Forex Secrets – Support and Resistance Levels in Forex Market
Support and resistance are the known cornerstones in Forex technical, wherein:
1. a current Forex rate (CFR) is surrounded by levels of:
a). resistance being superior to CFR;
b). support being inferior to CFR.
2. a level breakthrough triggers a leap to a consecutive support/resistance;
3. a false breakthrough is responsible for a rate of backstroke (say, from resistance to support).
Thus, having data on resistance and support levels and being armed with R/S true/false criteria, a trader grows faultless-entry skilled to ensure smooth level-to-level trading.
To be found below is a graphic drawing of a flat followed by an R/S up/down breakthrough.
Chart 1. (For view picture see notes at end of the article)
In the actual sample GBPUSD trade dated January 31, 2006, the support breakthrough has triggered a bullish in-session trend.
Simple, isn’t it? Affirmative at a glance, but 95% of traders losing their forex deposits are calling for natural questions:
1. What’s the reason, the world traders are getting entangled in so a seemingly simple regularity?
2. What’s the way of correct detection of R/S levels for currencies to use to jet off from?
3. What attributes are inherent to true/false breach differentiation?
It is, thus, to be concluded that a trader will never achieve steady FX gains unless the answer is found to the above three simple questions.
CLASSICAL BOOKS ON RESISTANCE AND SUPPORT LEVELS
Forex scholars’ books, when analyzed, are giving grounds for why 95% of traders turn deposit-killers. The point is that under different technical scholars:
a). fairly different understanding is being attached to support and resistance;
b). no distinct criteria (except Demark’s technique) is in service to find support and resistance;
c). there is no clear-cut interfacing between R/S levels on different timeframes.
Below is a sort of understanding classification:
1. A. Elder. R/S are understood by SOME SCHOLARS to be horizontal lines drawn along price highs and low
support and resistance are horizontal (or almost horizontal) lines linking several minimums (maximums).
Chart 2. Support and resistance (For view picture see notes at end of article)
b). J. MURPHY also indicates that “points 2 and 4 represent uptrend support levels. The figure depicts uprising support and resistance under an uptrend with points 2 and 4 being support levels that use to be coincident with earlier lows. Points 1 and 3 indicate resistance levels, which use to be coincident with earlier highs” (see: “Technical analysis of the Futures Markets”
Fig. 3a and 3b. Uptrend and downtrend support-resistance levels (For view picture see notes at end of article)
2. SOME SCHOLARS believe support-resistance to be sloped lines drawn along price highs and lows (trend lines, actually) as below:
Fig. 4. Trend line-fashion support-resistance pattern (For view picture see notes at end of article)
a). T. DEMARK
Fig. 5. Bid pivot points (TD-points) building up a resistance level (For view picture see notes at end of article)
The TD-points are peculiar of price values being not exceeded within 2 adjacent days. The points are especially emphasized on the chart.
Note that the price movement above the TD line is mirrored by the same after the down break of this line.
Price projection Z is made by way of the following calculation:
– the difference is taken between Y being the maximum price above the TD-line and X being the special price immediately below the TD-line;
– the obtained value is subtracted from the A-B line breakthrough price.
b). L. BORCELINO is also a user of inclined lines as support/resistance (view:
Fig. 6. Quoting L. Borcelino: “As evident from these examples, trendlines, drawn across preceding highs and lows, constitute perspective support and resistance projection”. (For view picture see notes at end of article)
3. E. NAYMAN’S combined commitment to inclined and horizontal R/S levels (view: “Trader’s Minor EncyclopediaJ
“A resistance line connects market important maximums (highs, peaks)”, And further on: “R/S lines drawing should be preferably done through price concentration areas, rather than through highs/lows extremes” (???).
