ETF Trend Trading For Beginners
Written by Patrick Deaton   
Monday, 04 January 2010 08:59
As a person who is just beginning to enter the world of ETF (Exchange-Traded Funds), you are going to hear many different types of trading discussed. ETF trend trading will probably be a term that will be a little confusing. Many people talk about this trending as though it is a separate type of trading that is not related to other types of trading. In some cases you will hear that by trend trading, you will be more successful with your trades.
by PatrickDeaton


As a person who is just beginning to enter the world of ETF (Exchange-Traded Funds), you are going to hear many different types of trading discussed. ETF trend trading will probably be a term that will be a little confusing. Many people talk about this trending as though it is a separate type of trading that is not related to other types of trading. In some cases you will hear that by trend trading, you will be more successful with your trades.

If you have started trading and are doing the analytical work to spot trends and patterns, and are acting on those trends, you are already trend trading. It is not a secret strategy or way to conduct trades. A successful trader does their homework and acts on the trends that they see coming in the sector, or industry they are trading within. So, let's take a look at trends and how you can use them more effectively.

The technical definition of ETF Trend Trading is to do an analysis of a sector, get in when the trend starts to move and get out when it reverses. If you've been following the instructions of your training, you are already trend trading. The people who do a technical analysis of a sector that covers a three to five year period are getting only a snapshot of the trends and patterns within a sector and will have less success with proactively capturing gains when there is a trend.

It can be easy for a person who likes to do analytical studies to get caught up in the analytics of a sector and miss opportunities that are presented. Technical analysis is a tool that will help you to make more effective trades. If you are missing opportunities because you are caught up in the analysis of sectors or indicators that appear, then you may want to set some limits on the extent of the analysis that you will do before beginning to put that knowledge to work for you.

Short term trends are usually historical data for a sector covering one to three years. A technical analysis using historical data of one to three years is going to show only trends that occur in that time frame. When a person is going to use short term trends as their primary indicator, they will need to move very quickly in creating a long position when the trend rising or short when the trend is dropping and get out quickly when there is a blip on the screen. Employing only short term trending may prevent a person from seeing trends that occur within a longer time period.

Intermediate term trends are the trends that occur within a long term trend. When analyzing trends, if the reason for an intermediate trend can be effectively identified, and a pattern found, there is a significant opportunity to make gains on those blips that occur in the sector.

When traders act on trends without having the background to know when to get in and when to get out, they can suffer losses. However, a person can use an intermediate trend in a sector to their advantage if they know that the same patter occurs every four years and what the buy and sell limits for that trend should be.

When a person has a long term ETF, they are most interested in long-term trends. A sector that is in a rising trend for ten years, then reverses course rapidly can catch a person unaware if they have not done the technical analysis to prepare for that reverse.

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