Sunday, September 6, 2009

Decreased Volatility Breakout Strategy (Part III)

By Ahmad Hassam

Each triangle type has its own directional bias. Ignore any first breakout attempts whether it is to the upside or the downside when you trade triangle breakouts. Get ready for a breakout when you have identified the triangle formation on either the daily or weekly chart. There can be three possibilities when you try to trade the decreased volatility breakout strategy.

Possible Case No 1: Suppose the second breakout attempt is in the downside direction for the descending triangle. Similarly it is in the upside direction for an ascending triangle. In simple words, the second breakout attempt is in the direction expected of the triangle type. This breakout could signal either the continuation of the existing trend or the trend reversal. You should not forget to ignore the first breakout.

In case of an ascending triangle, place a stop buy order at least 10 pips above the horizontal resistance level to capture the potential upside breakout. You should make sure each side of the triangle gets touched two times at least. Set profit target according to your time frame. Place a stop loss order 10 pips below the horizontal level of the triangle to protect against false breakout.

Place a stop sell order 10 pips below the horizontal support level to capture the potential downside breakout for a descending triangle. Again make sure the triangle is touched two times before the breakout. Place a stop loss order 10 pips above the horizontal support level.

Possible Case No 2: The second breakout is to the upside in case of the descending triangle. Similarly it is in the downside in case of an ascending triangle. Again ignore the first breakout attempt. In other words, the second breakout attempt is in the opposite direction of the expected triangle type breakout direction.

Cut the position size to half for this trade in order to reduce risk in case of an ascending triangle since the breakout direction is opposite to the most expected direction. Set stop sell order at least 10 pips below the upward sloping trendline in order to capture the expected downside breakout. Place the stop loss 10 pips below the breakout point. Ignore the first breakout attempt and make sure the triangle is touched at least two times. Place take profit in accordance to your time frame.

In order to capture the potential upside breakout in case of a descending triangle, place a stop buy entry order at least 10 pips above the downward sloping trendline. Set your profit target in accordance with your time frame. Again reduce the position size to half in order to reduce risk. Place stop loss 10 pips below the breaking point.

Possible Case No 3: The decreased volatility breakout strategy works better when it is implemented on a daily or weekly chart. Dont use intraday charts on this strategy. You must have observed that we havent talked about the symmetrical triangle case yet. Now, there is an equal possibility of upside as well as the downside breakout in case of symmetrical triangles. Place stop buy entry order or the stop sell entry order 10 pips above the downward sloping trendline or 10 pips below the upward sloping trendline. Similarly set your stop loss orders. Just follow similar guidelines as given for the ascending and the descending triangle.

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