The Definitive Guide to Crypto Swing Trading

Chart Patterns | Fundamentals | Latest News | Technical Analysis | Trading

Let me ask you one question…

What kind of trader are you?

Are you the type of person to look for steady, more conservative profits, protecting yourself from big risks over time? Or are you the type who enjoys the high risk to high reward game?

You know…the type of person that’s ready to knock it out the park, retire early, and travel the world eating bizarre food while hiking in the rain forest.

There’s no shame in taking the easier more conservative route. Buy a few coins, hold, and collect your earnings several years on down the line. If that’s more your speed, this guide isn’t for you.

Check out my guide: Ultimate 2018 Cryptocurrency Beginners Trading Guide for Bitcoin & Altcoin Investing for all the insight you need to get your feet wet with basic “crypto investing strategies”.

For the rest of you adventure seekers…..keep reading.

If you’d like to jump into any part of this guide later, use the….

Table of Contents

Day Trading VS Swing Trading
News Events and Technical Analysis
Technical Analysis and Why It Works

The 9 Fundamental Pillars of Swing Trading

The Finer Details of Crypto Swing Trading
Buying the Dips and Selling the Peaks
Stop Losses – Your Crypto Swing Trading Safety Net
Taking Profit While It’s Still on the Table
Vital Signals: Divergence and Confluence

–  Conclusion: What to Do Next

There’s one strategy that holds the potential to deliver the type of massive returns that most people only dream about…

Swing trading!

Sure, swing trading can be great when everything goes your way. However it takes real grit and discipline to keep those profits and not go “all in” with one or two bad trades.

It takes A LOT of “discipline” to continue down this rocky path, when you’ve lost 3 straight trades in a row and are starting to question your new career path (or lack thereof).

I’m not saying this to scare you, I’m just letting you know the truth. You’re about to embark on a journey that will take you on an emotional rollercoaster.

Although swing trading can be a long and treacherous road, paved with a lot of “emotional discomfort”, with the right trading system, discipline, and emotional grit, the riches found on the other side of that wall are lined with streets of gold.

I’m going to be going over A LOT of material within this guide. I highly recommend you take copious notes (or bookmark this page) as a lot of this stuff is going to make more sense as you start getting your feet wet in the field.

I’m going to be giving you everything that I learned on my own swing trading journey, so you don’t make the same mistakes I did.

Many of these lessons I’ve learned the hard way. Many of them, you’ll learn the same way too, regardless of how much I emphasize them here.

Like most of us, we never truly learn our lesson until mistakes are made. So get ready and welcome “your mistakes”.  You’ll soon become best friends with them.

So let’s get right to it, shall we?

Take siege over the crypto market and storm those golden palace walls in order to claim the riches that are rightfully yours!

Day Trading VS Swing Trading

crypto swing trading guide fundamentals cryptocurrency

Buy low, sell high. Easy enough right?

I thought so too when I first started swing trading, but it’s everything in between that really matters.

There are typically two types of trading , which can normally be split into day or swing trading. Day trading typically describes someone who sits in front of the computer all day and makes several trades during this timeframe. Typically this type of trader accumulates small percentage gains (1-3%) which end up compounding towards the end of the day.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have time for all that.

It’s great on some days where it’s rainy outside and you have nothing else better to do, however doing it for a living is a whole nother reality that I don’t intend to live in.

Considering the volatility of crypto trading, I’ve personally found much more success swing trading, than day. Swing trading also allows you to live a life that’s not always behind the computer.

Typically, swing traders will make one trade every 1-3 days, but can sometimes last up to a week or more.

The beauty behind swing trading is that you can accumulate much larger profit (20%-50%) within a relatively short amount of time, without sitting and staring at charts all day. It’s also a lot less stressful and time consuming.

News Events and Technical Analysis

There 2 types of methods that traders formulate their strategies around… news events and chart analysis.

cryptocurrency news crypto news eventsNews events are when a trader believes that a price will go up or down according to government regulations, cryptocurrency bans, exchange hacks, etc. This also includes more inclusive news like cryptocurrency airdrops, contests, new exchange listings, technology upgrades, and more.  These events can trigger a bullish or bearish move in price, however it’s not always the case. 

On the other hand, technical analysis is the most commonly used tool for trading. It’s a swing trader’s best friend, and can be used at any time, regardless of news or events.

A typical trader will study the price movement of a currency and formulate a strategy based on chart patterns, indicators, as well as the current momentum. Once these indicators and patterns line up (known as convergence), a predictable price movement of over 75% can occur in some cases (like a head and shoulders pattern). 

The probability of a trade going your way will exponentially increase when certain news events meet technical analysis. The BEST TRADES are made when these two methods converge.

Technical Analysis and Why It Works

technical analysis works crypto trading forex traderPredictable chart patterns are found within all markets (stocks, forex, options, etc), but are extremely prevalent within the cryptocurrency trading market. Some may say it’s even more prevalent due to the fact that there are so many novice traders out there.

Now, most “non-traders” will simply call this luck or gambling, until their blue in the face. However, gambling primarily relies on chance. Seasoned traders primarily rely on decade’s worth of market evidence on group psychology.

Let me explain…

Technical analysis is nothing more than a visual representation of trader psychology on a massive scale.

I wish there was something magical about it, however it’s about as plain and straightforward as math. It’s essentially what happens when you mate human psychology with math over an extended time.

Sorry if I might have taken away some of the mysticism behind it for you, but its predictive nature has worked for decades and will continue to work for decades to come.

It all comes down to herd mentality…

Regardless of how much you want to believe that you’re an individual…. you’re not!

Individuals can make unexpected decisions once isolated, however when placed in a group setting, predictability becomes imminent. A group of individuals will inherently make predictable decisions (and even act the same way others do) within a “community”.

This is the nature of being human.

We are designed to be predictable creatures when placed within these group settings. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s what has allowed us to survive for so long.

Just realize, that this predictability allows “smart traders” to capitalize on the primal nature of communities.

Now the only question I have for you is…will you be the predator or the prey?

Enough about that, let’s move forward with what you came here to learn, starting with the fundamentals.

The 9 Fundamental Pillars of Swing Trading

Now that you have a good idea of why technical analysis works, let’s start to go over the how.

Within this section I’ll be going over the fundamental pillars of swing trading. This will be the foundation that you build your crypto trading career on. Make sure you don’t just gloss over this section as its one of the most important.

 

1. Only invest in what you can afford to lose. This is the GOLDEN RULE to trading. I realize you probably heard this 100X by now, but the only reason why you’ve heard it so much is because it’s remarkably true. Not only for the fact it can leave you broke and depressed (that’s a good enough reason than any), but for the simple fact that it will make you emotionally unstable for trading.

only-invest-on-what-you-can-risk-to-loseTrading with fear is one of the worst emotions you can carry with you. This will cause you to make careless mistakes. Fear will cause you to lose your patience. Fear will inevitably ruin your trades… so don’t do it!

If you’re just starting out, trade with only a fraction of what you make per month. That way, if you lose it all, it’s no big deal. If you end up making all the right moves and come out ahead, carry that mindset over to accumulate more crypto with your winnings.

Remember, if you’re investing money that you can’t afford to lose, then you’re simply trading out of desperation. Just assume that what you invest in trading cryptocurrency is lost forever. Only with this mindset will you trade with a clear head.

PSA: never use money from your home equity, credit cards, or from some bookie you just met at your local bar.

2. Don’t get greedy. This is probably one of the toughest pillars to master. Once you stop trying to hit home runs all the time, and settle for a first or second base score, you’ll find yourself winning most of your trades.

Greed was the primary issue I had when I first started trading and will most likely be a difficult one for you to overcome too. Once I stopped swinging for the fences and focused on taking profit while it was on the table, is when my trading success started to take flight.

There is one strategy that I typically use on all my trades, which really helped me out with this greedy mentality called “scaling”. Basically it’s where you take partial profits from your trade till you reach your target goal. I’ll cover more on the scaling strategy under the technical analysis portion of this guide below.

Just remember, no one ever lost money taking profit.

3. Don’t FOMO. This is another principle that has frequently lost many novice and intermediate traders a lot of money. Trading into FOMO is a combination of being too greedy and investing blindly.

no more fomo crypto tradingThe reality of the situation is, if a coin pumps quickly, it will more often times than not, dump just as quick. It’s only a matter of time before a pump and dump claims you as its next victim. Don’t be that guy.

Like jumping onto a train going full speed ahead doesn’t sound like something that most people would be eager to try, treat FOMO in the same manner. I’m sure most of us can agree that we can wait for the next stop.

 

4. Learn from your mistakes. This may seem like common sense however you’ll inevitably make the same trading mistakes multiple times, before you learn from them.

learn from your mistakes failure try success learningDon’t beat yourself up too much when this happens. It will happen a lot when you first start swing trading. Just learn from them and do your best to ensure that they never happen again.

Writing down your mistakes on a notepad and posting them somewhere close to you will definitely help you not make them again.

At the same time, remember not to let the losses discourage you. The reality is, they’re making you a much better trader…that is if you choose to learn from them.

5. Accept your losses and move on. Similar to the pillar above, however it deserves its own topic. Crypto swing trading will not always go according to “your” plan. It’s how you deal with those losses that matters. Try to realize early in your trading career that an integral part of swing trading is taking your licks and moving forward.

accept your losses with inner peace crypto trading swingYou have to be willing to accept your losses when they happen. Accepting your losses is as much a part of trading as winning is. Even the most elite traders in the world deal with losses. It’s impossible to make accurate predictions 100% of the time.

Never chase your losses either. Chasing losses is where a trader experiences more loss by trying to make it up and taking on high risk trades. This is another reason why the majority of traders fail.

Accept your losses, take it as a learning experience, reflect on your mistakes, and start a new trade (preferably the next day or after a break) with a fresh pair of eyes.

6. Volatility is your friend. It doesn’t matter if the price of an asset moves up or down. What really matters is that it’s moving. In order to capitalize on those 30-60% swings, you need to pick coins that showcase a lot of volatility.

trading-volatility-is-your-friendThe beautiful thing about crypto trading is its inherent volatility. What some may deem a negative trait of cryptocurrency should be more so considered a strength. Massive swings are a great benefit to swing traders who know what they’re doing.

One of the initial steps to swing trading is to look for coins with high volatility for the day and analyze the charts for promising entry and exit positions.

Here are two amazing resources I use to view what crypto coins have the most volatility on any given day.

  • ShuffleUp Volatility Tracker
  • TradingView Crypto Screener

    7. Always pay attention to Bitcoin. Almost all altcoins are paired closely to Bitcoin. If the price of Bitcoin pumps drastically, altcoins price will almost always drop.

    bitcoin-paying-attention-to-trading-swingThis is the results of people trying to exit altcoins in order to ride the Bitcoin profits. On the other hand, if Bitcoin prices dump, altcoin prices will also follow suit and dump.