Per minimum price trend line (support):
Fig. 7 (For view picture see notes at end of article)
Example of E. Nayman using resistance/support levels at trade station:
Fig. 8 (For view picture see notes at end of article)
4. MOVING AVERAGES-based resistance/support levels.
a). E. NAYMAN: “Bollinger Bands are sort of peculiar support/resistance lines
Fig. 9 (For view picture see notes at end of article)
5. ROUND NUMBERS being support/resistance levels
a). E. LEFEVRE (view: “Memories of an Exchange Profiteer” underlined: “Rates, having, for the first time, traveled 100, 200 or 300 points, are almost sure to cover additional 30 to 50 pips”
b). D. SCHWAGER: “One is to be especially cautious about dollar holdups. With USD 781,25 best working on T-bonds and USD425 – on soybeans, the temptation is raising to find “optimum” holdup for each market. It is advantageous to establish a round number to comfortably use it in all of the markets.
CLASSIFICATION OF WEAK AND STRONG R/S LEVELS AS VIEWED BY FOREX SCHOLARS
J. MURPHY classifies support and resistance (view “Technical Analysis of Futures Markets”, New York Institute of Finance è Prentice Hall, 1986) proceeding from price in-domain residence period (1); a volume of trade (2) and price domain age (3).
1. The longer the price reciprocation period within a certain support/resistance area, the more critical the area. By way of an example, if a certain stagnation area observed a 3-week price up/down movement with a subsequent rally thereof, this support domain is more important than that having observed a 3-day price reciprocation.
2. Volume of trade is another means to evaluate the importance of support/resistance. If, say, a support formation did involve a huge volume of trade, it means a huge number of contracts passing from hands to hands, hence the support levels are ranking high and visa versa: the less the volume of trade, the lower ranking the support.
3. Still another support/resistance importance indicator is its age at the present moment. Since we are dealing with traders’ reaction to market moves and to positions they have entered or have failed to enter, it is fairly clear, that the younger the event and the reaction thereto, the more important the event.
Seven years later (in 1993), A. ELDER confirmed that 2 of 3 of J. Murphy’s postulates dated back to 1986. His classification of resistance/support levels is guided by:
– several test tangencies it sustained (the greater the number – the stronger the level). Within a fortnight an immediate support/resistance is formed; within 2 months the level grows accustomed to by traders, thus attaining medium power; within 2 years actually, a stereotype is built radiating strong support and resistance.
– price scatter dominates a support/resistance level (the wider the range thereof – the stronger the level). A wide-range turning-point price consolidation is similar to a high fence surrounding valuable property. A congestion zone equal to 1 % of the current price (4 points with S&P500 at 400 level) yields insignificant support/resistance, whereas a 3% area is responsible for medium levels with a 7% area possessing sufficient power to be a strong trend killer.
– The greater the volume of trade in a support/resistance area, the stronger the levels. Huge volume within a congestion zone is indicative of numerous emotional jobbers’ involvement. On the opposite, minor volumes point out traders’ indifference towards the level being intersected, hence being attributed to the level’s deteriorated health.
Weak support/resistance levels are capable of bringing a trend to a halt, while strong ones may appear as trend reverses. Traders buy support and sell resistance, thus turning their impact into a self-justifying projection.
SCHOLARS’ VIEW ON SUPPORT/RESISTANCE SEATING POINTS
1. T. DEMARK recommends:
– plotting resistance upon bid TD-points
– plotting support upon asking TD points.
2. D. SCHWAGER (view: “Technical Analysis. Complete Course”) insists on drawing resistance and support “in the vicinity” of prior lows and highs.
“Support and resistance are to be viewed as approximate areas rather, than exact levels. It is to be emphasized that any previous high is not at all a premonition of perspective prices dry up thereat or there under. Instead, it is indicative of a resistance to be expected near that level. By analogy, a previous low is not at all illustrative of further price declines halting thereat or there above. Instead, it is indicative of support to be projected close to that level.
Depicted below is a support zone governed by relative prior highs and lows concentration: gold, futures.
