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When using price action in your trading you are looking to create a set of rules and
systems that you can use to create a consistently profitable edge over the market.
Price action trading is not about winning every single trade, but instead being able to
make profits from using a strategy that makes money overall.
As we will discuss in-depth and go through in this post, you can do this with a wide
range of different strategies. These include using candlestick patterns, broader price
action patterns, trends and even combining with indicators.
Table of Contents
What is Price Action Trading?
How to Learn Price Action Trading
#1: Price Action Discounts Everything
#2: Price Moves Based on Trends
#3: History Repeats Itself
Price Action vs Indicators
Price Action Trading in the Forex Market
Intraday Price Action Trading
Simple Price Action Trading Strategies
Trading Price Action Trends
Trade With Candlestick Patterns
Pin Bar Pattern
Bullish and Bearish Engulfing Candlesticks
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Price action trading also ignores the fundamental factors of a security or Forex pair and
only looks at the price history.
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Price charts reflect the beliefs and actions of all the traders trading the market. For
example; if the price has made a sudden large move higher, then the price action charts
will clearly show this because all you are looking at is the price movement.
This movement could have been caused from many different factors, but the underlying
reason does not change the fact that price made a sharp move higher.
This was created from the bulls (buyers) having control over the bears (the sellers).
As a price action trader you are creating a clear system so that over a set of trades and
after you have taken into account all of your wins and losses, you are making profits.
Price action allows you to do this and also create a system that suits your personal
style. You can trade on many different markets, you can use the small to larger time
frames and you can even use price action to scalp the markets.
Price action has been criticized by experts for not following the fundamental factors.
As a price action trader the only thing that you are looking to do is analyze the chart in
front of you. For example; the trend, patterns and potential trade setups.
You are trading what you can see in front of you and not what you ‘think’ could happen
like with fundamentals.
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After establishing a trend, the future price movement will more likely stay in the same
direction.
Until a trend bends it is your friend and it is often one of the best ways to put the odds in
your favor.
When price action trading you are using chart patterns to analyze the markets
movements.
Many forms of price action analysis have been used for more than 100 years and they
are still relevant today because it illustrates the same patterns in price movements.
When reading price action charts we are reading trader behavior that is showing itself
through patterns.
The reason these patterns continue to repeat is because people and traders continue to
repeat the same habits when put in similar situations.
Indicators are similar in this way. However, when using price action you are reading live
price as it is being printed on a chart, whereas indicators are ‘lagging’.
This means that indicators are using old price information to create the indications you
see. For example; a 21 period moving average is using the past 21 periods of price
action.
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Whilst some traders are very anti indicators, often the best systems will come when
price action and indicators are combined.
The reason for this is because indicators can often help you filter out bad price action,
find trends, find strong momentum and even help with profit targets.
The reasons for this is because of how the Forex market operates and the benefits that
many Forex brokers will afford to you.
The Forex market is open 24 hours a day and 5 days a week. This gives you a lot of
trading opportunities.
This also means that you can trade at a time that is suitable to you no matter where you
are in the world.
Most Forex brokers will allow you to use leverage. This will allow you to both deposit a
small sum of money and trade with a small sum of money whilst using leverage to open
larger trading positions.
If not used correctly, then leverage can be an account killer, but if used with smart
money management controls it can boost your account.
Another reason many will use price action in the Forex market is because of the large
range of Forex pairs and volatility.
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When price is volatile it means it is making a lot of movement. This gives you a lot of
chances to make large profitable trades. Other markets that make small moves can see
you locked in and waiting for something to happen.
Some of the fastest and most profitable moves can be seen on the intraday Forex
markets.
These time frames include the 5 minute, 15 minute, 30 minute and 1 hour charts.
When trading these charts there are both positives and negatives.
You will find a lot of trading opportunities and have many chances to make profitable
trades. You will also be able to get in and out of your trades quickly without holding
them overnight.