    The sweet spot for trading altcoins is during the consolidation phases of Bitcoin or when it steadily increases in price over time. As long as Bitcoin is still “the king of crypto”, drastic movements will always equal drastic altcoin results.

    8. Keep a trading journal. This provides any serious trader a way to help them evaluate themselves objectively. The primary objective to a journal is to monitor both the performance of your trading system as well as the ability to execute it on a consistent basis.

bitcoin trading journal swing trade cryptocurrencyMore often times than not, traders who consistently lose trades are typically not based on their poor trading systems but the inability for the trader to follow the rules properly.

Trading journals are only as good as what’s written in them. If you fail to accurately track your trades, it becomes very hard to judge your trading performance over time.

Be thorough and honest. Don’t shortchange yourself and fail to list entries because it’ll make you feel better. Reflect on your entries every month and I guarantee you’ll learn a lot about yourself and your trading psychology.

9. Practice makes perfect. Before depositing funds into your trading account, practice on a chart or a demo account first. TradingView offers paper trading where you can trade with fake money in order to harness your technical analysis skills.

practice makes perfect trading cryptocurrency forex cryptoOnce you’ve got a good grasp on how the markets works and a fundamental understanding of technical analysis, indicators, and chart patterns, you’re ready to take the next step with real money.

Start off with low trading amounts in order to get used to the psychological factors that come with trading with money. Take your accumulated profit and keep reinvesting into your trading capital.

If you end up losing all your money, chock that up as a paid education. At this stage, it’s all about improving your skills and knowledge before investing large amounts of capital.

These are my trusted 9 fundamental pillars of swing trading. I highly recommend you do your best at following these tactics to the very best of your ability. If you need to, print them out and keep them close by.

Next, we’ll move onto the finer technical details of swing trading like layering, stop losses, take profits, and everything else in between.

The Finer Details of Crypto Swing Trading

 

Crypto traders have many tools and strategies at their disposal. Within this section I’ll be going over the most noteworthy. Utilizing these tools, will teach you things like….

  • Keeping you out of danger from losing all your capital in one trade.
  • Teaching you where to place your stop losses
  • Getting the best buy and sell orders prices
  • How to recognize reversal trend signals

I will not be covering…

Technical analysis, charting patterns, candlestick formations, or indicators within this section. I’ve constructed thorough guides for each of these aspects of trading on our trading page located here.

Here is a quick reference to some of the guides located on CryptoCoinJunky. I highly recommend you read up on all the aspects of trading you’re not familiar with before going at it with your own money.

The Ultimate 2018 Cryptocurrency Beginner Trading Guide & Investing

How to Trade Cryptocurrency Candlestick Patterns Like a Pro

The Beginner Friendly Guide to Technical Analysis With Cryptocurrency

Beginners Crypto Guide to Continuation Chart Patterns

Four of the Most Reliable Cryptocurrency Trading Patterns

How to Use Technical Indicators for Cryptocurrency Trading

and many more located here

Moving on….

Buying the Dips and Selling the Peaks

buy low sell high crypto trading trader currencyThere’s nothing more gratifying than the feeling you get buying at the very rock bottom of a dip as the price rallies upward, later cashing out at the very top of a peak.

Sure you may get lucky on a trade or two, but this is more of an anomaly than the norm. That’s not to say however, that you can’t get close.

There’s only one method I’ve found where you can come close an overwhelming majority of the time. The strategy is called “scaling”.

Scaling is the process where you divide the capital you intend to trade with into segments. Each segment is divided into 2-4 price levels.

Let’s say you’re trading with a total of $400 on Bitcoin. Instead of placing a lump sum of $400 all at one time, you’re going to divide it up into sections in order to obtain the best possible buy-in price.

Example: Bitcoin is dipping and close to a bottom of a major support along with it showing oversold on the RSI and Stochastic indicators.  You place a buy order like so…

– $100 at price level $8,110

– $100 at price level $7972

– $100 at price level $7875

– $100 at price level $7819

This scaling strategy would average you out out to around $7944 after spending your full $400 buy order. As you can see, this is much more efficient at getting you a better price than placing it all on one bid at $8,110 as Bitcoin continues to decrease.

Now it’s entirely up to you on how far you want to spread these scaling intervals out. You can choose to spread them out at every 0.50%, 1%, or even 2%, etc. This is simply a matter of personal preference and also depends heavily on the type of coin you’re trading.  Low market cap coins increase/decrease percentages in price more easily over the higher market cap coins.

Now were not out in the clear just yet…

Your next step would be to set a stop loss to avoid having a large majority of your trading capital wiped out. This will also avoid you scaling into a losing trade.

It’s up to you to determine where to place your stop loss, however I’ll cover stop loss placement strategies below.

tradingview image scaling in on crypto trade
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Another alternative to the scaling strategy would be…

– $100 at price level $8094.50

– $125 at price level $7972.43

– $175 at price level $7875.04

As you can see from this example, we’re increasing the buy order amount the lower price action goes. This allows you to accumulate more on each level of the dip so that you take away more profit when bulls are back in favor. Make sure you set a stop loss after your last buy order, under a major support and/or a previously large candle wick dip.

tradingview scaling into entry point
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Stop Losses – Your Crypto Swing Trading Safety Net

A stop loss is basically a price level you automatically exit your trade at. It’s really not that difficult to understand, however there are many strategies revolved around the placement of your stop loss.

For a more detailed analysis of hard and mental stop losses check out our guide: Cryptocurrency Trading: Stop Losses VS Mental Stop Losses

Now there are two types of strategies behind stop loss placement. There really is no right or wrong regarding these placements. It all depends on how conservative or risky of a trader you are.

Let’s first take a look at the conservative approach.

Stop loss placement with this strategy consists of a tight stop loss, generally around 1-5% below your buy order. It’s also important to place these at an adequate distance below a major support.

major support and resistance stop loss zone
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Let’s examine both the pros and cons of this placement strategy.

Pros – Keeps your losses to a minimum ensuring you don’t lose much on any particular trade.

Cons – You can be “stopped out” by whales (large scale investors) before a major rally. This is why it’s very important to place your stop loss at a good distance below a major support.

It’s also a best practice to place them below a previously long candle wick that has already broke through the support.

The second stop loss placement strategy is for more risky traders. These placements are typically 10%+ below your buy order. Much like the strategy mentioned above, it also comes with its own pro and con.

Pro – keeps you from being “stopped out” by whales before a major rally. This gives you a lot of wiggle room in order to avoid those evil “quick wicks”.

Con – if a dip turns out to be more than just a quick dip, then you’ll end up taking on a major loss, which can sometimes be mentally hard to come back from.

stop loss placement for risky traders crypto
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As you can see, there is no right or wrong stop loss placement strategy. The smarter strategy is to choose a stop loss according to the history of the coin you’re currently trading. Some coins are a lot more volatile than others.

Some coins have a long history of dumping before they pump. Some coins are fairly stagnant before a rally. Take note of these types of patterns and realize that there is no “one size fits all” stop loss strategy.

I do not recommend placing a trade without a stop loss, unless you’re willing to wait a few days, weeks or even months in order to break even on the trade.

I’ve tried this strategy on more occasions then I’m willing to admit and have got stuck holding bags for a very long time (some of which have never recovered). So please take that into consideration.

Next, let’s cover a the most important part of your trade, take profit targets…

Taking Profit While It’s Still on the Table

taking profit while its still on the table swing trading cryptoMany novice traders place too much emphasis on their entry points and not enough on their exits. It’s not your entries that’ll make you profit, but your exits that determine your success.

Setting a proper “take profit target” is one of the most important aspects of trading, so don’t take this section lightly.

As you might’ve guessed by now, take profit targets are where you claim your riches. There are many ways to determine where to set your profit targets according to technical indicators, chart patterns, or candlestick formations.

I’m going to show you the two easiest ways to set your profit targets for maximum profit potential.

#1 Using Resistance

Setting a take profit target under a prior resistance is a great strategy for beginners. Make sure to not get too greedy and place your target 1-2% below a major resistance.

To ensure your target is reached, make sure that the price is at an odd number and not exactly at a major price level as well as even number.

Example: set it to $8,191 and not at $8,200

#2 Scaling Out of Your Trade

Much like the scaling strategy I mentioned above, it’s also good to take some profit all the way to up to your final take profit target.

This will ensure that you always walk away from a winning trade with some form of profit. Your final take profit target may not always be reached, so it’s good to take a little profit while the bulls are in session.

Here’s a good example:

Your buy order for BTC is at $7318 and your take profit target is set at $7,464., just under a major resistance. Alternatively, you could set your targets to take 50% at $7464 and 50% at $7542 where a few previous wicks have touched. This would give you a chance to take profit while holding out for previously recorded peaks. 

This is another way to relieve some of the stress that comes with trading. The feeling you get with taking profits along the way will ensure a better mindset for future trades.

take profit targets on crypto trading resistance

#3 No Stop Loss Strategy

Warning: Not to be used by novice traders.

I couldn’t end this stop loss section without at least mentioning the “no stop loss strategy”. Take note that I DO NOT recommend this strategy for beginners, however there are times where having no stop loss can benefit you in a trade.

If you end up trading on an extremely volatile and erratic chart, utilizing no stop loss can end up benefiting you in the long run as you can more easily recover losses on an upswing.  Again, this should only be considered during a steady bull market. This will make it much easier to recover from losses if the coin temporarily dips on you.

Also worth noting…

Never trade without a stop loss during a major uptrend or near an all-time high for any particular coin.

no stop loss horrible area to trade swing cryto trading
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Pro – you’ll never get stopped out by a whale right before a rally and can end up taking advantage of those massive rallies after a quick, but major dip. Nothing is more irritating than taking a loss due to a triggered stop loss as you watch a massive rally leave without you.

Con – a sudden dip can leave you with a huge loss if the coin never recovers. Either that or you end up waiting it out for several weeks or months until it reaches your buy order price, which eats up a lot of time.

Tip: If things go south quickly and a dramatic dip has occurred near a strong support, always exit out of the trade during the next upswing, close to your initial buy order. This is not the time to be greedy. Take what you can get on the following rally. Recovering your loss is your upmost priority at this point.

You’ll typically have only one (two at the most) chances to recover from a dramatic dip past your initial buy order. Take the first rebound you get off the dip in order to recover your loss.

This could mean the difference between taking on a 30% loss or 5. Remember it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

very bottom of stop loss trading crypto swing trader
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Vital Signals: Divergence and Confluence

Divergence is one of the most powerful signals you can use in order to spot the reversal of a trend. This is something that you’ll want to look for early in on your crypto trading journey.

Although the name may sound a bit intimidating, the signal is far from it. Divergence is merely the comparison of the trending price action to the trend found within the RSI indicator. When you see price action moving up and the RSI indicator is trending down, chances are high you have an impending trend reversal.

