Trading strategies

As a new trader, riding the emotional ups and downs can be a very difficult task. It is human nature to feel the pain of a losing trade. The losing often outweighs the positive feeling of any winning trade.

Dealing with the emotion of trading can be an incredibly difficult task. It can cause even the best system to fail. A trading journal especially early on in a trading journey can provide important feedback and information about the effectiveness of an edge.

The reality is that early on profit and loss can be terrible measure of an individual’s trading ability which is why a journal is so essential. There are many different formats and styles of journals that can be used. Some like to base their journal around a calendar.

Others like to pick out their best and worst trade each day and analyse them intensely. In the end, it doesn’t matter what style is chosen if a consistent structure is followed. Both quantitative and qualitative measures that ca be used to measure performance.

What to include in your journal? Below is a breakdown of elements that can be analysed in the trading journal. Initial trade idea – This is the overall basis of the trade, it can be related to a technical pattern, fundamental factor such as a news or a mix of both.

Some traders call this the trade hypothesis or thesis. In its most simple form, it is the very reason a trader enters into a trade. When journaling, it is important to evaluate the strength of the idea, whether it was correct and why or why not the trade was validated or invalidated.

It is also worth noting if the idea is a common one, such as news catalysts, repeating technical patterns. This can also be elevated by understanding how different trade ideas work together to create stronger overall trade ideas. Entry – Breaking down the key elements of the trade are important aspects to a journal.

More specifically outlining whether an entry was ideal, correct and managed well. Was the entry chased or was patience shown to achieve a more ideal entry. The entry is also a part of a trade with heightened emotion.

Therefore, journaling how emotions were managed and ways to improve emotional management is an important aspect of reviewing the entry. Exit – It goes without saying that the exit is the reciprocal of the entry and just as important. Analysing whether the exit was correct at both the time and in hindsight is an important step.

By continuously analysing both entries and exits, a trader will likely see an improvement in this aspect of their trading. In addition, they will potentially remove external factors such as emotion and noise from other influences such as twitter. Sizing – Sizing is an extremely tricky area of trading to master and there are many different theories on what sizing tactic is the best for each trade.

Some traders like to increase size depending on how strong a trade set up is whilst other like to have more consistent sizing strategies regardless of the strength of a trade. When reviewing it is important to make note of whether the sizing strategy worked. Trading with too much size can affect the active management of a trade as a trader can lose sight of the trade at hand and become too concerned about the potential outsizes loss.

Trade management – Whilst all the above can all constitute some level of trade management reviewing, analysing the whole management of the trade is vital. This can include the effectiveness in taking profits or losses and how the trader has dealt with their emotions. Management of fear and greed are the two most common emotions that a trader feels.

Grading – Having some quantitative measure even though it is subjective can help classify many trades over a long period of time. Using either letters or a number ranking can be just one method. This allows for a trader to identify their best performing trades and where the strongest edge is.

This list should not be seen as exhaustive, and traders can tinker and adjust to suit their own trading strategy. Reviewing the journal. It is important to review the journal at the end of a set time whether it be weekly or monthly to see if common mistakes are occurring or a theme is emerging.

If the same mistake keeps occurring, it may act as point of emphasis for future journaling or improvement. Ultimately, using a journal can accelerate the learning curve drastically especially for new traders.

The market in recent months has created exceptionally difficult conditions to trade. Low volatility and obscure price action has reduced the volatility available for traders to capitalise on. These conditions have affected FOREX, Equity, and Index trading.

It has been specifically difficult for momentum and trend following traders as a certain level of volatility is needed for trader to return profitable trades. How to spot low volatility The Average True range or ATR range can be an important indicator in determining the level of volatility in a market or asset. It measures the average trading range of a particular asset’s price over a period.

It can exceptionally be helpful in determining how volatile the asset is at a certain point in time, or how volatile an asset is compared to another one. For instance, looking at the ATR for the Dow Jones, it has been getting progressively lower and is at its lowest level since August indicating a reduction in volatility. The Market Volatility Index or the VIX measures volatility across the S&P 500 is also an important indicator to not just gauge market volatility, but also general market sentiment and emotion.

