Thursday, August 20, 2009

Tips for Trading Ascending Triangles Short

By Jeff Cartridge

The ascending triangle chart pattern is a very well known pattern that has been used by many successful traders over the years on the long side, but is not always traded short. An ascending triangle is formed when the price action is contained within two lines. The top line is close to horizontal while the bottom line slopes up towards the top line.

Ascending Triangles, Not Usually Traded Short

Most ascending triangles would be expected to break up and most of the time this is true, but 36% break out to the downside making it possible to trade on the short side. Just 44% of these breakouts are profitable and on average the profit per trade is only 0.31% over a period of 9 days. The ascending triangle is not one of the best chart patterns when it breaks to the downside, but applying some filters can make this pattern more attractive to trade.

Refine Your Entries

When you look at the performance of an ascending triangle in bearish market conditions you will see the results were stronger than they were in more bullish years. Despite this the pattern works the best at turning points, which occur when the stock and the market are in an up trend or consolidating. The sector should be falling or consolidating to make the best profits.

Avoid ascending triangle trades that break down at the start of the pattern, but it is ok to let the trade go all the way to the point of the ascending triangle before breaking out. Another key to picking successful short breakouts from ascending triangles is to look for a turning point up from the lower boundary that fails to reach the upper boundary and then falls away.

Ensure that the volume is supportive of the breakout, i.e. volume as the stock falls is greater than volume as the stock rises.

Ascending Triangles Profitable on the Short Side as Well

Following a series of simple rules to determine which ascending triangle to trade can improve results dramatically. By applying these filters ascending triangles are profitable on 52% of the trades and return an average of 1.07% per trade in 10 days. This is a profitable pattern to trade.

Statistics for this article have been provided by Patterns Trader after analyzing over 60,000 chart patterns on the Australian market from 2000 - 2008. - 23309

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Learn Forex- Getting Ahead of the Game

By Zita Von Snyder

When swimming with sharks, you need to keep your teeth sharp, learn forex trading and swim with the best of them. To learn forex trading you need to have an understanding of the current market trends, know which currency you are trading, know what triggers change in that currency as well as having a good trading strategy. You can have an edge in forex trading by being prepared, minimizing your risks, and investing the time and research to learn forex trading.

Learn forex trading quickly by taking a good forex trading course. Here a couple of tips on forex trading courses:

A forex trading course can teach you the basics of reading charts that will have indicators that show important factors like trends and volume as well as price action of a particular currency. You can learn forex, the terminology used and the basic steps for trading forex.

Forex trading is fast paced and can require quick decisions that leave little time for emotions or stress. Along with learning forex trading, a trader must also learn how to handle this stress and understand the risks involved in forex trading. A forex trading course can help teach you to manage the stress of forex trading.

When looking at a forex trading course you should consider some of the following attributes to learn forex:

*The Basics of Forex Trading-A basic overview of forex terminology including margins, types of orders, leveraging trades, how to understand types of analysis of charts and other indicators.

*How to analyze Forex Charts- learn forex charting and you will increase your profits while minimizing the risks involved in forex trading. It is important the forex trading course include both fundamental and technical analysis.

*Values-A very important attribute of trading is the ability to manage not only your money but the emotions or psychology of forex trading. To learn forex trading a trader should develop good values such as discipline, patience and commitment.

Experience can only be gained by trading forex in either real time or a simulated environment. This should be offered as part of your forex trading course. Some courses have live demo accounts or trading rooms that offer a great learning experience. Being able to discuss your lessons and what you have learned either one-on-one or in a forum also helps to learn forex trading.

So getting ahead of the game if you want to learn forex can be achieved! Whether you decide to invest in a forex trading course or not, research and knowledge are what can give you the edge in the worlds largest financial market. Invest the time, learn the language, study both technical and fundamental analysis, manage both your emotions and your risks and you can learn forex trading. - 23309

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