The more time frames you can locate divergence, the stronger the signal. For example, if you find divergence on the 30, 60, and 240 minute time frames, you know that a reversal is on its way.

divergence swing trading cryptocurrency
click to enlarge

Confluence is another very powerful signal you want to look out for. It’s the exact opposite of divergence. This signal occurs when there are several technical indicators that line up and give you the same trading signals towards one direction of a trend. The more confluence you have, the greater probability that this trend will prevail.

Confluence can include a combination of indicators and chart patterns.

For example, if price levels reach the very top of the bollinger bands, while forming a double top charting pattern, while also being overbought within multiple time frames on the RSI and Stochastic indicators. This would be a sign of confluence in which price will most likely drop. The confluence would signal a good time for a trader to either exit their long position or enter with a short position (making profit on the way down).

confluence with swing trading cryptocurrency
click to enlarge

You Did it! What to Do Next

 

Great job on making it through to this long and intensive guide!

The rules and strategies I covered above are by no means the end-all be-all lessons you’ll learn for swing trading crypto, however they are a great starting point. When it comes to trading, things are easier said than done. Do yourself a favor and follow this guide to the best of your ability. Just remember that nothing will ever truly replace personal experience.

You might be feeling a bit overwhelmed by now. That’s completely normal as I’ve threw a lot at you. Let me give you a good starting point from here. 

  1. Open up TradingView and start analyzing and plotting various charts.
  2. If you’re not familiar with standard charting patterns, candlestick formations, and indicators, visit the trading page located here.
  3. Once you’re comfortable analyzing charts, move over to paper trading on the TradingView platform. Keep track of your wins, losses, and profits within your trading log.
  4. Once you’ve completed many trades (20-50) with a record of at least 50% wins, start yourself off with a small amount of trading capital ($100-$500). Remember these are funds that you don’t intend to ever get back.

Practice, practice, practice. Learn from your mistakes. Move forward and don’t ever give up.

If you’re truly passionate about living an independent lifestyle, free of the 9-5 hustle, then don’t stop till you get there!

“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today”
-Jackson Brown

Good luck my friend and enjoy the journey!

Leave a comment below if you have any questions and I’ll be sure to get back at you shortly!

When you think of popular cryptocurrency trading tools, the Fibonacci retracement level tool is right there at the top of the list. Helping traders reveal key levels to place buy and sell orders is a very simple way to explain the purpose of this highly effective tool and doesn’t entirely do it justice.

For those traders who properly know how to utilize its formidable ability to spot these crucial levels of support and resistance, it can and will make you into another trading success story.

For now, let’s give you a little back story as to why institutional traders have been using this tool for decades…

A Quick History Lesson on Fibonacci

Leonardo BonacciLeonardo Bonacci, nicknamed Fibonacci, was a Italian mathematician born into a humble family of traders back in 1170. Amongst being a brilliant mathematician, Leonardo was an avid traveler.

Through his travels he discovered a Hindu-Arabic numerical system and quickly figured out its advantages over the current European system at that time. This led him to become one of the most influential people to lead the adoption of the Hindu Arabic numerical system by the Western world.

Leonardo published a book called “Liber Abaci”, known as “The Book of Calculation”, which he published in the year 1202. The book included detailed examples on how to practically use these highly innovative calculations in every day uses like bookkeeping, weight and measurement conversions, human interest calculations, among many other things. The book was so well loved and received that we can feel the effects of its influence, even in today’s world.

Leonardo’s system completely overtook the previously used Roman numerical system and improved business calculation capabilities which led to an exponential growth of accounting and banking in the heart of Europe.

How Were Fibonacci Levels Discovered?

An interesting proposal within his book was based on an observation of a particular problem involving the growth of rabbits in ideal conditions. The solution to this problem was later found within a mathematical sequence of numbers which we now know as Fibonacci numbers.

Furthermore, this was not the first time these sequences of numbers were recorded. Historians had discovered documents by Indian mathematicians that were found at least 600 years before Leonardo discovered them himself.

The ratio of numbers, which we know as the Golden Ratio, was discovered by Phidias (Greek Architect) between the years of 500 BC and 432 BC and can be found in nature as well as human creations like architecture and trading systems, which we use to this day.

OK, enough of the history lesson…

Why Are Fibonacci Levels Such a Big Deal in Trading?

While the math will most likely go over most people’s heads, it’s important to note that the Fibonacci sequence is found in the geometry of nature. You can find the sequence in things like animal skin, DNA structure, spirals within a seashell, and the list goes on.

the golden ratio fibonnaci

This number sequence produces a ratio of 61.8%, which mathematicians will commonly refer to as the “Golden Mean”, which is a Greek term that is defined as a common ground between two extremes. However, we refer to it as the “Golden Ratio”, which can be found in many aspects of nature.  

This golden ratio is often found within human responses as well.  When asked to choose between two value neutral options, study after study has shown that the ratio is typically split between 62% and 38%, not 50-50. The 62% is labeled as the “Golden Ratio” which is found within our financial markets as well.

Most financial markets will reveal this Golden Ratio on both time and price periods in which a retracement of 61.8% is typically found after a 100% advancement.

So to sum it all up…

Fibonacci retracement levels refer to these simple areas of support and resistance that are typically found in human behavior, over decade’s worth of financial studies.

What Exactly Do These Levels Mean?

The Fibonacci levels that are used within institutional trading are 23.6%, 38.2%, 50%, 61.8%, and 100%. However, the Fibonacci levels more commonly used in cryptocurrency trading is 38.2%, 50%, 61.8%, and 100%.

The 50% level is not a Fibonacci level per say, but stems from Dow Theory’s assertion that averages often retrace half of their prior movement. Nonetheless, these are levels that you’ll find the most support and resistance around.

But, why are these levels important?

They’re psychological barriers that tend to repeatedly show up within the financial markets, time and time again. They are called inflection points where traders tend to anticipate a bounce or break off a resistance or support.

Another interesting aspect to Fibonacci levels are, the fact that the more people that use them, the more accurate they become. This tends to fall under the “self-fulfilling prophecy” paradigm.

The most important Fibonacci level, as you might’ve guessed, is the 0.618, Golden Mean level. This is a critical level where sellers tend to give up bargain-hunting and a potential mass buying frenzy will ensue.

click to enlarge

These are great places to either buy upon a breakout or pull back to after an uptrend. Careful traders won’t make a move until the price is 5 to 10% above this Fibonacci level in order to confirm their speculation. This is a safe move since Fibonacci levels are not always precise.

How Do I Use This “Almost” Magical Tool?

The Fibonacci retracement levels are made up of horizontal lines which are used to highlight areas of expected support and resistance within crucial Fibonacci ratios. In order to create these levels, you’ll need to draw a trend line between the lowest and highest price of a particular trading cycle.

It’s up to a trader’s discretion to use wicks or candles when measuring the lowest and highest points. Whichever one you decide to stick with, make sure you stay consistent between charts.

litecoin chart from bottom to top fibonnaci level retracement
click to enlarge

This is a very popular tool among technical traders as it identifies places where they can strategically place price targets and stop losses. You’ll find more times than not that the market tends to either struggle near these Fib resistance levels or breakthrough and utilize the old resistance level as a new support .

Call it magic, or simply just some form of a self-fulfilling prophecy, but for some unknown reason, markets tend to move significantly towards these support and resistance levels.

One important thing you should note…

Fibonacci levels are not completely accurate. Use your common sense along with other indicators and trading patterns in order to solidify a game-winning trading strategy. Just because you buy at the 0.236 level doesn’t mean that the price is going to go up with 100% certainty. However, if you take these levels into consideration, you’ll have a much higher probability of winning trades.

Can Fibonacci Retracement Levels Be Used With Other Trading Tools?

Absolutely! In fact, it’s highly recommended that you utilize other trading tools and indicators alongside the Fibonacci retracement tool. If you find that other tools and indicators tend to overlap with the results of the Fibonacci retracement levels, this generally means that there is a fortified support and resistance to be expected.

This helps you better solidify your trading strategy.

 

What’s a Good Beginners Strategy to Use with Fibonacci Levels?

Fibonacci levels are very efficient at predicting a bounce off a big red candle, upon completion of a quick rally. These quick trades can generate a 20-40% profit if timed properly. This takes into consideration that once a rally has been quickly dumped, it will typically bounce back at a Fibonacci level near or around 0.618 or 0.786, before continuing to reach new lows.

fibonnaci-retracement-tool-buy and sell cryptocurrency
click to enlarge

Final Thoughts…

Many traders, including myself, will use the Fibonacci retracement levels to decide where to buy into the next trading cycle. Remember that these levels are merely points of interest. Prices will not always reach one level or another but more often times than not, stay around the same ballpark area.

Indicators like volume and momentum are also extremely important to monitor in order to confirm these Fibonacci levels.

It’s also worth noting, that high volume markets are more likely to show retracement levels than low volume. Larger volume cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, in any other cryptocurrency in the top 10 are more likely to show retracement levels than minor tokens.

Start practicing with the Fibonacci retracement tool today. Learn how to utilize it properly in order to maximize your trading success.

You can start practicing on our free TradingView charts here or visit TradingView and practice under their free account.

Top 5 Ways to Profit in a Crypto Bear Market

Top-5-Ways-to-Profit-in-a-Crypto-Bear-market

Bear markets make a lot of money for investors and traders alike, the problem is… they just don’t realize it at the time. 

You have to understand, the market has an ebb and flow nature to it. Just like most things in life, crypto markets are far from being excluded.  If a crypto bear market has halted your altcoin trading, you were never truly a trader to begin with.

Any idiot can turn a profit in a bull market, however bear markets are what differentiates real traders from the wannabes. These are the times where knowledge, discipline, and profits are carved for those who can willingly handle them.

Any market you trade doesn’t need to move up in order for you to profit, it simply needs to move. As long as you can adequately identify the trend, you can walk away with a profit on just about any type of market. The shorter the trend, the greater the risk, the quicker the payday.

With that said, let’s take a look at the top 5 trading strategies you can use to turn a profit in a bear market.

#1 Margin Trading (AKA – Shorting)

Cryptocurrency exchanges like Bitmex, Poloniex, Bitfinex, and Okex (yes we got all the Xs in there) offer an incredible way of profiting in a bear market. A 10% dip can bring you anywhere from 10-50% profit dependent upon your leverage.

While it may sound a little crazy to buy at a peak (as opposed to buying the dip), margin trading can bring in massive profit if done right. You don’t have to become a professional technical analyst in order to do this. Mastering the basics of charting will be required in order to produce consistent profits with margin trading.

Studying chart patterns along with real-world experience will give you a good grasp on the basics of technical analysis. Once you accomplish this, you can pick your entry and exit points with confidence. This will allow you to have a better chance of buying near the top, right before the market turns red.

Crank up your leverage to 2-5X (I don’t typically recommend going over 5X) and you can find yourself sitting pretty in a bear market. It’s important to note that the higher the leverage, the quicker you will be liquidated out of your position.

