Forex Technical Analysis Strategies

Trend represents one of the most essential concepts in technical analysis. All the technical analysis tools that an analyst uses have a single purpose: help to identify the market trend.The meaning of Forex trend is not so much different from its general meaning - it is nothing more than the direction in which the market moves. But more precisely, foreign exchange market does not move in a straight line, its moves are characterized by a series of zigzags which resemble successive waves with clear peaks and troughs or highs and lows, as they are often called.

In order to completely understand the essence of support and resistance trading strategy you should firstly know what a horizontal level is. Actually, it is a price level indicating either a support or resistance in the market. The support and resistance in technical analysis are the terms for price lows and highs respectively. The term support indicates the area on the chart where the buying interest is significantly strong and surpasses the selling pressure. It is usually marked by previous troughs. Resistance level, contrary to the support level, represents an area on the chart where selling interest overcomes buying pressure. It is usually marked by previous peaks.

Range trading strategy, which is also called channel trading, is generally associated with the lack of market direction and it is used during the absence of a trend. Range trading identifies currency price movement in channels and the first task of this strategy is to find the range. This process can be carried out by connecting a series of highs and lows with a horizontal trendline. In other words, the trader should find the major support and resistance levels with the area in between known as “trading range”.

Technical indicators are calculations which are based on the price and volume of a security. They are used both to confirm the trend and the quality of chart patterns, and to help traders determine the buy and sell signals.The indicators can be applied separately to form buy and sell signals, as well as can be used together, in conjunction with chart patterns and price movement.

In Forex technical analysis a chart is a graphical representation of price movements over a certain time frame. It can show security’s price movement over a month or a year period. Depending on what information traders search for and what skills they master, they can use certain types of charts: the bar chart, the line chart, the candlestick chart and the point and figure chart.

Volume shows the number of securities that are traded over a particular time. Higher volume indicates higher degree of intensity or pressure.Being one of the most important factors in trade it is always analyzed and estimated by chartists. In order to determine the upward or downward movement of the volume, they look at the trading volume gistograms usually presented at the bottom of the chart. Any price movement is of more significance if accompanied by a relatively high volume than if accompanied by a weak volume.

Since a security price meanwhile moves through multiple time frames it’s very useful for traders to analyze various time frames while determining the “trading circle” of the security. Through the Multiple Time Frame Analysis (MTFA) you can determine the trend both on smaller and bigger scales and identify the overall market trend. The whole process of MTFA starts with the exact identification of the market direction on higher time frames (long, short or intermediary) and analyzing it through lower time frames starting from a 5-minute chart.