To succeed at forex trading, you must learn to identify the forex trend and trade with it. Forex trends are important to every forex trader who needs to be well informed of where the currency prices are moving as they are very volatile. The currency futures market is very liquid and it is anybody’s guess where it is going with the many factors impacting its journey.
Forex trends
Forex trends indicate the movement of currency prices in the future. When the preferred currency pair movement is upwards, that would be an indication to buy that currency pair to gain a profit. When the preferred currency pair movement is downwards, you should sell it off to avoid losses. A currency pair trend may go sideways, which mean, you can wait for a change in trend; but you can choose to buy or sell even then depending on your financial need. The general rule of thumb is to flow with the trend; not fight it. You will experience more losses if you do.
Forex trends should be identified over each piece of time frame and align them to your best analysis whether they are going up, down or sideways. There will always be a new low or new high with currency trends. There are various types of trends in forex trading: short-term, intermediate and long-term.
Long-term trend
A long-term forex trend operates on fundamental factors such as interest rates and its impact on a particular currency. Long-term trends are also known as major trends; they dominate a particular currency pair over a long period.
Intermediate trend
Intermediate trends on the other hand are known as minor trends. These respond better than long-term trends as a shorter time frame is covered. Although these are also impacted by fundamental factors, interest rates are not as impactful on them as long-term trends. Intermediate trends may not tell the whole story; hence, it is advisable to sit it out a little longer to see how it moves.
Short-term trend
Consider the short-term trend to compare its movement in relation to the intermediate and long-term trends.
Short-term trends are also known as micro trends. These are the most responsive among the three trends as the shortest timeframe is covered. Short-term trends are very volatile; any news of the day will impact them easily. Hence, they change direction very quickly. There are many highs and lows over time. It is possible for the all the trends to be moving in different directions for any currency pair.