For example: margin trading $1000 worth of coins at 10X leverage will completely wipe out your balance once you hit +10% (actually lower than that counting the fees). Be sure to keep this in mind if you decide to use a high rate of leverage.

The rewards for mastering margin trading can be great, but only for individuals who truly have a well-developed understanding on the basics of technical analysis.

Click here for our complete A to Z Guide to Margin Trading located here.

#2 Scalp Your Way to Crypto Profits

Regardless of which way the charts are moving, scalping will allow you to profit off those incremental movements on just about any chart. All it takes is a little willingness to grind it out for a few hours in front of your computer using frequent bid and sell opportunities during increased volatility. A bit too monotonous for you? Try using trading bots in order to automate this process once you get some experience under your belt.

Like any other trading strategy, scalping is not without its inherent risks. All it takes is one major dip to erase all your hard work for the day. So just remember, don’t get greedy. Walk away with 1-5% profit and keep a tight stop loss in order to prevent these inconveniences.

#3 Hunt for Hidden Profits in Low Volume Coins

Low volume coins are typically not as affected (or not affected at all) with the plummeting price of Bitcoin. Unlike standard altcoins, which tend to follow in the same direction as Bitcoin, low-volume coins follow their own agenda. Consider anything with a daily volume below 50 BTC to be low volume (even 100 BTC in some cases). 

There are a number of low-volume coins that you can scalp or swing trade in order to manage a nice sizable profit. If you’re going to go this route, use the same tips I outlined above for margin trading. Make sure you have a basic understanding of technical analysis and always set a stop loss (either mental or triggered stop).

With trading low-volume coins, you have another high risk/high reward scenario. Make sure when trading low volume coins, you have enough liquidity to get out of the trade when needed. I typically won’t trade a low-volume coin that has a daily volume of under 10 to 20 BTC.

The sweet spot tends to be around 30-50 daily volume of BTC. I can’t reiterate this enough, set a mental stop loss (or alert) just below a major support as most of these coins can drop 20% in under an hour (sometimes in under a few minutes). Make sure you keep a close eye on the chart once a major support has been broken. More often than not, whales (large investors) tend to short stop losses on support and then subsequently rally hard thereafter.

PRO TIP: never scalp with 100% of your overall capital. You’re the only one who can determine your risk tolerance, but scalping with 5 to 10% of your overall investment is typically recommended.

#4 Seek Out A Solid ICO Investment

ico-to-invest-in-crypto-cryptocurrency-investment

Start by visiting your favorite Reddit threads, cryptocurrency forums, or Facebook groups and see what ICOs are buzzing around the crypto sphere.  Accumulate a list of ones you find interesting or have been mentioned several times on multiple venues. This is where you will accumulate your ICO list to further investigate.

Type each one of your ICO’s into Google and CoinMarketCap in order to uncover company information like development teams, whitepapers, twitter announcements, and other various chatter on the internet regarding your potential investment.

Next, take notes on the information you uncovered during your research and rate each ICO from 1 to 10 regarding how comfortable you feel with investing in each. Remember, investing in an ICO is risky business. You can lower that risk substantially by doing your due diligence and proper research.

Check out ICO Marks for the latest ratings on live and upcoming ICO’s.

#5 Look Over Freelance Crypto Jobs

If your crypto investments just aren’t paying the bills and the thought of looking at charts and doing technical analysis makes your head spin, perhaps you need to look at another route.

Getting paid to do freelance work in cryptocurrency may be right up your alley. 

There seems to be an increasing amount of jobs where employers are looking to pay their employees in cryptocurrency. Take advantage of these employers as you can most likely get 10-30% more profit out of the same job you would get paid for with standard fiat currency. 

Check out our list of cryptocurrency job sites below…

Ethlance – one of the more popular cryptocurrency freelance sites. They pay in ether and have 0% service fees.

Coinlancer – a blockchain based freelancing peer-to-peer decentralized job market platform.

XBTFreelancer – employers pay for freelancers in Bitcoin. They tout low service fees.

CryptoGrind – much like standard freelance site, CryptoGrind offers a “Bitcoin escrow” to ensure that employees receive payment for services provided.

Jobs4Bitcoin – a Reddit job board with employers looking to hire all facets of cryptocurrency freelancers and various blockchain job positions.

Go Outside, Exercise, Live Your Life. The Crypto Market Will Always Be There When You Get Back

I didn’t add this to my “Top 5” list as this won’t proactively create income for you in a bear market however it will prevent you from losing more money than you should.

One of the biggest mistakes people make, on a daily basis, is not stepping away from their computer or smartphone. In this constantly demanding digital era we live in, the obsessive barrage of technology can literally drive you mad. This slow and repetitive process can disrupt the logical mechanism of your brain, which will inherently screw up your trades. That’s why it’s very important to make sure you unplug from these devices from time to time.

Just taking an hour to exercise, walk in the park, or enjoy your favorite recreational activity can be enough to reset your mind to a state of balance. We tend to spend so much time in front of our computer screens that tunnel vision starts to set in. When this happens, we make more mistakes than we should. Realizing, not doing anything can make you money by inherently not allowing yourself to make foolish mistakes, therefore losing the capital you worked so hard to make.

Always maintain a good balance of work, rest, exercise, and play. Wake up every day with a clear goal in mind while maintaining balance in your life. Realize this balance is imperative to obtaining the results you want. With this knowledge; you can survive anything… even the most bearish of markets.

If you found this guide interesting, please leave a comment below. I’d love to know what what my audience does during these bearish markets.

Reversal patterns are the closest thing you get to a crystal ball when it comes to predicting trend reversals within the volatile world of crypto trading. Once you start timing these patterns consistently, you’ll gain an uncanny advantage over your trades.  A well timed trade off a reversal pattern can make the difference between making 5% on a trade or 50%.

It doesn’t matter if you’re trading Bitcoin, various altcoins, or any other asset. Reversal patterns are an extremely important part of any traders skill set.

This guide will be covering 6 of the most widely used reversal chart patterns. Learn to recognize these bad boys for a well-placed trade that will leave you “head and shoulders” (pun intended) ahead of the pack.

Common Reversal Trade Patterns We’ll Be Discussing

  • Head and Shoulders
  • Inverse Head and Shoulders
  • Double Bottom
  • Double Top
  • Rounding Top
  • Rounding Bottom

Head and Shoulders Reversal Pattern

One of the more popular reversal chart patterns is the bearish formation known as head and shoulders. As you might’ve guessed, the pattern resembles a raised head with two matching shoulders on each side.

The bottom of the left shoulder should always be drawn across to the bottom of the right shoulder. The neckline serves as an area of support which the price will eventually drop below.

When the price drops below the neckline of the right shoulder, the pattern is considered complete. After completion of the pattern, price will most likely proceed lower off the right shoulder towards a bearish breakout.

Head and Shoulders Overview

Trend – Bearish

Signal confirmation – when the price drops below the neckline on the right shoulder.

Pattern target – tends to break out below the bottom of the right shoulder.

Percentage pattern hits target – 62%

head-and-shoulders-cryptcurrency-trading

Inverse Head and Shoulders Reversal Pattern

The inverse head and shoulders is a common bullish formation which, as you might’ve guessed by now, predicts the reversal of a downtrend. As the name implies, it resembles an upside down head and shoulders.

The top of the left shoulder should always be drawn across to the top of the right shoulder. The neckline serves as an area of support which the price will eventually rally above.

Once the price drops above the neckline of the right shoulder, the pattern is considered complete. After completion of the pattern, price will most likely proceed below (moving upward) the right shoulder towards a bullish breakout.

Inverse Head and Shoulder Overview

Trend – Bullish

Signal confirmation – when the price drops above the neckline on the right shoulder.

Pattern target – tends to break out below the bottom of the right shoulder (moving upward).

Percentage pattern hits target – 75%

inverse-head-and-shoulders-crypto-trading

Double Bottom Reversal Pattern

The double bottom is a bullish formation that is frequently found at the end of a bear market. It predicts the reversal of a current downtrend and commonly resembles the “W” shape. The shape is formed by two consecutive dips that have roughly around the same lows that are separated by a peak.

The patterns neckline, which is drawn above the middle peak, acts as an area of resistance which must be broken through. The reversal pattern is complete once the price rises above this neckline, indicating a bullish rally.

Double Bottom Overview

Trend – Bullish

Signal confirmation – when the price rallies above the peak between the two dips.

Pattern target – tends to break out above the peak towards bullish rally.

Percentage pattern hits target – 65%

Double Top  Reversal Pattern

The double top is a bearish formation that is frequently found at the end of a bullish market. It predicts the reversal of a current uptrend and commonly resembles the “M” shape. The shape is formed by two consecutive peaks that have roughly around the same highs which are separated by a dip.

The patterns neckline, which is drawn below the middle dip, acts as an area of resistance which must be broken through. The reversal pattern is complete once the price falls below this neckline, indicating a bearish trend.

Double Top Overview

Trend – Bearish

Signal confirmation – when the price dips below the valley between the two peaks.

Pattern target – tends to break out below the bottom of the right peak to breakout towards a bearish movement.

Percentage pattern hits target – 74%

double-top-trading-cryptocurrency

Rounding Top Reversal Pattern

This bearish reversal pattern predicts the reversal of an uptrend and is sometimes referred to as an Inverse Saucer. This pattern is more easily found under the long term reversal patterns which typically last weeks or even months.

Rounding Top Overview

Trend – Bearish

Signal confirmation – price exceeds below the right bottom of the saucer.

Percentage pattern hits target – 27%

Rounding Bottom Reversal Pattern

This bullish reversal pattern predicts the reversal of a downtrend and is sometimes referred to as a Saucer Bottom. It’s also easily identified by its “U” shape. This pattern is typically found under the long term reversal patterns which last weeks or even months.

Rounding Bottom Overview

Trend – Bullish

Signal confirmation – price exceeds above the right top of the saucer.

Percentage pattern hits target – 60%

Practice Almost Makes Perfect

These reversal chart patterns are not too hard to recognize once you actually remember to look for them. Look over a few of your favorite cryptocurrencies here, and see if you can spot a few reversal patterns I’ve mentioned here within this guide.

These powerful cues will help you forecast dramatic shifts within the supply and demand of any cryptocurrency. Reversal patterns are a very important tool to add to your cryptocurrency trading skillset, so learn them, love them, and use them.

Happy trading!

 

No matter what anyone’s ever told you, producing a steady income trading takes time, experience, dedication, and a lot of emotional grit. However unlike traditional markets, you can make money much faster trading cryptocurrency (and lose it just as fast) due to the markets volatile nature and low barrier of entry.

There are two vital aspects to become a successful crypto trader. Obtaining a solid understanding of technical analysis and managing your own emotions. I would go so far to say that the emotional aspect of trading is a bit more difficult, however we’ll dive more into that aspect of trading in another guide.