When fear and greed are prominent in the market volatility tends to increase and when they dissipate, they tend to decrease. As the chart shows, volatility has been reducing to levels not seen since the rally in August 2022. The characteristics of the chart are also interesting as the VIX acts much more in waves then other indices do.

How can you optimise your trading during periods of low volatility? Tips for trading in low volatility markets Understand that breakouts will fail. Specifically for traders who like to use strategies based on momentum breakouts, during times of low volatility the price means to stay close to moving averages and mean price points both on an intra and inter day level.

Wait for confirmation before a momentum move. Although breakouts are less common in low volatility markets, they do still occur. In this instance, it is ideal to wait for a confirmation or retest of an important level before entering trades.

Confirmation can be supported by strong candle in support or increased volume. Being patient is essentially in times of low volatility. Opportunities that may have otherwise eventuated.

Utilising volume and strong candlesticks as secondary Price tends to stay close its mean. This means that if a price does break out or break down, the price often swings back to the mean. The mean may be a simple moving average, Volume Weighted Average, or some other measure.

In essence it does not really matter what is used, rather than the price tends to retrace back to the mean in some manner. Therefore, these conditions lend themselves to mean reversion systems or strategies. As seen on the chart below, the price has reverted to the 20-period moving average on multiple occasions.

Using multiple time frame analysis for identifying support and resistance. As previously stated, when there is low volatility, finding real breakouts that will last becomes more difficult. By ensuring that the breakouts or breakdowns in price are occurring across multiple timeframes a trader can enhance their chance of it being sustained as their will likely be a higher level being traded at longer term levels.

Trading can be difficult during periods of low volatility. However, this does not mean traders should not trade. Rather, traders should be aware of potential obstacles and difficulties that may arise and the strategies that can help work though these difficulties.

Stop loss hunting is frustrating, annoying and can be detrimental to any retail trader. The premise of stop hunting is that large systemised institutional trading strategies know where the average retail trader or most traders will set stop losses and therefore profit off triggering these ‘stops. Their own algorithm will then deliberately, trigger the stop losses.

For traders there are few things as frustrating as have a well-positioned trade, being stopped out and then watching the price reverse in their original direction of the trade. What is a stop loss? Understanding stop loss hunting requires a simple understanding of what a stop loss is.

A stop loss is a trigger on traders’ position to close the position at a certain price. Generally, once triggered the position will attempt to be closed at the specified price. Stop losses provide an important role in risk management for many traders.

Generally, traders use stops losses to avoid emotional mismanagement and better manage overall risk by having clear exit points for the trade in worst case scenarios. The second element that is important to understand is where traders put their stop losses and why. Retail traders often place their stop losses near important market structures also known as support and resistance levels.

These areas represent strong zones of supply and demand. When support and resistance zones become more and more consistent and more obvious, it can create a clump of stop losses. These stop losses can be thought of as orders that must get filled if the price reaches those points.

This creates an attractive opportunity for large institutions with powerful algorithms that can push the price down and generate profits by ‘stopping out’ traders by triggering these stop losses. Once this process has occurred, the price will often move back in the direction the original trades were positioned for. Why would a system want to trigger stop losses Firstly, when stop losses are triggered, a price tends to see an increase in relative volatility.

Therefore, it may indicate the beginning of a reversal which sophisticated traders profiting. It also allows these large institutions to maximise their own existing trades as it may allow for better entries. Common areas for where stop hunters will look Stop Loss hunting tends to be most active around significant and clear areas of support and resistance.

This is especially true with regards to commonly traded assets. However, stop loss hunting can occur in all assets with various sizes. A stop hunt can be seen often with a small candlestick and a large wick.

In addition, they often occur on very short time frames. Common Area for Stop Loss Hunting At key moving average levels Clear Support and Resistance Levels Historical Support and Resistance Levels ie, Multiyear levels How to deal with Stop Loss Hunting? The obvious tactic to deal with stop hunting is to lower the stop loss below the obvious support and resistance level by a factor of maybe 10%.

This may require smaller trade size, but overall will allow the trade to hopefully avoid these potential stop losses. Treat support and resistance as areas instead of specific price points. Support and resistance do not exist at one price and rather a range of prices that are supply and demand zones.

