strategies are generally left to the more experienced traders.

Recap

The biggest perk of trading with a trend line is how simple and reliable it is. For traders who’ve got their strategy down, spotting and drawing a trend line at the start or resurgence of a trend is no big deal. The game plan is to watch for dips back to this line and then make your move, following the trend’s direction, without needing extra indicators or complex patterns.

It’s the essence of keeping things simple in trading, but of course, there’s always a but. The old-school term “tar” might not ring a bell for many and certainly doesn’t help in catching trends, but that’s beside the point here. For the short-term traders among us, like those who day trade or scalp, sticking just to a trend line might not cut it. That’s because the short-term market can be pretty erratic, and calling these quick changes “trends” might be pushing it.

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