Let’s talk technical analysis and some of the most basic crypto trading indicators you’ll need to learn, in order to get a grasp on what you’re doing.

What is Technical Analysis?

Technical analysis (AKA – TA) is a representation of price and trading volume over time, using an easy to read graphic representation of candlesticks. These candlesticks form patterns over time which traders commonly referred to as chart patterns. These patterns represent mass psychology over a group of traders during a set period of time.

The only other option you have to make sense of all these varying numbers would be for you to calculate volume and price on a linear scale over time. Take that number and multiply it by pie over distance. Easy right?

For the 99% of us that aren’t math geniuses, charts and technical patterns are what we have to revert to in order to make sense of it all. Without it, our brain would clench up faster than doing multiple trigonometry problems on 8 cans of red bull.

Ok, you get the point, moving on….

 

There are two types of research methods that you want to be familiar with before attempting to make any trade; technical and fundamental analysis.

Fundamental analysis is focused on aspects of of a cryptocurrency like the development team, utility of the coin, white paper current investors, etc . The latest news, and rumors surrounding your potential coin can also be factored into fundamental analysis. All these play a major part on the value of any cryptocurrency.

PRO TIP:  You can learn more about the fundamentals of trading here. 
Check out our live chart, and click on any coin you’re currently interested in.

You’ll find our live charts page to be an all-in-one resource to for all your fundamental analysis needs. We cover cryptocurrency whitepapers, official crypto websites, social media accounts, blockchain info, and more. We everything you need to know, in order to make a well informed buying decision.

Before we go covering the details of technical analysis, remember that price movements on a given chart are rarely ever random. They often follow a trend, both long or short term, depending on the timeframe you are looking at.

technical analysis trends crypto

The term trends, within the trading community, are not some new pair of $100 stone washed Justin Bieber jeans you decided to purchase because your girlfriend thought they were cute. These trends refer to the mass psychology of a group, in order to obtain increased price movement, through the analysis momentum in a particular direction.

The “group of people” (or herd) were analyzing, always follow certain patterns and react to certain price levels. These can be predictable to those who know what to look for. This…my friend, is what technical analysis is all about.

In order to be a one of the great crypto traders of our time, you’re going to need to recognize certain trends as well as chart and candlestick patterns. Also worth noting, trading indicators (RSI, MACD, Stochastics) are a great way to verify your TA strategies.

For more on commonly used crypto indicators, click here. For more on fundamental candlestick patterns, click here.

Got it? Good! Let’s move onto….

Support and Resistance Levels (Base and Ceiling)

One of the more simple indicators to identify in your early stages of your trading career are support and resistance lines. Trading patterns are always made up of of these two fundamental levels.

Support is when you have more than two candlesticks that touch a particular price level towards the bottom of a trend. These tend to touch and bounce off support, thus moving up towards the top of the price level. These are known as resistance levels. A single bounce off support and resistance is known as a cycle.  The more candlesticks that touch your support and resistance, the stronger they are. Let’s take a look at a strong support and resistance.

strong-support-lines-trading-technical-analysis

strong-resistance-lines-trading-technical-analysis

As stated above, you need at least 2 touches of a candlestick, within a cycle, in order to claim any sort of support or resistance. I typically look for at least 3, in order to be more confident about a certain level.

Ok, now that we’ve covered support and resistance levels let’s move onto trend lines.

Trend Lines – Riding Along the Highs and Lows of Trading

The only major difference between support and resistance lines are the fact that trend lines tend to be drawn in a diagonal direction. Support and resistance are drawn with straight horizontal lines.

When it comes to trading, a picture is definitely worth 1000 words. In order to better conceptualize trend lines, let’s have a closer look at both rising and falling trends.

up trend line down trend trading technical analysis

Much like the support and resistance lines, you want to make sure you have “at least” 2 or more touches off a candlestick in order to consider it a trend. The more the merrier.

Trend lines can also move sideways, which we typically label as a “consolidations”. You also have short, intermediate, and long term trend lines depending on the timeframe of the chart you’re looking at.

Time to step your game up a little and start getting acquainted with more technical aspects of trading like moving averages.

Moving Averages – What Are They and Why You Should Care?

Moving averages are generally used to simplify trend recognition. These moving averages are based on the average price of a coin over a designated period of time.

You can calculate moving averages to show the average of any group of candles, but most traders calculate these averages over a period of 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 timeframes (minutes, hours, days). The one I personally use the most is the 50 Day Simple Moving Average (SMA).

There are also two types of moving averages you can use, exponential or simple moving averages, depending on how broad or narrow you want your insight to be. I recommend using both. Let me explain…

There are certain strategies for each, however to be more specific, exponential moving averages give higher weighting values to recent prices, whereas simple moving averages assign equal weighting to all values.

To put it in layman’s terms, SMA will give you a broader overview of where a trend is at and EMA is best used to make quick judgment calls on more recent price action and trend reversals.

I like to use a 50 day moving average on all my charts. These allow me to quickly tell whether a trend is currently in a bear or bull market within the timeframe I am viewing.

Anything below the 50 day moving average tells me that the trend is currently in a short or long term bear market. If the candlesticks are above the 50 day moving average, you’re in a bear market trend.  Knowing which trend you’re in (both long and short term) will allow you to better formulate a strategy moving forward.

bullish and bearish area 50 day moving average technical analysis

The Simple EMA Strategy

Exponential moving averages (EMA) will help you decide if a trend is about to reverse within a short term timeframe. Many traders use different EMAs, however the one that I found to be the most useful are the 13 and 34 day moving averages.

Here is the basic strategy behind EMA …

  1. Set one EMA to 13 and choose a color (red for this example)
  2. Set another EMA to 34 and choose a color (blue for this example)
  3. When the 13 EMA crosses above the 34 EMA (red over blue) you should look into buying at that cross, as the trend is entering a bullish state (moving up).
  4. When the 34 EMA crosses above the 13 EMA (blue above red) you should be selling as the trend is entering a bearish state (moving down).

exponential moving averages of 13 and 34 technical analysis trading

As you can see, as soon as any of the lines cross, a substantial shift within the trend can be seen. This combined with a few other indicators to help substantiate your trading strategy, will help you form a profit maximizing trade.

Next, let’s talk about a very important indicator that all traders use… volume.

Trading Volume – The Tasty Filling Between 2 Price Levels

Trading volume plays a crucial role in identifying whether a trend is weak or strong. Strong trends with high trading volume will always be accompanied by long candlesticks. The same goes for weak trends. These will be accompanied by short candlesticks.

Let’s break this down and structure it appropriately…

– If you have several long candlesticks along the volume indicator, this indicates a strong trend. If most of these are green, that would indicate a strong bullish trend. The opposite goes for red candlesticks indicating a strong bearish trend.

volume-indicator-trading-technical-analysis

Pretty simple right? Exactly! This ain’t brain surgery folks. Volume indicators are really simple to understand.

Technical & Fundamental Analysis Unite
Two Eternal Research Strategies

 

Don’t be lured into the always present debate between fundamental and technical analysis. Many novice traders tend to choose sides between these two research powerhouses. They believe one is ultimately better than the other.

This couldn’t be any further from the truth. You should be asking yourself….why choose one method over the other, when you can choose both right?

Using technical analysis (TA) as well as fundamental analysis (fundamentals) will equip you with the prophetic knowledge you need to culminate a precise trading strategy that you can actually feel good about.

Technical analysis will give you a practical way to measure past price movements and their corresponding trading volume. This is vital knowledge you’ll need when considering a trade.

Fundamental Analysis will empower you with significant insight regarding the current cryptocurrency conditions. Everything from current news, rumors, and future developments will play a crucial role in your decision when using fundamental analysis.

Combine these two powerful research techniques into one highly effective trading strategy.

Utilize fundamental analysis to dictate which coin is worth investing in, while tightening up your strategy when you’re ready to trade, by finding a good entry point with technical analysis.

Start Off Trading On the Right Foot

technical-analysis-trading-chart-cryptoIn order to get started, we’re obviously going to need to get familiar with a trading chart to plot out some beautiful technical analysis strategies right? You can start by utilizing our free chart here, however there will come a time when you need more than what this free solution has to offer (like alerts, more indicators, etc).

This is why I highly recommend TradingView for all your trading and chart plotting needs. TradingView offers a lot more than just charts. They include a massive selection of experienced traders you can follow and learn from. Take a look over expert trade setups  on a number of coins and learn from real life application. 

It is the quintessential social media platform for all traders, both novice and experts alike. They also have a very comprehensive traders reference guide that you can study if you ever want to expand your knowledge on the field. Reading up on trading ideas about various indicators, chart patterns, candlestick patterns, and then viewing them on live trades really helps.

I highly recommend starting with the Pro plan to start. If you need more indicators and alerts on down the line, go for the Pro+. 

Let’s wrap this up…

This guide has presented you with the basic concepts behind technical analysis. I highly recommend you practice using the indicators and patterns I covered above. Once you’ve got a good handle on them, move on to more advanced charting patterns.  I’ll go over these within another guide.

Now get out there and start charting!

Go on….you can do it! Don’t just let your dreams be dreams! 

 

Have you ever caught yourself scratching your head over not understanding what the hell other crypto nerds are talking about while scrolling through Reddit, cryptocurrency related forums, or slack groups?

Well those days are over my friend! Today we start a whole new chapter in your life. I’m here to  alleviate that eternal thirst for crypto knowledge! Excited? I know you are…

Print or bookmark this unofficial cryptocurrency lingo cheat sheet so that you no longer have to be left out in the dark.


Altcoin
– any cryptocurrency that isn’t bitcoin. Yes, I do mean ANY!

Arbitrage – taking advantage of the different cryptocurrency prices, of the same coin, from one exchange to the other.

ASIC – stands for Application Specific Integrated Circuit. Specialized silicon chips which process SHA-256 algorithms in order to mind cryptocurrency and validate transactions.

ASIC Miners – the actual hardware which is used to house the ASIC silicon chip which is inherently connected to the Internet.

ATH – All Time High. When a cryptocurrency breaks its current record with regard to price.

Bagholder – someone holding onto an altcoin that has dropped in price, with the intent of holding onto it until it increases in price, to where they originally purchased at.

Bearish – an expectation of when the price is set to decrease.

Bullish – an expectation that price is going to increase.

Bitcoin – the mother of all cryptocurrency. The very first cryptocurrency that started it all.

Blockchain – blockchain’s are distributed online ledgers, that are secured by cryptography. Look at them like public databases that anyone can access and read, however the data can only be updated by the owners. Also note, the data is copied and resides across thousands of computers worldwide. For a more in depth explanation, check out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain

Exchange (trading) – websites where you can buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrency. Some of the more popular and established trading exchanges in the US are Coinbase, Binance, Bittrex, and Poloniex.

Fiat – currency issued by the government, like the US dollar.