Therefore, placing stop losses below these 'zones' may put the trade out of arm length of stop hunters. Simply being aware of stop loss hunting may provide some reassurance when a sharp spike in price occurs, to remain in the trade and not exit immediately. Ultimately, Stop Loss Hunting is just another challenge that traders must deal with in the pursuit of profit.

However, with some knowledge traders can adequately accommodate these tricky occurrences.

Mean reversion strategies are some of the simplest trading strategy’s used by sophisticated traders. However, when most traders hear the term, they immediately get confused. So, what is mean reversion and why do traders use it as a strategy?

Mean reversion is the tendency for the price of an asset to move back to its long-term average or mean after explosive moves to the up or downside. Traders can therefor capitalise on the end of these explosive moves by going long when the price has broken down and will revert up to the mean or short when there has been a strong move to the upside and the price will fall back to the mean. This strategy is often compared to trend following strategies in which the price tends to moving solely in one direction over a significant period with traders entering at the lows and exiting at the highs.

Mean reversion strategies can actually be used conjunction with a trend following strategy as trend following strategies will often pullback to the long-term mean. What is the mean? The mean is quite simply the average of a price over a time period.

In trading, the average can often be shown by using a moving average of mid points of ranging price. For instance, on a long term a significant average that is seen as the mean is the 200-period moving average. The 200-period moving average is used so often because of its length.

It provides an average over a significant period of time. Other averages that are often used include the 50 Period moving average and 100 period moving average. All three can be used in different ways to measure different reversions to the mean.

On a shorter timeframe, the Volume Weighted Average Price of VWAP is often used as a short-term measure of the mean as it adjust the price for the volume traded as well. What is the premise behind the strategy? The idea behind the strategy comes from the basic principles of supply and demand.

The price of an asset adjusts up and down until the there is a point of equilibrium or where the buyers and sellers reach a stalemate which then becomes the mean. Economic principals say that over time at some stage this phenomenon must occur. Therefore, even if the price of an asset or exploded, at some stage it will have to revert to the mean.

In addition, this process will occur regardless of the time frame. Over longer time frames, the process will still occur, although it may take much longer. For instance, if looking at the daily/weekly time frame, the process may take days and weeks to eventuate.

The examples below show how a simple mean reversion strategy can bring about large potential gains. Whilst this strategy can be extremely profitable it can also be risky because it can contradict some of the psychology that trading is built on especially in the short term. The mean reversion strategy requires the market to price assets based purely on the long-term supply and demand and markets do not always act rationally.

Emotions such as fear, and anxiety rule the market which lead to price action that can put pressure on these types of strategies. On both examples, after significant price movements towards the upside and downside, the prices peaked or bottomed and then returned to their long term mean indicated by the blue 200 period average.. Utilising a mean reversion strategy can provide high return opportunities for traders who can master the skill and strategy.

For new traders, it can be difficult to know which indicators to use, the saturation of various moving averages, RSI’s, MACD’s and more can be overwhelming and counterproductive. However, utilising relative volume, as an indicator is one of the most important sources of information for technical traders. What is Volume?

Volume is quite simply, the volume of the asset traded over a specified time. This volume is usually shown by bars, generally located at the bottom of a price chart. Each bar represents one unit of the corresponding time period’s volume traded.

It also shows whether the period ended in the green or red. Volume tends to be reflective of the interest in the asset and is therefore a valuable tool. Why Relative volume?

Now that there is a clear definition of what volume is, understanding relative volume is straight forward. It has been established that volume is indicative of the amount of the asset traded for that time. Essentially, most assets will have a consistent or average volume that gets traded over a specified time, whether it be an hour, day, or a week.

Generally, the longer the time frame, the more weight a trader should give to that average. A large spike in the volume relative to the average is what a trader should be looking for. The volume bars are the best indicators of this.

Larger volumes can indicate larger positions being taken and increasing interest. Therefore, increases in relative buying volume can be a leading indicator for a move to the upside. On the contrary, a large red volume bar can be a leading indicator that price drop is about to occur as a large position is exiting.

A rule that many retail traders like to use is to follow the “big money” or institutions. Big institutions cannot just enter or exit their positions quickly like retail traders. Therefore, these institutions leave a trail of their entries and exits, that experienced traders can capitalise on and follow.