The smaller time frames can contain more risk if you are inexperienced. If things go
wrong, then they can go wrong quickly.
If you are thinking about trading price action on the smaller intraday time frames you
need to ensure you use strict money management and you are always using a stop loss
for account protection.
The reason is because when price action trading you are simply looking and reading
raw price action. From there you can create any system that suits you.
Some of the best systems you will find are also the simplest with the clearest rules.
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As Ed Seykota said;
The market will often trend higher or lower for far longer than what traders ‘think’ and is
why it is important we trade with what we see on the chart and not what we think could
or should happen.
Two of the easiest ways to find trend trades with price action are using trendlines and
moving averages.
When using a moving average you are looking for a clear move in either direction.
Using a moving average combination such as the 50 and 200 EMA (exponential moving
average) can also show us when price action is either looking to start a new trend or is
strongly trending.
Another simple way to find and then trade trends is using trendlines.
As the example shows below; price is in a trend higher. Price continues to test the
uptrend line. Potential trades could be found in the trend higher at the next test of the
trendline.
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The most popular chart type among professional traders is the candlestick chart
because it shows the price action in the clearest form. The candlestick chart will also
help you easily and quickly spot candlestick signals.
You can find pin bars on any “naked” bar chart or candlestick chart.
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The pin bar has a long upper or lower tail, shadow, or wick and a much smaller real
body.
A bullish pin bar shows that price is rejecting lower prices. You can see this as the price
moved lower, but by the end of the session it had snapped back higher to reject the
lower prices.
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Price tried to move higher, but by the end of the session it had been snapped back
lower rejecting the higher prices.
Following the first small candlestick price will then form a second candlestick that fully
engulfs the first small candle.
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For example; a bullish engulfing pattern will show that price first formed a small candle,
in the second session it moved lower, before reversing and breaking completely above
the first candle.
This pattern is a popular candle formation, but does come with some risks.
The inside bar candlestick pattern is a two candle pattern that is showing indecision.
The first candle forms followed with the second candle forming completely ‘inside’ the
first candle. This shows that price could not break either higher or lower and is
indecisive.
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These patterns can help us get a far better idea of what side of the market we should be
on.
The head and shoulders pattern is one of the most reliable trend reversal patterns.
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Rounding Bottom
This pattern indicates that a stock or Forex pairs price is low and the downward trend is
now closed.
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This pattern forms after a sustained trend and is incredibly powerful for finding when a
market has topped out.
The double top is a chart pattern used to describe when the price of a market drops,
rebounds and then drops from the same level creating a double top.
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Triangle Patterns
Traders use triangles because they occur more frequently than some of the other
patterns. Triangle patterns can also be used on different time frames and can last
anywhere from a couple weeks to months.
There are three common triangle patterns; the symmetrical, ascending, and descending
triangles.
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As traders we are all different. We see charts slightly differently. We have different risk
tolerance levels and we have different favorite markets.
Using price action in your trading is no different. There are endless ways you can use
price action to create your own custom trading system.
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Below are just a few examples of what you could do in your own trading.
You may be suited to using just raw price action and candlestick trading.
If this is your trading style, then using candlesticks such as the pin bar or dragonfly
doji may be for you.
The example below shows a bullish pin bar reversal that formed at a major support
level. This was a potential entry to get long from the pin bar.
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You could be the type of trader who needs to add more confirmation into your trading.
You may also want to filter out bad price action or help with finding trends.
The example below shows how you could use a moving average to first find a trend and
then using price action confirm an entry point. As the chart shows; price moved to test
the moving average in the trend lower and then formed a bearish engulfing candlestick.
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5/23/22, 3:35 PM What is Price Action Trading? Complete Guide With PDF Download
Another simple trading style is looking for bigger overall market moves.
This can be done with patterns such as the head and shoulders or the double top and
bottom.
The example below shows how price formed a second bottom. This presented with a
bigger overall opportunity to look for long trades.
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