Flippening – an event where a cryptocurrency (altcoin) surpasses bitcoin in market capitalization (yet to happen at time of writing). It has been stated on numerous occasions that at the rim may be the currency to cause this event.

FOMO – Fear of missing out. This is yet another term for greed, where you have the overwhelming emotional need to purchase a cryptocurrency when the price starts for has been skyrocketing.

Forging –the process in proof of stake blockchains where there is no block reward for crypto miners. Forgers however are able to keep transaction fees instead, as a reward.

Fork – this is where blockchain splits into another separate chain (AKA – splitting into 2 separate cryptocurrencies). These typically happen when new rules or updates to the blockchain’s code are built. More details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain#Hard_forks

FUD – Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. Another negative based emotion spread intentionally by the media or a group of people within the crypto sphere that are typically looking to cause a price to drop, in hopes that they can purchase the cryptocurrency at a discount.

FUDster – anyone who is intentionally spreading FUD.

Genesis Block – the first block to be mined in a blockchain.

Going Long – a margin trade where you profit from the price increase

Going Short – a margin trade where you profit from the price decrease

Halving –rate at which the block reward creates a new Bitcoin.

Hard Fork – new blockchain software that is non-backwards compatible. This causes a cryptocurrency to split into 2 separate currencies.

HODL – slang for “hold your coins”. This was an un-intentional misspelling of the word “hold” which was used among the cryptocurrency community when encouraging traders to resist the urge to sell their holdings when market fluctuations were bearish.

ICO – stands for Initial Coin Offering. This is basically crowd funding for the crypto world. These startups issue their own proprietary token in exchange for your fiat investment. You’re hoping that the exchange will result in the tokens (altcoin) gaining value once the ICO has been released

Lightening Network – is a payment protocol which is operational on top of the blockchain which is capable of millions to billions of transactions per second across the entire network. Has been touted as one of the most potent solutions to the cryptocurrency scaling issue.

Ok…take a quick coffee break…

Limit Order (buy or sell) – these types of orders can be thought of as “for sale signs”. You request a specific buy or sell price to be met so that the exchange buys or sells the cryptocurrency at your requested price. The only issue with these types of orders are that the buy or sell price may never be met, thus leaving you with an unfilled order.

 

Market Orders (buy or sell) – this is the exact price that the current cryptocurrency is at right now. When you place a market buy or sell order, you’re getting that order filled immediately since you’re currently purchasing the currency at retail value.

Market Cap – the total value held within a cryptocurrency. This is calculated by multiplying the total supply of the currency by the current price. Coinmarketcap is where most crypto junkies check on the latest market caps.

Mining – the process of where a computer is trying to solve the next block in a blockchain via cryptography. This process requires an immense amount of computer processing power, but is rewarded with ether (other cryptocurrency).

Mining rig – a computer specifically designed to process blockchain’s (like BTC, ETH, NEO, OMG, etc). It often consists of multiple high-end graphic processors(GPU) in order to maximize its processing power.

Moon – optimistic term used when cryptocurrency is or about to increase in both price and volume. Used often within cryptocurrency communities.

Node – a single computer that possesses a copy of the blockchain and is working to maintain it.

OCD – Obsessive Cryptocurrency Disorder. For those who can’t stop monitoring their cryptocurrency daily.

Paper wallet – cryptocurrency wallet public and private keys held on a piece of paper. I recommend storing these in an extremely safe place.

POW – proof of work. The current algorithm utilized by cryptocurrency.

Private key – a private number that allows you to open your cryptocurrency wallet. Without this key, you’re screwed, so keep it in a safe place.

Proof of work – a requirement defined by an expensive computer calculation called mining. It is very easy for others to verify however is  very difficult and time-consuming to produce.

Proof of stake – the creator of a new block within a blockchain, which is determined on his/her wealth (how many coins they hold) and also defined as a stake.

Public key – typically referred to as a Bitcoin or crypto address, this is a string of numbers and letters that you need in order to send or receive cryptocurrency from an exchange or wallet.

Pump and Dump – this is typically when an altcoin gets a ton of attention leading to a very quick price increase, then followed by a massive crash. These can be both coordinated and uncoordinated. Beware of pump and dump groups.

ROI – Return on investment. How much money you have made compared to your initial investment (net profit). Example: an ROI of 100% means that you just doubled your money.

Satoshi Nakamoto – the anonymous creator of Bitcoin.

Sell Wall/Buy Wall – when looking at an exchanges order book, and then “depth chart” tab, you’ll find a graphical representation of what current buy and sell orders are.

Walls are graphical representations of a very large order that is waiting to be filled. Here is an image of a “depth chart”.  Notice the “walls” where large orders are waiting to be filled.

Sharding – a solution for scaling blockchains. Every node within a blockchain utilizes a complete copy of the blockchain. Sharding allows nodes to include partial copies of the entire blockchain in order to effectively increase the overall network performance and speed.

Shilling (AKA – pumping) – someone purposely and overtly advertising a cryptocurrency coin for their own personal gain because they have currently invested in it.

Silk Road – the first modern day, underground marketplace where goods such as firearms, drugs, and other illegal items were bought and sold. It was later shut down by the FBI who auctioned off the confiscated Bitcoins.

Smart contracts – applications that run without any sort of external influence.

Soft fork – you cryptocurrency that is backwards compatible so that the currency doesn’t split (the splits are often known as a hard fork).

Software wallet – storage of cryptocurrency that exists as software files on your computer software wallets can be attained free from a variety of different sources. MyEtherWallet and Exodus are among a few of the popular choices.

Stable coin – any low volatility cryptocurrency (stable), which is typically good to be traded against a cryptocurrency pair (Crypto pairs – BTC/NEO, ETH/NEO, USDT/NEO) one of the most stable coins to trade against, at this time, is tether (USDT).

TAtechnical analysis or trend analysis. The process of examining trading charts in order to predict which way the market or particular cryptocurrency will move next. Check out our free trading charts here.

Tokens – a type of currency, built upon the ethereum network, that have raised money issuing their own inclusive currency (tokens). These are essentially what an altcoin is called when it’s in its ICO stage (startup stage), before released to the general public and traded on popular exchanges.

Vitalik Buterin – creator of Ethereum.

You’re done. Congratulations!

Now get out there and showcase your new vocabulary to all your friends. You can finally show em how much of a crypto nerd you are now. ?

 

There are a lot of theoretical trading strategies out there from novice traders (watch out who you follow on YouTube). There are also just as many experienced traders who really know what they’re doing and share a wealth of  helpful trading strategies with the general public.

Coming from a trading background in forex, I will preface this guide by stating that a majority of it is based on fundamental technical analysis, excellent money management skills, and most importantly…..experience! 

How well you train your mind to deal with certain aspects of trading will be just as important as the strategies you implement below. 

For starters, I want to go over some of my own personal and time-tested cryptocurrency trading strategies. These are just some of the techniques I  found, through my own trial and error,  helped me generate steady profits, day trading the volatile cryptocurrency market.

What Exactly is Day Trading?

The entire goal of day trading is to produce quick and steady profits over the course of a few hours (or day if you’re swing trading)? Day trading can be a quick way to make money if you know what you’re doing. It can also be equally as quick losing it, if you don’t know what you’re doing.

The term day trading was derived from traditional stocks where quick”in and out” hourly trading during the day was always present. The market opens at 9:30 a.m. EST and ends at 4 p.m. EST. On the other hand, cryptocurrency exchanges never close, so trades can resume 24/7.  Due to this fact, cryptocurrency trading can be very lucrative no matter what your particular schedule is.

Now remember, if you decide to enter the day trading arena, you can’t exactly hold a coin over the long term. Any trade over a 24 hour period of time would be considered swing trading. We’ll cover that in another guide. For now, let’s go over some of the day trading strategies that have helped bring in steady profits….day in and day out.

(SIPAS) Steady Incremental Profit Accumulation Strategy

day trading cryptocurrency for steady profitWhen first embarking on your day trading journey, it’s best to eliminate any sort of wild swings or fluctuations within the marketplace. This is why I highly recommend you start out trading USDT to bitcoin or other altcoin pairs so that you’re not dealing with fluctuations on both sides of a currency when trading pairs. USDT is a stable baseline commodity that will not fluctuate while you’re trading against an altcoin.

Assuming the cryptocurrency exchange you’re using has USDT (all the major exchanges do), your goal for the day should be to produce 1% to 2% from several different altcoins, which show a history of stability over the last 2-3 days, in order to produce a minimum of 7-12% profit within a 12 hour period of time. This comes out to well over 50% profit, over the course of a week.

Alternatively, if you can only find one altcoin that has been consolidating over the last 2-3 days, then go with that. What we’re trying to avoid are massive fluctuations in price. Utilizing this simple yet effective strategy can double the profit of your initial investment in just under two weeks.

I recommend this to novice traders because it’s safest trading strategy you can implement from day 1. A profit of 1-2% per chart is much more easy to obtain than say, 5-15% on a more volatile coin. Trading these massive swings in price can work, but for beginners, I recommend you walk before you run.

If you’d like to aim for a higher percentage of profit, that’s not a problem either, but realize you should be ready to face any consequences that result from being a bit too greedy. Remember, greed is what inevitably drains your profits, not the lack of knowledge on chart or candlestick patterns. Generally speaking, if you stick to around 1-2% increments, you’ll avoid any significant losses that may occur from your natural instincts of wanting more.

The Fundamentals of Day Trading Crypto

  • Always make sure to define a goal before entering a trade. Your main objective is to get in and out of the trade as quickly as possible. Greed is a human flaw that can have you suffering heavy losses within minutes as the cryptocurrency market incurs many heavy swings.
  • Never buy a coin based on FOMO (fear of missing out). You made a good trade, but the moment you sold, the coin rallies again for a much more sizable profit. Before you enter the market again, remember that succumbing to FOMO is one of the fastest ways to lose money. Just don’t do it.

    Never buy a coin under pressure, as long as there is profit to take. Remember, if you’re walking away with profit, your winning. Don’t look back. Fight the urge to speculate on the “what ifs”. Just know, you’ll rarely buy in at the bottom and sell at the peak of each swing.

  • Be careful with exchange fees. Multiple trades accumulate large fees, so place 1 buy order and a 1 sell order if possible to minimize fees. If you post a buy or sell order and somebody accepts that price, the deal is made. You pay a fee for the trade to happen. In this situation you are the “maker” because you set the price.

    If you accept somebody else’s price (that is already listed in the order books) then you’ll end up paying a higher fee on some exchanges. In this situation you are the “taker”. It’s always advisable to be a maker and not a taker on the exchanges that charge different fees for each. Make sure to check “the structures” pertaining to the exchange you’re trading.

    For example; Bittrex charges the same fee regardless if you’re a maker or taker. HitBTC charges a 0.10% fee for takers and no fee for makers.