Understanding how shifts in volume can indicate, potential break outs, break downs and reversals takes time and practice but is a valuable tool that any trader should utilise to improve their entries and exits. A few examples of volume indicating changes in price action. Apple's sharp increase in selling volume indicated the ‘top’ and has not reached those high since.

Similarly, the chart for Brent Oil showed a similar pattern whereby it could not breakthrough a long-term resistance level and combined with a large volume of selling signaled that the price had peaked. The price for Stanmore Resources saw a big push after the influx of new volume and has its price increase since the first candle. This may indicate that institutions have added the company to its holdings or that significant buying interest has returned.

Further way to optimise using relative volume Anticipating Relative volume shifts by understanding that they tend to follow on from big news events, such as unexpected results or broader macro factors. Combining big volume shifts with a break of a key support or resistance level Combining with other technical indicators. Use a collection of volume bars vs just one to see the shift in relative volume

Long and Short trading and investing strategies are often seen as advanced strategies only used for large hedge funds and large banks. However, retail traders can learn valuable lessons and ideas from this type of trading strategy that is usually reserved for institutional players. What is a long-short strategy?

A long-short strategy as described by its name involves holding a basket of both long and short positions of assets all a part of a portfolio or a singular trading strategy. These assets tend to be equities securities or derivatives but can also be other asset classes such as commodities and FOREX. The idea behind the strategy is that due to the negative correlation between the shorts and long positions they cancel out much of the market volatility whilst at the same time profiting up movements in price in either direction.

Steps to develop a Long Short strategy Establish which assets classes you wish to trade This step involves generating ideas for which asset classes you whish to trade. This may include FOREX, Commodities, Indices, or equities. For many traders, a combination of assets may produce an effective strategy.

For example, someone may choose to allocate 60% of the portfolio to equities, 20% to FOREX and 20% to commodities or 100% to equities. Determine how many assets to hold with in strategy. The aim of this section is to ensure that there are enough assets to be, diversified enough that a significant move in one direction will not blow the strategy out and to ensure.

The strategy requires that enough assets are held to minimise the volatility. If too few assets are used, then the returns may not be consistent enough and prone to large gains and losses. A standard range may include 20 assets with the breakdown of long and short varying from strategy to strategy.

Apportion the % of assets that will be held long and those that will be held short? This step involves an element of discretion and is where the individual trader can utilise their own experiences and edge to enhance the strategy. For instance, some traders may choose to create a 50/50 split strategy.

This means that exactly half the assets will be long, and half will be short. More specifically this split may occur via value weighting, number of assets or by price per share. Alternatively other strategies may involve having a lower proportion of short assets held, such as 20% Short and 80% long.

These types of strategies may work better when in a trending market because the strategy can still make money on assets that are falling in value whilst also taking advantage of the strong overall market trend. Choosing the individual assets to be held This is perhaps the most important step of the process. Choosing assets to hold can be a difficult task and may require both technical and fundamental analysis to find top performing assets to hold long and poor performing stocks to hold short.

The craft of the long, short strategy is performed at this stage as a trader needs to find high performing or low performing assets. An example of a 50/50 Long Short Portfolio construction is shown below. (NOTE this is a fictional Long Short portfolio and is not a real strategy or portfolio) Positives of a Long Short Strategy A long-short strategy may be able to avoid volatile returns and the effect of a choppy market because the short positions can reduce negative returns if the market is falling, and long positions can take advantage of the market is lifting. if a trader can effectively allocate their Longs and shorts, profit can be effectively achieved in most market conditions. Allows a trader to utilise their ‘edge’ for a wider array of assets.

Disadvantages This approach requires active portfolio management. As positions are constantly changing and weightings for different assets change, adjustments may need to be made to ensure that the strategy continues to balance. A Long Short strategy also generally requires a longer time frame then other scalping strategies or intraday strategies.

Having short positions means that the holder of the short is at risk of short squeezes. A short squeeze is something that anyone wishing to short should be aware of. It occurs when to many short positions attempt to close their positions at once.

This can cause a spike in the price and may force bigger positions to close, further driving up the price. Ultimately, a Long Short strategy for trading and investing can be a way to achieve more stability in volatile market conditions and provide a way to capitalise on market movements in both directions. Even just understanding how a Long-Short strategy works can provide traders and investors with enhanced understanding of how market forces impact on trading and potentially provide new strategies.