Thursday, September 3, 2009

Trading Decreased Volatility Breakout (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

Aging Trend: This is the third stage of the trend and is the period of consolidation as the trend comes to maturity. As the momentum of the trend exhausts itself, volatility tends to decrease at this stage of the trend. This is the period where lot of profit taking will take place.

Both the bulls and the bears are hesitant to make daring moves at this stage of the trend. Experienced traders try to get out of their trades at this stage of the trend by closing their positions. This satisfies the appetites of inexperienced traders as they consolidate their positions.

The trend takes a short break and the volatility is low during this stage of the trend. This is the period of consolidation and the prices tend to stay calm during this period. Currency prices have moved by a large amount in the previous period of high volatility.

Fourth Stage-End of Trend: This is the time when the prevailing trend ends. After some new information is revealed about a currency that changes the opinion of the crowd, the trend reverses itself. This is the last stage of the trend. As the market players tend to absorb the information, this results in the rapid adjustment of prices within a short time.

Traders become desperate to get out of their positions especially if they have been caught on the wrong side of the market. Many stops will get triggered during this stage of the trend.

The trend now reverses itself. There is a sharp follow through of the prices in the reversed direction during this stage of the trend. Now you understand and know that within a trend, currency prices can experience decreased volatility followed by increased volatility which is again followed by decreased and increased volatility as the crowd psychology keeps on changing.

Decreased volatility can be found during trending or ranging phases. Traders with open positions during this low period of volatility are the most vulnerable to unanticipated news.

During this time gains can be made from the unsuspecting players and this is known as the Decreased Volatility Breakout Strategy. Deceased volatility provides an excellent opportunity to traders to prepare and profit from an imminent change from low to high volatility.

There are several technical indicators that can help you visualize the volatility in the currency prices. The success of this strategy lies in measuring the volatility of the forex market correctly.

One such is the triangle patterns. Though they maybe difficult to identify for new traders but with experience you can learn how to identify the triangle patterns on price charts. You can use triangle patterns as one of the best indicators of decreasing price volatility in the currency price charts. Combine the triangle patterns with technical indicators to confirm or deny decreasing price volatility. Two of the most useful indicators that can help you measure the volatility of the currency prices are: 1) Moving Averages and 2) Bollinger Bands.

Through identifying the triangle formations, you can take advantage of the decreasing price volatility in the forex market. All triangles show decreasing price volatility in the forex market. When a particular type of triangle has been identified by the trader, a high probability trade may be in sight.

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