  • Consider using a trading bot. This tip is for the risk takers that want to work smarter not harder. You don’t necessarily want to stare at charts all day do you? The trick behind using a bot is to not entirely leave it to trade for you on “complete autopilot”. It does require some supervision.A trading bot’s job is to to buy and sell cryptocurrency as you see fit, under the current trading situation. This as opposed to trading on every overbought/oversold RSI signal. Believe me when I tell you, this is a quick way of losing your cryptocurrency.  

    trading bot cryptocurrency day trading investing

    You want to set the trading bot to buy and sell your chosen coin at 1-2% intervals, according to the strategy I outlined for you above. Make sure the coin you’re trading is stable over a 24 hour timeframe (longer if possible)

    From that point, you want to assign the trading bot to do the heavy lifting of buying and selling between the 1-2% intervals as opposed to you manually doing it within the exchange. 

    Alternatively, you can work this strategy on an overall bullish trend (look at daily chart), but make sure you set a stop loss on these trades.

You can tweak the trading bot, as per your preference, through following indicators like Stochastics or RSI on the 5- 30 minute timeframe. I’ll most likely write another article (or video) in the future with regard to bot trading. For now, use the strategy above to steady profits.

PRO TIP: Make sure to sign up for our notifications (bottom right corner bell icon) or sign up for our newsletter located on the right sidebar for all our future guides and step-by-step walk-throughs.
  • Buy the breakout of a resistance. A common strategy is to monitor a strong resistance and purchase the breakout. Resistance is a level at which the price of a coin cannot break past without it dropping back down to a lower level called support. Once a breatkout occurs, you should consider buying upon close of the candlestick or bounce off resistance (which is now your new support).

    It’s smart to set trading alerts in order to be notified of these breakouts. We offer a free trading notification service here. I highly recommend you take advantage of this service or others like it, when utilizing this strategy.

    Buy-the-breakout-of-a-resistance-line-trading

  • Use limit orders and stop losses. Make sure you create a stop loss order after your initial buy in on any trade. This is the price you set to exit the trade if your coin drops below a certain point. If the price does in fact fall lower than your stop loss, the exchange automatically sells at your set price, to minimize your loss.

    On the other side of the spectrum, set a sell limit order to cash out of a  trade when the coin reaches your goal (1-2%). Setting both a limit order and stop loss will allow you to step away from the trade without watching the chart like a hungry vulture. It’ll also eliminate any emotional attachment from your end, thus creating mistakes out of bad habits.

    These are just a few fundamental day trading strategies you can use in order to create a stable income for yourself day trading without putting too much risk on your shoulders. If you follow these strategies and don’t stray too far away from the fundamentals, you’ll most likely enjoy many days of rewarding success.

  •  

Good luck and happy trading!

 

Since the dawn of cryptocurrency, we’ve seen a major increase in its value. The value and utility over paper currency is much better suited for our way of life in this new digital era. It’s possible that it may one day take over the future of currency; however that’s a bit over speculative for now.  With so many benefits to offer, many who never thought about trading in their life are now tempted with these digital nuggets of gold.

Even if the concept of cryptocurrency seems foreign, trading is fairly simple when you get a handle on it. However, in order for it to be useful, you need to understand fundamental concepts of the market.

Much like institutional stock trading, it’s important to understand signals at the beginning of your trading journey.  Understanding signals can be the difference between winning or losing your ass on a trade.  One of the most important “signals” ‘you can begin to study is the candlestick.

What Are Candlestick Patterns?

Candlestick patterns have been in use for decades and have become very popular in terms of plotting the price action of a security or stock. Typically, a candlestick chart has a series of bars, called candles, which have different colors and heights. The colors and sizes depend on the price action of the security being studied at that point in time. It usually contains both opening and closing prices.

The bars of the candle depends on the unit of time, be it a minute, day or even a week. This, however, does not affect the candle’s color. If a bar is visible, it means that the closing price is higher or lower than the opening price of the currency. These are generally referred to as the “body” of the candle.

A red candlestick is used when the opening price is higher than the closing price, thus showing a downward pull, whereas a green color is used to show that the price rose from the starting period to the end.

Even though the candlestick chart will allow a person determine what rate the cryptocurrency is headed towards, technical analysis is also needed so that a better decision on movement can be made.

Popular Candlestick Trading Patterns

Let’s take a look at a few popular candlestick patterns that can often be found on any particular chart. There are two categories of candlestick patterns: continuations and reversals. A continuation pattern can predict the extension of the price action currently prevailing, whereas reversal patterns predict the change in price direction.

Take a look over the following nine bullish candlestick patterns. Look out for these when focusing in on strong reversal signals.

Hammer

Being a bullish reversal pattern, the hammer can be seen as a signal that the currency has almost reached the bottom of a downtrend. This typically means that the bears have been exhausted.

hammer trading pattern cryptocurrency

Hanging Man

The hanging man is the exact opposite of the hammer. Here, the signal is showing the cryptocurrency is nearing the top of an uptrend. If you see a hanging man, when the price is going up, do not buy. The prices will most likely be dip soon so it’s best to take your profits now.

hammer-and-hanging-man-candlestick-patterns

Three Soldiers

Three “white” soldiers is a bullish candlestick pattern which predicts the reversal of a downtrend. As you can see from the image below, the pattern consists of three consecutive long body candlesticks. These candlesticks open within the previous candles body in close above the previous candles high.

3-white-soldiers-candlestick-pattern-cryptocurrency

Bullish Engulfing Pattern

The bullish engulfing pattern typically occurs when a large green a candlestick fully and goals the smaller red candlestick from the period before it. The opposite is true for the bearish engulfing pattern.

This pattern typically indicates a potential reversal of traders sentiment.

bullish bearish engulfing pattern candlestick

Morning Star

The evening star will typically indicate where an investor should look into exiting a trade. This candlestick pattern is based on three candlesticks. The first one is a long bearish candle. The second is a small bullish candle indicating indecision. The third is a large bullish candle substantiating the reversal.

morning star candlestick pattern cryptocurrency

Piercing Line

This pattern is formed with two consecutive candlesticks. The first candlestick is red in the second candlestick is green which indicates a potential reversal. Take note that the green candlestick must be more than halfway above the bottom of the first red candlestick.

piercing line candlestick pattern cryptocurrency

Shooting Star

Is a type of reversal pattern that indicates a falling price. It looks exactly the same as an Inverted Hammer (below) however found at the end of an uptrend. The candles made up of a small lower body with a long upper wick. The wick should be  two times the size of the lower body.

shooting star candlestick pattern cryptocurreny

Inverted Hammer

This is one bullish reversal pattern and indicates the support level. The signal shows that bulls are attempting to raise the prices upward, this is also why you will see long shadows (also referred to as wicks). They aren’t strong enough to push the prices up at the moment, however when you see this signal, you need to stop selling your currency because there is a very high chance of an upcoming rally.

invered-hammer-candlestick-pattern-cryptocurreny

Doji

When you see a doji, you need to be cautious since the pattern means that the market is not very sure about future movement and is waiting for an external sign. This typically means a reversal is impending. The signals are not as strong as can be seen from the signals discussed above. If you spot one, don’t attempt to buy or sell since the uneasy market can mean you might end up losing the trade.

doji-candlestick-pattern-cryptocurreny

Recommendations

It’s better to use a variety of technical analysis and candlestick patterns in order to determine a clear plan of attack for future movement. Both upward and downward movements are more prominent when evaluating them over a long period of time, depending on if your day or swing trading.

When evaluating candlestick patterns, try to wait until the next candlestick forms before analyzing the previous one. Some candlesticks patterns are based on speculation. Any recent news event can turn the whole pattern upside down. Try trading on days when there aren’t any profound news events. This will allow the candlestick patterns to be properly represented within the market and won’t change drastically.

I highly recommend checking out our charts here and practice predicting certain candlestick patterns as they form. While you’re at it, print this candlestick cheat sheet until you achieve a solid understanding on how to spot candlestick patterns. Regardless of how long you’ve been trading, the cheat sheet should always be readily available.

For more easy to follow trading guides, visit our crypto trading resource page.

Now get to work and start practicing your trades!

 

So you’ve been hearing a lot of hype about the highly profitable world of crypto margin trading.  You probably stumbled across this guide because you need some real insight into what you should expect. If you’re looking for an unbiased review and guide on how to get started, you’ve come to the right place.

What Is Margin Trading?

Margin trading allows users to trade with money they don’t inherently own by leveraging their position with borrowed money. Can 2-100X your initial deposit with this temporary loan. So for example, if we had an open position at 2X leverage with $50 of your own money, we would also trade with another $50 from a “lender” off the exchange, totaling $100.

Standard position trades are traded at a leverage of 1:1. With leverage trading you can double, triple, or even quadruple your leverage, thus exponentially increasing your profits (or losses).

PRO TIP:  limit your potential losses by implementing a stop loss with every margin trade. We cover more on the stop loss topic here.

Margin trading allows anyone to open a position with more money than they actually have. You can imagine, this can be a “double edged sword” depending on your trading experience and technical analysis skill set.

Let’s look at a real world example…

Say you opened a leverage position with $100 of your own money. If you 2X your leverage then you’ll receive another $100 from the exchange bringing you to a total of $200. If the cryptocurrency your trading drops by 50%, it’s now worth $100. You essentially just lost the exchanges borrowed money and have to pay them back with the $100 of real cryptocurrency you just deposited, plus interest.

You’re essentially doubling, tripling, etc. your profit or loss percentages. If the cryptocurrency goes down by 10%, you really just loss 20%, however if it goes up 20%, you just gained 40%. Either way you look at it, you’re risking more to make more, and at a much faster rate.

Margin trading allows you to make larger bids than you presumably would be able to afford, at the cost of extra fees and risk.

The Risk And Reward Of Margin Trading

risk-vs-reward-margin-trading-cryptocurrency

There is an additional cost to margin trading in the way of interest. Paying interest on the borrowed capital (it could be the exchange or other users) can differ from one exchange to the next. The maximum amount that you can lose is the amount that you originally invested into the position, so if your coin goes down by 50% and you’re at a leverage of 2X, then you just lost all your coins.

This is also referred to as liquidation value. This value, is what the exchange automatically closes your position at. It’s there to ensure that you don’t lose any of the lenders money (or the exchanges).

Again, in the example we used above, if you lost $100 of your $200 position, then your trade is essentially closed by the exchange because you just lost all of the lenders money. However, in reality your position would close at around the $90-$95 mark, as you have to pay fees on the borrowed money.

Short and Long Positions

Most people know what a long position. It’s a very simple concept to comprehend. You look for a place to “buy the dip” and if it goes up 10% on $100, you now have $110. Simple right?

A short position is a bit more difficult to understand, however just know that this is a trade where you expect the price to decrease. If you think that a particular cryptocurrency is about to drop you could open up a leveraged “short position” by telling the exchange to lend you additional currency so that you can buy it back later at a cheaper rate.

