Forex Trading Strategies – Enrich Your Trading Arsenal
Forex trading strategies are essential for a trader to know exactly when to sell or buy a currency pair. The time of purchase or sale of foreign currency pairs is the most important point of a trade. The better that the trader is able to determine the time of entry / exit, the more profitable is a potential transaction. This can be achieved with sound Forex trading strategies.
Forex trading strategies in combination with technical analysis is usually used, especially to determine the time of entry / exit. Most often, a decision is made within seconds or hours.
The most common Forex trading strategies are:
1. Using Support and Resistance levels
Forex trading strategies include tracking the Support and Resistance levels. Break of the Resistance can become a signal for opening a long position (Buy), which can then be protected by a stop-loss order. You can place the stop-loss a little under the level of a break, which will now become the level of Support. Prices ascending up to the Resistance in a generally declining trend, as well as prices declining to the Support with a generally ascending trend can be an indication to open new positions.
2. Prices crossing the trend lines
Looking for the price to cross the trend line is yet another one of common Forex trading strategies. Prices crossing the lines of the trend allow a trader to enter the market or to exit the market early enough, especially when the crossing has occurred on a “proven” trend-line. However, do not forget the other indicators of technical analysis. When using the trend line as the level of Support and Resistance, long positions (Buy) should be opened on the fall of prices to the level of an upward trend, and short positions (Sell) should be opened with the rise in prices to the level of a descending trend-line.
3. Scanning the breaks
Forex trading strategies, based on breaks, include 3 main options:
- Open a position in advance, in the anticipation of a break;
- Manage to enter the market at the moment of the break;
- Open a position at the very moment of a break;
You can additionally use a combination of the above Forex trading strategies, and try to open a position in each of these phases, i.e. before a break, after the break and during a correction, which is likely to follow a break.
4. Trading time frames
1). Long-term holding of open positions ranging from a few days to several months, these types of positions are maximally effective in the emerging trends and the least effective at the time of flat trends. When working on long-term positions, fundamental analysis is just as important as technical analysis. This is one of the moderately safe Forex trading strategies.
2). Medium-term trends, up to several days. Medium-term positions are more stable for profit, although the analysis for the decision-making is more complex in this case. It is also very important to choose the right time of opening and closing positions. When you open medium-term positions, be sure to not only use technical analysis but also fundamental. This is one of the safest Forex trading strategies.
3). Short-term positions, lasting from several minutes to several hours. Pluses: there is no risk of fundamental news and the changes in prices at the time of your absence. Disadvantages: high risk of adverse movements in prices requires constant monitoring and concentration throughout the day. Basically, if a trader uses the data on a number of sellers and buyers in the market, that data will give the trader the needed information about where the market seems to go. Super-short-term trading could also be used with breaks and rollbacks. Super-short-term trading is highly risky, and thus it better suits professional traders and market-makers. This is the least safe Forex trading strategies.
Forex trading strategies based on technical analysis indicators will help you achieve the best results. Forex trading strategies are especially useful for choosing the right time to enter and exit the trades.
About the author: Steve Maenshel has been a professional trader for ten years. He can help you better understand forex trading strategies. For more forex trading information, visit his forex resource center.
Filed under Finance by on Oct 31st, 2009.
