Trend vs. Range Trading

[afeudale]

Hey Guys! I'm back from holidays and time to start posting/contributing again

A few months back I gave up on trying to predict trends using technical indicators and switched to range trading - that is when I finally started having some success in Forex.

I analyzed many of my trend trades and found that in 80% of cases, my trend trades that got stopped out would - given ample time - circle back to where they started.

If you look at some recent USDCAD or USDJPY charts (and many others) you will see this ranging of price very clearly.

I'll be the first to admit though that range trading is really just trend trading on a smaller scale (usually counter-trend). Also, keep in mind that "ranges" can take on many forms, not just parallel horizontal lines.

So, who here is a Trend Trader, Range Trader or Both? (poll at top of post)

[dokopy]

Before entering it, nobody knows.

[afeudale]

Before entering it, nobody knows.

Can you elaborate on that point? Of course no one would no if a market would range or trend at any given point in time, but your strategy would vary drastically depending on what you *expect* the market to do.

For example, if you are at a band of resistance, a trend trader may look to go long as it may pass that barrier, where a range trader may short because they expect the commodity is overbought and will fall back within range.

[nanningbob]

My experience in trading is range price movement is the most common. I have seen figures of 70-80%. Trend trading is more long term type trading, range trading is more short term where price during a trading session or for a couple of days during the week and then retraces. The last couple of years I have tried catching a move at a beginning of a trading session and try to pocket 15-50 pips in a session.