In other words, if you open up a 2X short position with $100, and it went down 50%, you would earn $100, thus coming out of the trade with $200. If the trade went up 50% then you would have lost $100 in the exchange which would automatically close out your position.

Quick Tips For Margin Trading

  1. Managing your risk – before margin trading make sure that you have established a clear set of rules as to which you are willing to abide by. This should work for both profit and loss scenarios. Write them down if you need to and post them on a sticky note as an added reminder. Always set a stop loss as well. Find out more about stop losses here.
  2. Get in and get out of a trade – Trading within cryptocurrency market is already considered extremely volatile, however margin trading doubles that risk. Only use margin trading for short-term trades (aka – scalping). In the long term the fees of holding a margin position can amount to a significant sum, so no hodling here.
    PRO TIP: there’s generally a set time limit on margin trades. If you can’t execute your trades within the time limit, the leverage portion of your trade will be settled once that time limit has expired, regardless if you’re ready for it or not.
  3. Look for extreme fluctuations (volatility) – look out for deep price fluctuations as they tend to bounce quickly. When price action dips, look for a turnaround point using candlestick patterns or significant chart patterns.  Time a leveraged buy according to your T.  Also make sure you have at least 3 indicators or chart patterns that back up your strategy. I won’t get into the details here, but you can check out our trading section for more.

What Exchanges Offer Margin Trading?

  1. Cex.io (users who click this link and sign up will receive a 10% discount on their fees for 6 months) This is a great place to get your feet wet with margin trading. Compared to other margin trading exchanges, it has a very intuitive interface, so it’s rather easy to use.

  2. Bitmex is for those who are more advanced traders (which you should be before even considering margin trading) and offers much higher leverage options like 100X. Bitmex has a great reputation with many traders and is one of the leading margin trade exchanges within the crypto sphere.

  3. Bitfinex has the largest trading volume of bitcoin within the . US. The market offers margin trading at a leverage of the 3.3X. The user interface is very simple to understand for novice traders. This is also a very popular margin trading platform you’ll hear most traders speak about.

  4. Kraken – is a US-based cryptocurrency exchange operating out of Canada. They offer a full 28 day margin trading term and allow you to leverage up to 5X.

  5. Poloniex is the largest and one of the oldest margin trading exchanges. You can leverage trade up to 11 altcoins at a time. Leverage trading however is only available at 2.5X. There are also relatively high interest fees from lenders when playing short positions.

Should You Margin Trade?

I strongly suggest you stay away from margin trading unless you have a lot of experience trading and a  fundamental understanding of technical analysis. Trading is stressful enough without having to worry about borrowing someone elses money This will only magnify your stress if you don’t know what you’re doing.

You can easily wipe out your entire trading capital with margin trading, if a coin suffers from a dramatic dip. If you’re simply trading a long position (with your own money), you can always recoup those costs in time by holding onto the coin (aka holding bags) in order to recover your funds.

However if you’re a “logical” risk taker with lots of trading experience and have always wanted to give margin trading a chance…..then go for it. Make sure to read over all the margin trading ratios and calls within documentation of any given exchange that you’ll be trading on before taking that dive.

For the latest “easy to follow” crypto trading guides, visit the trading guide section here.

Detailed Video Guide to Margin Trading

 

With so many cryptocurrency altcoins being touted as the next hottest investment since Apple stocks, Bitcoin definitely gets a run for its money. There are currently more than 1,200 cryptocurrencies at the time of this release. The choices are overwhelming, which makes it that much harder to decipher which one is actually going to get you that lambo or not. 

Two of the most popular questions, on the internet, regarding cryptocurrency are “What is the best cryptocurrency to invest in” and “What are the best trading strategies to use once I invest?”

Fortunately, I’m going to go over 7 of the most effective cryptocurrency investment and trading strategies in order to quickly fatten up that crypto wallet  of yours. 

So let’s cut to the chase and get straight to it shall we?

Trading Strategies to That  Actually Work

Let’s talk about investing in ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings)….

ico-initial-coin-offerings-cryptocurrencyWhy is investing in an ICO a smart move? An ICO is at its beginning stages of life, and this means you’re getting in on the ground floor. What does this mean for you? You’re able to purchase a coin much cheaper than when it’s released to the general public and therefore the potential to generate a huge profit can be rather significant. We’re talking 300-2500% profitable. Do your research on any of the coins that interest you. Below are a few points to look for before you invest.

  1. First check out some of the newest upcoming ICOs here for a nice selection and review on each one.
  2. What is the utility behind the coin, does it have a large supply and demand?
  3. Who’s the team behind the project? Have they worked on other cryptocurrency coins? What is there entire project mission?
  4. Do you have a continually expanding community of optimistic members (check forums)?
  5. There should be legal framework between the developers and the contributors. The terms and conditions set forth for the ICO should be clear.
  6. ICO funds should be held in an escrow wallet. One of the private keys needs to be held by a neutral third party to ensure all distribution is fair.

You should plan on purchasing several different ICOs , so don’t go putting all your “eggs into one basket”. If you don’t see an initial spike on the coin, upon initial release, wait until you see at least a 50%-100% return before selling.

Accumulating at the Lowest Price

It’s a smart idea to stick with a coin and accumulate it during its lowest price as it drops in value. It’s a common practice for traders & investors to withdraw some if not all of their investment, which essentially drives the price down. 

If this is a project you believe in, stick with it and hodl. A smart tip is to buy a coin that has already hit its first dip, as this will sometimes drive the price down to even cheaper than its initial ICO price.

Common reasons for a dip, once the ICO hits an exchange, can usually be linked back to the presale investors, along with the initial team and developers, who typically receive the coins for free. Be aware and cautious of those coins that are overly dumped.

Taking Advantage of Breakouts

This strategy can provide limited downside if done correctly. It is used by investors who actively trade, and are getting in on the initial stages of a trend. 

You want to invest at a precise entry, where you can identify resistance or support areas that are about to break out in a new direction. The coin either breaks upwards past a resistance (ceiling) or it breaks downwards past a support (base).

trading-pattern-breakout-cryptocurrency

Your best bet is to look for a clear breakout above resistance, and then wait for the bounce off that resistance which would be your new support. As soon as the coin starts trading beyond that new support, volatility in the market tends to increase which means prices will generally follow through the breakout direction.

These types of breakouts are important because they set up a new starting point for future volatility, thus increasing price action substantially. Chart patterns like head and shoulder patterns, flags, and triangles are a few to research when it comes to the most expansive types of breakouts.

The “Dollar Cost Averaging” Strategy

Here’s a strategy that doesn’t take a lot of time or knowledge to participate in. Dollar cost averaging is when you purchase a fixed amount of cryptocurrency at certain intervals while the price action is either moving up or down. 

dollar-cost-averaging-cryptocurrency-trading

What’s happening here is, you’re averaging out all the purchases within those set intervals (usually months) which can be averaged out to one average price. This price typically ends up being a much higher or lower price point then if you were to purchase in one lump sum at a single interval in time.

So for example, you plan on investing $2000 in Bitcoin, however you don’t want to just throw out your entire wad in one sitting.  Instead, you’re going to spend $500 at the 1st of each month for the next 4 months. This would look a little something like this…

– Month 1 – the price of Bitcoin is 9k. You purchase $500 worth. 
– Month 2 – the price of Bitcoin is 7k. You purchase $500 worth. 
– Month 3 – the price of Bitcoin is 8.5k. You purchase $500 worth. 
– Month 4 – the price of Bitcoin is 10k. You purchase $500 worth. 

Your total spend is $2000 at the price action of $8,625

As you can see, you were able to purchase Bitcoin at a much lower price than what you would have purchased at if you purchased in one lump sum on the first month. 

Now, you “always” want to make sure you’re doing your due diligence, by checking charts for proper technical analysis, in order to ensure you have the best chance of averaging down on a coin that will rally back to previous resistance lines (peaks).

Check at least 3-6 months history to ensure the currency has previously recovered, on several different occasions. I highly recommend you do this with a cryptocurrency that has been established over a longer period of time (BTC, ETH, NEO, OMG, LTC to name a few).

What you DO NOT want to do is “catch a falling knife” by dollar cost averaging your way down on a coin that holds no history of ever recovering to previous highs. Please make note of this.

The Balanced Portfolio Strategy

If you need balance in your life this may be the strategy for you. A balanced portfolio strategy includes purchasing various crypto coins, for the same amount across the market. 

Say you invest in-

  1. Litecoin
  2. Bitcoin
  3. Monero

You have a budget of $900. You’d invest $300 into each coin distributing your investment evenly. This way you’re spreading the risk across the board.

This is a good way to test different coins, when you’re unsure of which ones will do well for you or not. You’ll quickly find out which coins have the best shot in succeeding. From there you may want to only invest in one or two coins that have given you the lion’s share of profit.

The only downside to this strategy is that, for example, one of the coins produces a 10% gain while the other two lose 5%, you would be stuck with no profit, however this is rarely the case. Of course this would work in reversethe opposite could happen as well, so again, you’re essentially spreading out your risk across several coins with this strategy.

Tip: Make sure each coin you invest in are utilize different utilities. For example: one privacy coin, one security coin, one equity coin, etc.

The Unbalanced Portfolio Strategy

unbalanced-crypto-coin-stack-strategyThis is simply designating a percentage of crypto for investment into each coin solely on how well you think it will perform. You’ll allocate the highest percentages to the ones you think will perform the best.

If Litecoin has proven itself to you as the most profitable, then that’s the coin you invest the most into.

For Example:
Litecoin – 60%
Dash – 15%
Ethereum – 15%
Ripple – 10%

Predetermined percentages are what you would go off of, for each subsequent buy.

This is best suited for those that have done extensive research into each coin. Percentages for each coin can be changed, but make sure you have an educated reason before doing so.

Main downside for this strategy is predicting percentages incorrectly and missing out on the best gains.

Investing Your Profit into Other Coins

investing-in-other-cryptocurrency-coins-bitcoin-litecoin-ethereumSo you’ve made some steady profit on the strategies covered above and have had success in building your wallet full of those nice, shiny cryptocurrency nuggets. Now is the time to pick up other potential coins that showcase huge potential.

You want to take half of the profit you have made on each coin, and start investing it into other coins with high profit margins. This will help leverage your investment in order to produce more gains on your return and create a well-diversified portfolio. Look for times when your profits go parabolic (spike in price). This typically means the price is unsustainable and would be a good time to cash out and reinvest into another cryptocurrency before the price drops.

Remember, when you’re first starting out, it’s a good idea not to invest in too many coins at one time. You want to be able to keep a steady hand on the pulse of your coins for the very best growth potential.

So Which Strategy Will You Use?

With all the strategies I covered above, choose one and stick to it. You can later try others later once you have a bit more experience under your belt. All your strategy to change and grow over time.

If you have any cryptocurrency investing questions, leave them in the comments below. I love to hear feedback from others. Thank you!

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