One of the simplest and most effective trading strategies in the world, is simply trading price action signals from horizontal levels on a price chart. If you learn only one thing from this site it should be this; look for obvious price action patterns from key horizontal levels in the market. If you just stick to that ‘formula’ you will have plenty of high-probability trading opportunities over the course of one year. Don’t over-complicate the process of analysing the markets / charts and finding trades. The market will generate signals for you when it’s ready, all you need to do is learn what the signals look like and where to look for them at. This is what you will learn in this lesson…
Price action signals + Horizontal levels = Success
It doesn’t really matter which component you find first, the price action signal or the level. What matters is if the two have come together to form a confluent price action trade. When you have an obvious price action signal, like a pin bar or a fakey signal, and that signal has formed at a key horizontal level of support or resistance in a market, you have a potentially very high-probability trade on your hands.
Key horizontal levels of support or resistance are areas or levels on the chart that price made a strong move either up or down from. They can be used in any market condition; trending, counter-trend or trading ranges. The important thing we are focusing on in this lesson is finding a clear price action signal at a key chart level. These levels tend to act like ‘magnets’, attracting price to them before price pushes away again. They can also be thought of as ‘value areas’, or areas on the chart where price found ‘fair value’ which typically happens before a strong move occurs again.
Let’s take a look at some examples of trading price action signals from key chart levels:
The chart below is a daily Gold chart and it shows us a nice clear example of a well-formed pin bar pattern that formed at a key horizontal level in the market. Clearly, the 1170.00 was already an important horizontal level that you should have had marked on your chart before this pin bar formed. Then, all you needed to do was sit and wait for a signal to form at or near that level. We can see a very nice pin bar buy signal did form at that level, showing a rejection of it that indicated price might push higher in the coming days..
The next example is of a pin bar buy signal that formed at a key chart level of support in an up-trending market. When you get a price action signal that has confluence with a trend and a level, that is a good-quality trade setup. You won’t find a much better example than the one below that formed on the daily GBPUSD chart. We had an uptrend, a key horizontal support level near 1.6655 and then a very well-defined / ‘perfect’ pin bar trading strategy formed at that level. You can see the trend resumed the very next day after that pin bar as price continued pushing higher.
In the chart below, the NZDUSD was trading in a large range, back and forth between horizontal support and resistance levels. In these situations, where a market is range-bound, we can look to the boundaries of the range (support and resistance levels) for potential price action buying or selling opportunities. We can see a fine example of this in the chart below when an obvious pin bar sell signal formed from the horizontal resistance of this trading range, setting off a huge move lower, to the bottom of the range…
Finally, let’s look at a counter-trend example of trading price action signals at key chart horizontal levels in the market. This is the EURUSD daily chart and we can see a very obvious fakey trading strategy formed at a key resistance level near 1.3950. This fakey signal showed a rejection and false breakout of that level, indicating that the bulls were exhausted and that price may fall lower in the coming days. We can see that price did fall from that fakey signal and it fell significantly lower in the ensuing days. Another clear example of the power of trading price action signals at key horizontal levels in the market.
Conclusion
The main point of this lesson is simply this: You DO NOT NEED a complicated or confusing trading strategy to find high-probability entries in a market. All you need is the ability to recognize price action trading strategies at key chart levels of horizontal support and resistance. If you just focus on this one strategy and really ‘master’ it, you will be able to look at any chart of any market and find high-probability price action trading opportunities.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this lesson on the simplest trading strategy in the world. To learn more, visit the price action trading university.
AboutNial Fuller
Nial Fuller is a Professional Trader & Author who is considered ‘The Authority’ on Price Action Trading. He has a monthly readership of 250,000+ traders and has taught over 25,000+ students since 2008. Checkout Nial’s Price Action Trading Course here.
FAQs
One of the simplest and most effective trading strategies in the world, is simply trading price action signals from horizontal levels on a price chart. If you learn only one thing from this site it should be this; look for obvious price action patterns from key horizontal levels in the market.
What is the most simple price action strategy? ›
The head and shoulders reversal trade is one of the most popular price action trading strategies as it's relatively easy to choose an entry point (generally right after the first shoulder) and to set a stop loss (after the second shoulder) to take advantage of a temporary peak (the head).