Fig. 10. (For view picture see notes at end of article)
Continued by D. Schwager: “Some technical analysts use to treat previous highs and lows as being endowed with, sort of, holy significance. A previous high, being 1078, is deemed by them a strong resistance. In case the market displays a spike higher, say, as far as 1085, they reason the resistance to have been breached. It’s not correct. Support and resistance are but to be looked upon as cloud-shaped areas rather than exact levels.”
3. J. MURPHY resorts to plotting support and resistance in a local peak-wise fashion (i.e. by local highs and lows): “A resistance level usually coincides with the previous peak level”.
Fig. 11. (For view picture see notes at end of article)
Fig. 12. (For view picture see notes at end of article)
4. A. ELDER: “Resistance and support are to be preferably plotted (see Fig. 13) through congestion zone margins (CZM) rather than through highs and lows. CZMs constitute traders’ mind-changing areas, whereas highs and lows are only reflective of panic among weakest jobbers”.
Fig.13. (For view picture see notes at end of article)
Continued by A. Elder: “Beware of support/resistance false breaching, indicated as “F” in the above figure. Breaches are followed by amateurs, with professionals being opposite travel jobbers. Now, pay some attention to the chart’s right corner, where prices have bumped into strong resistance. It’s high time to hunt for shorting with a stop-loss to be placed slightly above the resistance level”.
To be noted is a pronounced regularity, not referred to by A. Elder: the support/resistance levels drawn through previous local peaks are not extended by him after false breaching thereof.
4. D. SCHWAGER gives the following explanation when resorting to the projection of 2 (!) inclined support and resistance levels:
– “Standard lines are usually drawn through price extrema (highs, lows), attributable to traders’ emotions, therefore these points may not reflect the market’s real trend”.
– “An inner trendline is to be plotted closest to the bulk of relative lows and relative highs, ignoring extreme points”
D. Schwager himself is the recognizer of the subjective nature inner trendline method, but in so doing he jumps to a very important conclusion that ordinary trend lines are:
– similarly subjective (!);
– far less helpful (!), than inner trendlines.
“One of the inner trendlines’ shortcomings is their inevitably random nature, even greater than that possessed by ordinary trendlines, being restricted by extreme highs and lows, at least”.
“In practice, not infrequently, several options prove available as regards inner trend line plotting procedure (see Fig. 14). Nevertheless, my experience advises inner trend lines to be of greater avail than ordinary trend lines when spotting potential support/resistance areas”.
BRIEF CONCLUSIONS:
1. Each forex scholar offers his interpretation of support/resistance levels, meaning different entities thereby (inclined, horizontal, inclined-horizontal, MA-based, round numbers-based, etc.).
2. There exists no clear-cut technique to define points to plot support/resistance levels through (except Demark’s).
3. In real-time trading, that said, these levels discovery on Forex charts automatically entails different conclusions.
Fig. 14. (For view picture see notes at end of article)
TESTING AND PRACTICAL INCONSISTENCY OF CLASSICAL SUPPORT/RESISTANCE DETECTION METHODS
Jeffry Owen Katz and Donna L. McCormick has disclosed the results of their testing of the above scholars’ recommendation procedures in their “Encyclopedia of Trading Strategies”:
TEST PROCEDURE 2
A channel breakthrough-operated system. Closing prices are utilized only; next-day market price entry at session opening; commission and slippage are accounted for.
The above test has been performed exactly the way the previous one, but with no account for slippage (3 ticks) and commission (USD15 per dealing cycle). Although the model displayed perfect operation with no account for dealing expenditures, it has turned out a fiasco in practice.
Even the best-in-sample solution has proved loss-responsible only, and, as expected, the system’s beyond-sampling poor operation came into being.
Note: In compliance with E. Nayman’s theoretical outlook, a channel upward breach is alleged to be a STRONG (!!!) trading signal at an uptrend.
