Trading breakouts is one of the most popular methods of trading the forex markets because you often get large moves after a period of consolidation. So with that in mind, I've listed below three basic strategies you can use to trade these breakouts.
The first of which is based on technical analysis, and in particular the Bollinger Bands indicator. Bollinger Bands are envelopes based on a moving average and a standard deviation and are most useful in showing areas of support and resistance through the two outer lines of the envelope.
Therefore when the price breaks out of either the upper or lower limit, this very often is a strong indication that a breakout is about to take place in the same direction. It's particularly the case after a period of consolidation where the bandwidth of the Bollinger Bands has narrowed out. For greater success you can use the breaching of one of the outer lines to gain your attention, and then wait for a pullback to either the EMA (5) or EMA (20), for example, for a good entry point.
The second method you can use to trade breakouts is also based on technical analysis and involves various Exponential Moving Averages, or EMA's for short. This is a method I have developed over the years that makes use of the 5, 20 and 50 period EMA's (you can also use the 100 or 200 period EMA as well).
What you do is wait until the price, along with the 5, 20 and 50 period EMA's have all flattened out and are all very close to each other. Then you simply wait for a strong breakout from this narrow range and take a position close to the EMA (5) when the breakout takes place. This can be very rewarding when you catch a good breakout, particular when you use longer time frames.
The final method is based entirely on price and uses no technical indicators at all. It's based on the fact that the price does not stay in the same range forever and will at some point break out of the current trading range.
I have to admit I don't use this method myself but there are various ways you can trade this way. Some traders like to use the previous day's upper and lower price range, and trade any breakouts of this range the following day. Similarly some traders wait until a very narrow price range has formed and then wait for a breakout to occur.
So overall there are various different ways you can trade breakouts, all of which have their merits. Despite being quite basic methods, they can be extremely lucrative because the price often moves strongly in one direction or the other after a sustained period of consolidation.
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