Trend following is an investment strategy based on the technical analysis of market prices, rather than on the fundamental strengths of the companies. In financial markets , traders and investors using a trend following strategy believe that prices tend to move upwards or downwards over time.

They try to take advantage of these market trends by observing the current direction and using this to decide whether to buy or sell. There are a number of different techniques, calculations and time-frames that may be used to determine the general direction of the market to generate a trade signal forex signals , these including the current market price calculation, moving averages and channel breakouts. Traders who employ this strategy do not aim to forecast or predict specific price levels; they simply jump on the trend and ride it.

Due to the different techniques and time frames employed by trend followers to identify trends, trend followers as a group are not always strongly correlated to one another. Trend following is used by commodity trading advisors CTAs as the predominant strategy of technical traders. Research done by Galen Burghardt has shown that between there was a very high correlation. Trend following is an investment or trading strategy which tries to take advantage of long, medium or short-term moves that seem to play out in various markets.

Traders who employ a trend following strategy do not aim to forecast or predict specific price levels; they simply jump on the trend when they perceived that a trend has established with their own peculiar reasons or rules and ride it. These traders normally enter in the market after the trend "properly" establishes itself, betting that the trend will persist for a long time, and for this reason, they ignore the initial turning point profit. A market "trend" is a tendency of a financial market price to move in a particular direction over time.

If there is a turn contrary to the trend, they exit and wait until the turn establishes itself as a trend in the opposite direction. In case their rules signals an exit, the trader exits but re-enters when the trend re-establishes. Exit market when market turn against them to minimize losses, and "let the profits run", when the market trend goes as expected until the market exhausted and reverses to book profit.

This trading or "betting with positive edge" method involves a risk management component that uses three elements: An initial risk rule determines position size at time of entry. Exactly how much to buy or sell is based on the size of the trading account and the volatility of the issue. Changes in price may lead to a gradual reduction or an increase of the initial trade.

On the other hand, adverse price movements may lead to an exit for the entire trade. In the words of Tom Basso , in the book Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom [2].

The key reasons for trending markets are a number of behavioral biases that cause market participants to over-react:. After markets have trended, some traders jump on the bandwagon, and thus prolonging the herding effect and trends. People tend to look for information that confirm their views and believes.

This can lead investors to buy assets that have recently made money, and sell assets that have declined, causing trends to continue. Some risk-management models will sell in down markets as for example some risk budgets have been breached and buy in up markets as new risk budgets have been unlocked, causing trends to persist.

The trader would then backtest the strategy, using actual data and would evaluate the strategy. The trader can then experiment and refine the strategy.

Forex Strategies & Systems Revealed

Care must be taken, however, to avoid over-optimization. It is possible that a majority of the trades may be unprofitable, but by "cutting the losses" and "letting profits run", the overall strategy may be profitable. Trend trading is most effective for a market that is quiet relative low volatility and trending. For this reason, trend traders often focus on commodities, which show a stronger tendency to trend than on stocks, which are more likely to be mean reverting which favors swing traders.

In addition to quiet low volatility markets, where trend following strategies perform well, trend trading is also very effective in high volatile markets market crash. Trend traders "short" the market and benefit from the downside market trend. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Trading strategy index - Wikipedia

Galen Burghardt December 13, Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom. Diversified Managed Futures Trading. Trend Following Updated Edition: Learn to Make Millions in Up or Down Markets. FT Press; 1 Updated edition February 25, Activist shareholder Distressed securities Risk arbitrage Special situation.

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By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Contact Wikipedia Developers Cookie statement Mobile view. Let's break down the term Trend Following into its components.

The first part is "trend". Every trader needs a trend to make money. If you think about it, no matter what the technique, if there is not a trend after you buy, then you will not be able to sell at higher prices We use this word because trend followers always wait for the trend to shift first, then "follow" it.

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