TEST PROCEDURE 6
It is a closing price breakthrough system with the next day per stop-order entry. The model longs via a stop-order at the point of breaching a resistance appointed by recent highs and shorts via a stop-order at the point of breaching a resistance appointed by recent lows.
As expected, the system exhibited much poorer operation with low profit and deteriorated statistics within sampling. The model proved killer to the per-deal average of USD798, with a profit rating being 37%.
TEST PROCEDURE 7
The procedure involved volatility punch with the next-day opening entry. The model longs upon next-day opening with the provision that today’s closing appears superior to the volatility upper edge. The model shorts in case of the price falls below the above edge.
The optimization period embraced 240 dealings only with 45% being profit-bringing.
TEST PROCEDURE 9
Involved is volatility punch triggering a per stop-order entry. The model affects a market stop-order entry immediately after passing a breach point.
The sampling period incorporated 1465 dealings, each being of a 6-day average duration. The system has ensured 40% profit with an average gain of USD 931 each. Under all parameter combinations, only longs were winning. Both shorts and longs proved to lose outside sampling limits. Only 29% were winning out of the total of 610 dealings.
BRIEF CONCLUSIONS:
Testing data, supplied by Jeffry Owen Katz and Donna L. McCormick, constitute convincing grounds that forex scholars’ trading systems involving support/resistance breakthrough (the way these are described by the scholar) are rather likely to result in loss than in profit. This is one of the reasons for 95% of traders to turn their forex deposits killers.
In as much as the support/resistance related theory is so mixed up and subjective, it is only to be guessed what sort of support/resistance reading matter may be offered by modern forex brokers’ websites.
Fig. 15 (For view picture see notes at end of article)
d). these recommendations’ aftermaths are apparent: the GBP has punched 1 point to 1,9001 and swiveled down to 1,8871; the EUR reached 1,2958 and reversed to 1,2853.
Brokers’ recommended support/resistance on the EUR/USD and GBPUSD as of June 12, 2006 morning:
– EUR/USD: support 1.2780, 1.2740, 1.2685/90 1.2600, resistance 1.2890, 1.2930/40, 1.3000.
– GBP/USD support 1.8740, 1.8670, 1.8560, resistance 1.8890, 1.8940, 1.9000
EUR/USD support 1.2820 Resistance 1.22940
GBP/USD support 1.8805 Resistance 1.8950
The June 12, 2006 information on technical levels of EUR/USD and GBP/USD is missing with the support/resistance levels themselves being quoted in an incidental unsystematic fashion.
EURUSD:
– support: 1.2840, 1.2800, 1.2770/50, 1.2720, 1.2670, 1.2630, 1.2600/1.2580, 1.2540, 1.2500,
1.2460, 1.2400/1.2390, 1.2350, 1.2300, 1.2250.
– resistance: 1.2890/1.2900, 1.2960, 1.3000, 1.3040, 1.3100, 1.3150, 1.3200/10.
GBPUSD
– support: 1.8840, 1.8800, 1.8740/30, 1.8700, 1.8670/60, 1.8630, 1.8590, 1.8535, 1.8500,
1.8450, 1.8400, 1.8360, 1.8300, 1.8270.
– resistance: 1.8870/80, 1.8915/20, 1.8940/50, 1.8990/1.9000, 1.9060.
EURUSD:
RES 4: $1.2990 RES 3: $1.2965 RES 2: $1.2940 RES 1: $1.2915
CURRENT PRICE: $1.2890
SUP 1: $1.2830 SUP 2: $1.2795 SUP 3: $1.2755 SUP 4: $1.2685
GBPUSD
RES 4: $1.9080 RES 3: $1.9000 RES 2: $1.8960 RES 1: $1.8915
CURRENT PRICE: $1.8895
SUP 1: $1.8815 SUP 2: $1.8725 SUP 3: $1.8725 SUP 4: $1.8515
Are You not getting mixed up? Each broker presents his own support/resistance levels different from others. With the above diversity of levels being recommended any true/false breach of any technical level proves out of question.
