So I trade pull backs within a trend on the 15 minute time frame,using the 1 hour as my higher time frame. I was wondering if trend Trader’s all use some form of support from the higher time frame or can you not use any at all. I was thinking this because I was reading an article an it said something like. You can never know how long a trend will last an support and resistance gets broken all time. So I was thinking that I might not need support and resistance at all because there has been trades that I haven’t taken because they have been too close to a support or resistance from the higher time frame to then find out that the trend had actually blown straight through it and carried on
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I completely ignore support in downtrends and resistance in uptrends. If its a trend its a trend, and I get out when it stops trending.
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To be honest I’ve never used support and resistance. These are broken all the time. However, if you use them then you need to backtest whether you are more profitable using them or not.
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Support and Resistance levels are important points that the market draws out in time where supply meets demand or vice versa. It’s good info to know and how to read psychology of market
That makes sense but what do you define as a trend and what criteria must PA meet to invalidate the trend as you see it?
My apolagies if you’ve answered these questions before (Im sure you have).
A trend is a trend if I can follow it with probability of continuation. I’m not trying to be evasive, but every trend-following strategy has its own trend definition.
A reason to exit a trend for me is any hesitation in the progression of price, so in an uptrend it could be a downturn of the 3EMA, it could be failure to make a HH, it could be an outside day with a low close. But reversion from all these back into the trend are also entry signals, so I’m happy to manually exit the long in the morning and see a buy order triggered to get back in in the evening. I don’t believe in tight stop-losses, riding individual winning trades or paying any attention to win rates or r:r.
Onwards and upwards!
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I do make conclusions from higher timeframes to understand better what happens on lower one. Simply because digging more into lower timeframe you get more noise where the market is completely random both trends are range can arise from stochastic fluctuations which you can’t trade. The randomness is the most pronounced on tick and 1M timeframe data so strongly recommend to avoid scalping because you basically fight with noise 
I have done a post on my blog on the total stupidity of most support and resistance strategies, but because of forum rules cannot link to it.
I will say though, that you experiencing all the problems that I mention in that post. It is far too discretionary, which ones are you suppose to use? on which timeframes?
It seems to me you are starting to smell a rat as far as SR goes. Well done.
There are better ways to trade.
In defence of them though I would say look at Fractals or Demark trendlines as entries - they are much more objective.
I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I think there is a misconception about support and resistance.
They are levels worth monitoring, especially for traders relying on price action. Levels worth monitoring doesn’t necessarily mean that the price will hit them and go back or something similar, there is no law about it.
Let’s say that you go to the supermarket and you notice that the Red Bull is at $1.60. The next day, you go to the super market and the Red Bull is at $1.00. You think: “hey, that’s convenient and I also like the red bull, let me buy it”.
Next day, you go to the supermarket and the red bull is at $1.55. Next day, $1.70. Next day, $1.60. Next day, $1.00, you decide to buy it again. Next day, $1.60 and so on.
If you put the price of the Red Bull on a chart, how would you call the level at $1.00? You call it support, right? Can you tell that the price will not go lower than that? Of course not, but you, and many other consumers, find that price convenient. You think it won’t go below that price and preferred to buy it at $1.00.
No one is telling you that, if you go tomorrow to the supermarket, you find the Red Bull at $0.50 and you basically lost $0.50 buying it at $1.00.
Support and resistance are levels worth monitoring. If the price bounced there a few times, there is a reason and that reason is that the market perceived that price as very convenient or very expensive (in the past).
To quote Warren Buffett:
If past history was all that is needed to play the game of money, the richest people would be librarians.
So is it going to be the same in the future? No one knows, but you want to keep an eye on that level to see how buyers and sellers interact.
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I think what your saying is conventional thinking, problem is the newbie who has a blindspot regarding his or her own learning reads that all SR levels are written in stone - usually by some trading guru.
Too many are taught take profits at SR - which is counter to the mantra ‘let your profits run’.
It can get them in a world of crap.
Just by thinking your trade might be constrained by an overhead resistance is enough to mess up trader psychology.
I do I Place to half trades one with a tp an one I leave running dragging my sl to break even once it hits my first tp
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Yes I have heard of that type of thing, the question is why are you doing it?
Is it genuinely better for your system metrics or because of some fear you have of the market?
Support and resistance lines play critical role in technical analysis and works across the board wherever the analysis is practiced, including Forex.
Which ones? There are so many ways to draw them and on so many timeframes.
Are they all equally as valid?
Should use close a long trade the moment it approaches overhead resistance?
Or a short trade as reaches support?
Or should you wait to go long only after S or R has been cleared.
I know the theory - but in practice i find they do little to enhance trading results and often hinder them.
Just my take.
So I can leave my trade running closing half the position lowers my risk on the trade but enables me to get more out of the trend rather than setting a defined profit target
S/R levels are very important areas of interest and should be paid attention to.Yes, they will be breached frequently and you need to be prepared for that, but they will also hold frequently, which is why you should learn where they are. If your strategy does not include S/R areas then that’s fine, that’s your strategy. But how can you possibly argue with this:
Look at the S/R levels in that blue box, kinda speaks for itself doesn’t it?
To get more accurate zones and cut out some of the noise I like to switch to a line graph:
S/R zones work on all timeframes, you just need to learn how to find them, which takes time and experience. But with practice you’ll get there.
I see what your saying close - half the position. It could be your right to do that - but what if you had left the whole position to run? Would your system produce better or worse results?
Its worth testing
I often trade Demark trendlines, ive no need to draw more lines than this. And yes i place trailing stops at logical points - but in terms of drawing lots of horizontal lines, forget it.
I admit though im a short term swing trader, so maybe it doesnt apply to me.
I have managed for over 10 yrs without classic SR - sometimes im kicked out early, other times im pleasantly surprised.
Each to their own i guess, but for me first rule is simplicity.
Yeah true I suppose that could be argued I’ll have to test it an see what the outcome is
It’s true; I don’t use any technical tool unless the horizontal lines to drawdown support and resistant levels!