Multi-Time Frame Trend Trading

Yes i do agree that the degree is mine and forever to keep. However given a choice, between a good trading skill and minset with a degree, you know i’d defintely take the first one! It’s a recession proof skill that can feed one for life. As for a degree, to me its just a passport to the working world.

You have some great talent after years of hardwork and you bet that is the envy of many! sadly, statistics has proven that many simply don’t make it far enough and quit eventually.

And oh, a degree would be a good backup incase anything fails, we still have something to fall back on. That’s what my parents keep drilling into me, so yeah here i am persuing my degree :smiley:

fartist, thanks for the chart examples. I was the one asking Grav for them in chat yesterday. I know drawing trendlines is pretty straightforward, I guess I was just thinking they’d be more complicated than that. So it’s just a matter of drawing them where you see them and taking the breakouts in the direction of the longer trend.

Hey mp, you’re most welcome man.

Some problems i faced is that sometimes the TL might be skewed a little here and there. Thus it looks broken but then it may not be. So i feel that best is to take those really clear cut broken ones.

And as always in hindsight, it looks very obvious! lol.
I could not spot those earlier till grav told me to search up on a few :stuck_out_tongue:

Hey MP. Yes, this is one of the simplest entry methods I know of. All that’s required is to determine the trend direction on the longer TF and watch for retracements against it. Then start drawing and adjusting the retracement trend line one TF down where it’s easier to see. I like to see a retracement trendline with 3 or more touches. Price may follow the retracement trendline for days trading the daily-4H charts. I check the retracement trend line and price about 3 times a day, around morning noon and night and watch it until price breaks the retracement TL to rejoin the main trend direction. Very often you will get a CBL entry signal at that point. Stop is then placed just on the other side of the old retracement TL which is usually a good tight stop. Since perhaps 4 out of 5 retracements end in price reverting back to the higher TF trend on only 1 retracement (the last one) does not end but actualy signifies a reversal in higher level trend direction, the method has a very high w/l rate. Note that on the retracement that does not turn back around and break the retracement trend line, we never enter.

Just a couple other things to note. Since these retracement trendline break trades can last for days, there is no big rush to enter them. Always wait for the candle close across from the retracement trend line to enter and avoid just wicks that cross but do not signify a real end to the retracement. Generally, you are not trying to catch the exact best point to enter but rather a clear end to the retracement, which may mean missing the perfect entry by a candle or two. In fact, if you wait until a full candle body closes on the other side of the retracement trend line, you’ll rarely get caught up in a false break. Watching the higher level candle formations also helps time that entry.

I also won’t enter down if the midband 20SMA is pointing up steeper than 2 O’clock and I won’t enter up if the midband 20SMA is pointing down more than 4 O’clock. As you trade these you can come up with additional rules of your own.

If you combine retracement trend line breaks, cbl entries and multi-lot positioning, the results can be astounding. My latest trade was the recent break of an up retracement to the eu. Looking at the monthly chart you can see price was trending down for 6 months. Looking at the weekly chart you can see a retracement ran up against that major down trend for about 6 weeks. I drew in that retracement trend line on the daily charts and adjusted it slightly on the 4H chart and waited.

There were many touches of that trend line and a few wicks penetrated it but no clear breaks back down to rejoin the main trend. When it was clearly broken last week, I entered, looking for shorter retracements on the M15 to provide optimal entry points. I traded the eu, ej, gu and gj all down as a group as they often move together, but selecting each pair’s entry carefully based on it’s own movements. As they all moved down I looked for small M15 retracements to add on additional lots. The resulting trade ran for 3 days and made about 900 pips. I just bailed out early last night for no good reason other than I was tired and not up to making a good decision so I took the least risk way out and bailed with my 900 pips. Looking at it this morning, had I stayed in, I’d be well up over 1000 pips.

This trade is still going and I may re-enter today on a small retracement. We’ll see. If you have any questions, just ask. I’m always happy to look at charts :slight_smile:

Lots of folks ask where I get my info on Forex markets. I use many sources, but here is a good one: Forex News by Forex Live

That’s who I use! The three of them have saved my butt a few times with their warnings about where big orders & positions are, as well as who has placed them.

My favourite is Gerry. Very old school. (Not unlike yourself perhaps…)

Hello Graviton,
I have been following your thread for some time and it has helped me tremendously. Working on the trend line breaks now. Used it today to take 28 pips from UJ (demo)


Do you ever take a trend line bounce or are you only looking for the break?

 Jamie

Hey grav, thanks for sharing!
Yesterday i was short on the EUR GBP, saw a retracement coming up. Not sure if i entered too early, when the housing news was on, it shot up a little hitting my stops.
My qns is has the housing news anything to do with the eur gbp pair?
Or was is just normal PA moving?

And also you mention upon a close and a break of a retracement trend line, you would place your stop opposite of the trend line, i can’t picture what you mean by that. Would it be the swing high?

