should you really wait for support??

Discussion in 'Trading' started by wwatson1, Jan 4, 2014.

  1. My experience is that if something in life has value Your not going to get it for a bargain price, I've been buying in on big trends in forex,stocks and commodities, sometimes I sit and wait for a return to Support but more often than not the good ones never return to support and the ones that do are often back there because of weekness.

    My question is, is it best just to jump right in and set a stop way bellow the trend identified OR sit and wait to get a better deal??
     
  2. dbphoenix

    dbphoenix

    Depends on how you define "support". Support is that level at which buyers retard, halt, and reverse the course of price. Therefore, even a retracement can provide evidence of support if it leads to a continuation (if it doesn't, it becomes a reversal, and the support was either insufficient or imaginary).

    So take the retracement and see what happens. Buyers will either rush in and propel you to profit (which is what the retracement is for) or they won't. Be prepared for either outcome.
     
  3. How far do you let the instrument retrace though, 20 moving average 50, 100?? Here is an example of one I just took and only waited for a small retrace back to 50 ema on 5 min chart, I could have waited forever for it to come back to the hourly moving average
     
  4. Bought where the arrow is
     
  5. dbphoenix

    dbphoenix

    I don't use indicators, so I can't help you there. Take the first retracement after the trend begins, which is the first reach toward 886. Until then you're just going sideways, regardless of what the MAs look like. The first retracement begins immediately and troughs eight bars later, just above 40. Place a buystoplimit just above that trough and make the market carry you into the trade. If it doesn't work out, scratch it.
     
  6. dbphoenix

    dbphoenix

    No, by that time that particular leg of the trend is over and price is not only moving sideways again but has printed lower highs and lower lows. That's not a retracement. A new trend may begin, which it appears to have done, but if that turns out to be the case, take a retracement in the new trend.
     
  7. Your just splitting hairs, a very strong 4 hour trend has also begun, I'm never going to get in at the best time so I'm going to sit in it till it completely reverses,lets hope it has some legs ha ha
     
  8. 4hour
     
  9. dbphoenix

    dbphoenix

    No, just assessing the trend at the time of the trade. Don't be distracted by the fact that it happened to work out this time. Price could just as easily have dropped immediately after your entry, and given the lower highs and lower lows, that would have been the more likely outcome.

    Uptrends exist because buyers are more interested in propelling price forward than sellers are in retarding it. Therefore, you want to enter when buying is strong and has briefly paused. These pauses enable those who didn't enter earlier to take advantage of the advance. If they enter too late, of course, then the advance is nearly over.

    If you aren't being stopped out a lot and if you're not missing out on nice trend moves and if you aren't finding yourself trading opposite the primary trend, then none of this will be of use to you.
     
  10. Well I was mainly looking at the long time frame for a strong trend then dialing down to 5 min trend but there is to much whipsaw on lower time frame and I was getting stopped out so I figured maybe I could get a better price by waiting for a larger retrace (just entering after a small one) then I would have a better stop, its all a bit of a headache really :-(
     
    #10     Jan 4, 2014