Does price action trading really work? ›
Although price action trading does have the potential for making handsome profits, it is up to the individual trader to clearly understand, test, select, decide, and act on what meets their requirements for the best possible profit opportunities.
Is there a 100% trading strategy? ›
A 100 percent trading strategy is an approach that involves investing all of your capital into a single trade. While this can be risky, it can also lead to significant profits if executed correctly.
What is the best trading strategy in the world? ›
Top 10 Most Popular Trading Strategies
- Trading Strategy #1 – Buy and Hold. ...
- Trading Strategy #2 – Value Investing. ...
- Trading Strategy #3 – Swing Trading. ...
- Trading Strategy #4 – Momentum Trading. ...
- Trading Strategy #5 – Scalping. ...
- Trading Strategy #6 – Day Trading. ...
- Trading Strategy #7 – Positions Trading.
Moving averages are one of the most basic yet effective trading strategies. They calculate the average price of a security over a specified period of time and smooth out price fluctuations, making it easier to spot trends.
What is the best indicator for price action trading? ›
The most commonly used price action indicator is the study of price bars or candlesticks which give details such as the open and closing price of a market and its high and low price levels during a specific time period. Analysing this information is the core of price action trading.
What is the win rate of price action trading strategy? ›
However, price action strategies have been shown to be quite accurate, with many of the setups used by the price action trader showing a success rate of 75% or higher. The most accurate trading pattern used by a price action trader is the head and shoulders (or inverted head and shoulders) setup.
Which type of trading is most profitable? ›
The defining feature of day trading is that traders do not hold positions overnight; instead, they seek to profit from short-term price movements occurring during the trading session.It can be considered one of the most profitable trading methods available to investors.
How long does it take to learn price action trading? ›
Probably more than 2-3 years at the least. It took me a lot more ( started with things that did not work for me…) . Just reading everything wont give you skills immediately and you have to do your own work and figure things out. Trade small.
You must keep emotions under control and define your profit goals. If the stock has reached that level, book profits and exit. Choose the right trading platform: One of many prudent intraday trading tricks involves choosing the right trading platform with all the tools you need to make the right decisions.
What is the number one rule of trading? ›
Rule 1: Always Use a Trading Plan
Once a plan has been developed and backtesting shows good results, the plan can be used in real trading. Sometimes your trading plan won't work. Bail out of it and start over. The key here is to stick to the plan.
What is the most profitable trade ever? ›
The best trade in history is often considered to be George Soros's shorting of the British Pound in the early 1990s, making over $1 billion. This trade, along with others by notable investors, involved highly leveraged currency exploitation.
Who is the number 1 trader in the world? ›
George Soros
He is one of the most popular and famous traders worldwide. In England, Soros worked as a waiter or railway porter before he graduated from the London School of Economics. This finally led him to the banking world when he became a merchant banker at Singer and Friedlander.
Is there a trading system that can win 100% of the trades? ›
There is no such thing as a trading plan that wins 100% of the time. After all, losses are a part of the game. But losses can be psychologically traumatizing, so a trader who has two or three losing trades in a row might decide to skip the next trade.
Which trading strategy has the highest success rate? ›
Indicator-Based Directional Trading
This strategy uses an indicator to determine the direction of the trade. The indicator provides a clear signal when it's time to enter or exit a trade, making it easy to work with. Traders who use this strategy can expect to see consistent results and high success rates.
What is the 5 minute price action strategy? ›
The 5-Minute strategy is created to aid sellers and buyers engage in back tracking and spend some time in the location with the appearance of prices proceed in a latest route. The system depends upon exponential moving averages and the MACD forex trading indicators.
What is the basic price action? ›
Put simply, price action is how price changes, i.e., the 'action' of price. It's most easily observed in markets with high liquidity and volatility, but really anything that is bought or sold in a free market will generate price action.
What is simple pricing strategy? ›
Cost-plus pricing
This is one of the simplest pricing strategies. You just take the product production cost and add a certain percentage to it. While simple, it is less than ideal for anything but physical products.
What is the most important price action pattern? ›
Some common price action patterns include pin bars, engulfing patterns, inside bars, double tops/bottoms, head and shoulders, and triangles. These patterns provide insights into market sentiment and potential reversals or continuations of trends.