Right now, im looking at retracement break on ej, uj, eur aud, eur gbp, eur usd, gbp usd.

And oh last qns, you said you were looking for a break of retracement trendline on the 4hr tf if you were trading the daily, 4hr.
So i suppose you would also consider the 1 hr TF, trendline break if you were trading the 4hr, 1 hr ?

thanks!

Yes, Gerry is a hoot. Very wise. So, how is your trading going Hachiko? I haven’t heard from you in ages :slight_smile:

Trading is going OK actually. I 'm finding that aligning the stochastics from H4 to M5 works very well for me on the EUR/USD and AUD/USD pairs. I then use M1 for final entry points to make sure I don’t get hit with a reversal on entry.

I find that your posting on choosing a direction and staying with it works well for higher TF trends.

(Until a crazy news event like yesterdays housing figures occurs; but thankfully I was saved by the ForexLive guys who had advance warning of bad news).

Currently running ranging trades (short-long-short again) on USD/JPY as it bounces back and forth with every repitition of Japanese FinMin’s “We are watching closely” ::rolleyes:

Still finding money management the biggest challenge, but I’m confident I will get there by the end of the year. I can’t get more than 2 weeks up before a bad week at present. My current objective is to get a full positive month.

Jamie, nice marked up chart. I appreciate that. Of course, if I’m trading with the trend, as you have marked the short trade on your chart, there will be many touches of the trend line. I’ll use a touch of the trendline and a bounce off it, to enter a with-trend trade, or add more lots on for an existing trade. Note that for a well established trend, there will be many touches and bounces off the trend line, but only one, the last one, will truly break the trend line and reverse the trend. Good question! Thanks :slight_smile:

Yes, some of this stuff just takes practice. I don’t know if you play any sports or any musical instrument, but it’s like that. You could read everything that has ever been written about basketball, know every stat and every defense and offense inside out, but if you have never practiced the game, and just walk on the court and try to beat the pros, you will stink at it in the begining.

In the begining most new traders think this will be easy. Then they learn how much work and practice it really takes. Some quit at that point, probably most do. When they see what this really requires it seems as impossible as flapping their arms well enough to fly. But the few that learn to measure their progress and stay with it start to see improvement over time. They get to the point you are at where they start having winning weeks in a row, some big wins. At that point they realize they can make it and redouble their efforts and most do make it sooner or later.

As my sports coach used to say, quitters never win and winners never quit. He only had two sayings, that and, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. LOL, maybe, that’s all you need. Happy trading :slight_smile:

Post a chart with your question if this isn’t crystal clear. It’s important.

I thought trading retracement trend line breaks was so simple that it hardly needed any discussion. I guess I was wrong :o Never having tried to teach it, it’s hard for me to see what’s simple for others and what’s confusing. Here is a thread with some charts and discussion.

Trendline Break (The Only System You Need) @ Forex Factory

If you spend some time google searching and reading, this should all be clear. If you have any questions, please post them with a chart and we’ll discuss :slight_smile:

That’s exactly the kind of thread I need. Thanks, Grav!

If you want to try a trend-line break trade right now, check out GBP/JPY H4. Easy line to draw underneath the retrace long. According to Grav’s rule, enter short when a full candle body closes below the line.

Graviton, below is a chart attached on a “so called” trend line break fake out i had.

Clearly we have 2 trendlines here, is the first one on the left valid? Or should we actually draw the trendline from the earlier point, meaning the trendline on the right?

I took the trendline break on the left one, but i got stopped out. I see it happening quite often, but then again that was during the news.

So my qns would be, is my first trendline drawn on the left valid?
Upon breaking it went upwards again forming a new low. Thus a 2nd trendline could now be drawn.

So how do i go about such situations?

And also, you mention upon a close of candle below the retracement line you will find an entry in the 15mins.

When you look down into the 15mins TF, it most prob would be in a sausage or bubble, so you enter per break out rules? Or do you wait for a slight retracement and get an entry?

These are some of the problems i faced now. Sometimes the trendline gets broken, however i wait for a retracement move, sometimes it never comes and i missed almost the entire move.

And i recalled ytd you took long AJ on the 1 hr cbl. May i know the reason for it? I couldn’t think of any, besides that the long wick provides a very good support level since way back. :confused:

Below is the chart of GJ that nb mentioned, clear retracement we’re having right now. So upon a 4hr candle close we would find an entry.

So grav, the time when you enter those retracement trendlines break would be when there is no news coming out, thus ensuring the break is more valid. Rather than a simple fake out that forms really long wicks. (Hate to see those!)

Clear examples would be the 4HR UJ charts now.

Okay some observations i had, the steeper the trendline, like the 1 oclock, higher chance it will break and not fall but rather range for a while. Before finally breaking or bounce back.

I think you or I one mistyped. I only had one aj trade and that was entered with Nathan on a 1H CBL.