Should we attempt to simultaneously depict all the support/resistance levels furnished by various Forex brokers, we’ll ultimately find ourselves facing a picket fence thereof.
The arrangement is reminiscent of J. Schwager’s “Technical Analysis. Complete course”, raising a question: “Is technical charting to be referred to as a prediction engine or as folk arts?”
Probably, the best way out here is:
1. Given a huge number of Forex scholars’ opinions, let everyone answer this question independently to find out the way to faultlessly pinpoint support/resistance levels.
2. Let everyone decide whether he is going to believe the support/resistance levels, released daily by various Brokers and Dealers, provided that:
a). one has no idea of the definition principles thereof;
b). the above levels are being offered at websites by non-traders or by ex-losers.
Otherwise, the natural result will remain equal to 95% of losers worldwide.
SUPPORT/RESISTANCE LEVELS CONSTRUCTION UNDER MASTERFOREX-V TRADING CONCEPT
1. Support and resistance levels are to be split into those of flat and trend:
a). support/resistance levels are horizontal when flat;
b). support/resistance levels are inclined when in trend.
2. Various kinds of support/resistance are intrinsic to various trend types (if You are considering 4 trend types, You will face 4 R/S grids; if 5 trend types are being dealt with, there will emerge 5 R/S grids respectively).
3. A larger trend is of greater significance concerning a minor one, whereas minor trend support/resistance levels are more accurate than those of a larger one. This issue has not at all been touched upon either by forex technical “scholars” or by modern “analysts”.
4. All 4 trend-type support/resistance detection procedure is elaborated in the fashion enabling the Masterforex-V Academy hundreds of traders to daily set up support/resistance levels with 1-2 points deviation, due to forex quotes difference from various Brokers. This aspect has not been considered by forex technical scholars either.
5. It appeared indispensable to simultaneously analyze the minimum of 2 ally currencies’ support/resistance levels (say, GBPUSD, EURUSD) since there is the formula:
“True R/S level breach by the forex pair 1 + False R/S level breach by the forex pair 2 = EITHER False R/S level breach by the forex pair 1 OR True R/S level breach by the forex pair 2”
This aspect has not been considered by Forex technical scholars either.
6. Minor timeframes intermediate R/S levels ARE DIFFERENT from those being manifested under Forex trend-wise travel. This aspect has not been subject to investigation by Forex technical scholars either.
7. The available technical analysis scholar literature on support/resistance levels contains a plentitude of helpful and … data. The objective is to effect an independent synthesis of T. Demark’s, A. Elder’s, E. Nayman’s, J. Murphy’s, and D. Schwager’s techniques with the above Masterforex-V principles to attain a proper understanding of the way prior binary regularities tailor further movement perspectives.
8. A combination of 4 trends and more is helpful in 1-4 point-accurate detecting forex trading session local extrema.
With the above said, it proves strange to hear the statement of Ch. Lebau and D. Lucas (see: Computer-aided analysis of Futures Markets, reading: “We do not believe in exact price prediction popular practice”.
BUT THEN:
– What’s the way the Masterforex-V Academy students manage to profit now and then?
– Do they independently establish support/resistance levels on multiple timeframes of numerous
ally currencies?
– Do they check their established levels against a primary source (wherefrom the Brokers’ analysts
use to crib a support/resistance)?
– Do they understand principles of true/false breaching of each level and a bounce therefrom?
– Are they capable of calculating in-session currencies travel margins to a destination, where after
the above currencies bounce off and exhibit corrective reversal?
Answers you can find on our website.
Note:
Full text of this article and pictures of examples http://www.masterforex-v.su/001_013.htm
If you wish to be trained on Trading System Masterforex-V – one of the new and most effective techniques of trade on Forex in the world visit http://www.masterforex-v.su/
