Financial Spread Betting for a Living > Educational Videos > Lesson 33: Filtering The Trade

Lesson 33: Filtering The Trade

Summary

  • 🎯 Trade Filters: Use positive and negative signals to judge trade setups, ensuring stronger and more reliable opportunities.
  • 📈 Positive Indicators: Strong market drives, high volume, key levels broken, and low-volume pullbacks signify favorable conditions.
  • 📉 Negative Indicators: Deep pullbacks, failed key level tags, and insufficient range for profit potential suggest a weaker setup.

In trading, not all setups are created equal. Filtering trades by assessing positive and negative indicators is a critical skill that helps traders identify high-probability opportunities while avoiding weaker ones. By applying a systematic approach to evaluate setups, traders can make more informed decisions and improve their overall success rate.


Using Positive Indicators

Positive indicators are factors that suggest a trade has a higher likelihood of success. One of the most reliable signals is a strong market drive, where prices move decisively in one direction with high volume. A large, fast movement to the highs or lows indicates that many participants are actively engaged, making the first pullback more likely to continue the trend.

Breaking through key levels, such as resistance or support, is another positive sign. If the market clears a significant level and then pulls back above it (in the case of an uptrend), it shows strength and increases the likelihood of a continuation. Similarly, when a pullback occurs, low volume suggests a lack of opposition to the prevailing trend, as sellers or buyers are temporarily pausing rather than reversing the move.


Avoiding Negative Indicators

Negative indicators, on the other hand, warn traders of weaker setups. For example, a deep pullback that retraces too far into the drive’s territory suggests that the momentum may be weakening. Ideally, pullbacks should remain shallow, close to the highs or lows of the initial drive.

Failed attempts to break key levels or being too close to significant resistance or support can also undermine a trade’s potential. When the price reaches a key level but fails to breach it, it indicates a lack of market strength. Furthermore, if the price has little room to move before encountering a major barrier, the trade’s risk-reward ratio diminishes, making it less attractive.

About the author

Andy Richardson

Andy began his trading journey over 24 years ago while in graduate school, sparked by a Christmas gift of investing money and a book. From his first stock purchase to exploring advanced instruments like spread betting and CFDs, he has always sought to expand his understanding of the markets. After facing challenges with day trading and high-pressure strategies, Andy discovered that his strengths lie in swing and position trading. By focusing on longer-term market movements, he found a sustainable and disciplined approach. Through his website, Andy shares his experiences and insights, guiding others in navigating the complexities of spread betting, CFDs, and trading with a balanced mindset.

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