Financial Switchwords
Financial Switchwords
Financial Switchwords
Mastering
Bollinger Bands
Trading Bollinger
Bands like the Pros
TrendFollowingMentor.co
By
Andrew Abraham
Andrew@TrendfollowingMentor.com
Disclosure
While the author have used their best
efforts in preparing this book, they make
no representations or warranties with
respect to the accuracy or completeness
of the contents of this book and
specifically disclaim any implied
warranties of merchantability or fitness
for a particular purpose. No warranty
may be created or extended by sales
representatives or written sales
materials. The advice and strategies
contained herein may not be suitable for
your situation. You should consult with a
professional where appropriate. Neither
the publisher nor author shall be liable
for any loss of profit or any other
commercial damages, including but not
limited to special, incidental,
consequential, or other damages.
Past performance is not necessarily
indicative of future performance. The
risk of loss in trading futures contracts,
commodity options or forex can be
substantial, and therefore investors
should understand the risks involved in
taking leveraged positions and must
assume responsibility for the risks
associated with such investments and for
their results. You should carefully
consider whether such trading is suitable
for you in light of your circumstances
and financial resources.
This publication contains references to
hypothetical trading results. This
publication contains references to
hypothetical trading results.
HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE
RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT
LIMITATIONS, SOME OF WHICH
ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. NO
REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE
THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS
LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR
LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE
SHOWN. IN FACT, THERE ARE
FREQUENTLY SHARP
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE
RESULTS AND THE ACTUAL
RESULTS SUBSEQUENTLY
ACHIEVED BY ANY PARTICULAR
TRADING PROGRAM. ONE OF THE
LIMITATIONS OF HYPOTHETICAL
PERFORMANCE RESULTS IS THAT
THEY ARE GENERALLY PREPARED
WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT.
IN ADDITION, HYPOTHETICAL
TRADING DOES NOT INVOLVE
FINANCIAL RISK, AND NO
HYPOTHETICAL TRADING RECORD
CAN COMPLETELY ACCOUNT FOR
THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL RISK
IN ACTUAL TRADING. FOR
EXAMPLE, THE ABILITY TO
WITHSTAND LOSSES OR TO
ADHERE TO A PARTICULAR
TRADING PROGRAM IN SPITE OF
TRADING LOSSES ARE MATERIAL
POINTS WHICH CAN ALSO
ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL
TRADING RESULTS. THERE ARE
NUMEROUS OTHER FACTORS
RELATED TO THE MARKETS IN
GENERAL OR TO THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF ANY
SPECIFIC TRADING PROGRAM
WHICH CANNOT BE FULLY
ACCOUNTED FOR IN THE
PREPARATION OF HYPOTHETICAL
PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND ALL
OF WHICH CAN ADVERSELY
AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING
RESULTS
** THE MATERIAL DISPLAYED IN
THIS PUBLICATION IS INTENDED
FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES
ONLY
Table of Contents
Introduction
Day Trading Bollinger
Bands
Bollinger Bands with RSI
Support & Resistance with
Bollinger Bands
Trend Breakouts with
Bollinger Bands
Trading Bollinger Bands in
a Portfolio
Following Trading Plan
Risk & Money Management
Hypothetical Example of a
Portfolio
Introduction
John Bollinger developed the concept of
Bollinger bands in the 1980s. Bollinger
bands are volatility bands placed above
and below a moving average with a
multiple of a standard of deviation. The
length of this moving average can vary
depending on the time frame of the trader
and the sensitivity. The standard for
position sizing (daily bars) is generally
20 periods. However for day trading it
is suggested to be much less. It can be as
little as 10 periods. This is something
the individual trader can test depending
on their own personal preferences.
Volatility is based on the standard
deviation, which changes as volatility
increases and decreases. The bands
automatically widen when volatility
increases and narrow when volatility
decreases. The robustness of the
Bollinger bands makes this indicator
applicable to all time frames and all
markets. The tightening of the bands is
often used by traders as an early
indication that the volatility is about to
increase sharply. The closer the prices
move to the upper band, the more
overbought the market becomes, and the
closer the prices move to the lower
band, the more oversold the market
becomes. However markets can stay
overbought and oversold for long
periods of time. In this short ebook we
will discuss various ways in order to
use Bollinger bands as far as
1. Day Trading using Bollinger
Bands
2. Oversold & Overbought with RSI
Reversals
3. Support and Resistance
4. Breakout Potentials
5. How to build a Trend Following
Portfolio
Simple calculation
* Middle Band = 20-day simple
moving average (SMA)
* Upper Band = 20-day SMA + (20-
day standard deviation of price x 2)
* Lower Band = 20-day SMA - (20-day
standard deviation of price x 2)
Hypothetical Example of a
Bollinger Band Portfolio
Before I continue, I want to state that
Past Performance is not necessarily
indicative of future performance and the
below is a Hypothetical example used
for educational purposes only.
( HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE
RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT
LIMITATIONS, SOME OF WHICH
ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. NO
REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE
THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS
LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR
LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE
SHOWN.)
Please read full disclosure
I made a group of 40 diverse future
markets to present you what could
happen. In the portfolio I selected to risk
1% on any trade. In the example I tested
the portfolio from 2000 to 2013 with a
$150,000 account size.
Hypothetical Example
MetaStock®Copyright© 2012 Thomson
Reuters. All rights reserved.
Past Performance is not necessarily
indicative of future performance
Bio
Andrew Abraham is a commodity
trading advisor at the firm Abraham
Investment management as well as the
author of the book The Bible of Trend
Following- Professional traders
compound money and manage the
risks. He specializes in systematic and
mechanical trend following, utilizing
stringent risk management techniques to
limit losses and capturing a small
number of major trends to generate
returns. His website is
TrendFollowingMentor.com. Abraham
has been trading his proprietary account
since 1994 as well as investing with
other commodity trading advisors since
the mid-1990s. He has been quoted in
numerous trading publications as well as
he has written for Technical analysis of
Stocks and Commodities, Investment
advisor magazine, Futures magazine
and many others. Abraham has spoken at
Bloomberg events, presented at the
Traders Expo, Emerging Managers
Expo, CTA Expo and other industry
conferences and has done webinars for
Reuters Metastock.
Disclosure
While the author have used their best
efforts in preparing this book, they make
no representations or warranties with
respect to the accuracy or completeness
of the contents of this book and
specifically disclaim any implied
warranties of merchantability or fitness
for a particular purpose. No warranty
may be created or extended by sales
representatives or written sales
materials. The advice and strategies
contained herein may not be suitable for
your situation. You should consult with a
professional where appropriate. Neither
the publisher nor author shall be liable
for any loss of profit or any other
commercial damages, including but not
limited to special, incidental,
consequential, or other damages.
Past performance is not necessarily
indicative of future performance. The
risk of loss in trading futures contracts,
commodity options or forex can be
substantial, and therefore investors
should understand the risks involved in
taking leveraged positions and must
assume responsibility for the risks
associated with such investments and for
their results. You should carefully
consider whether such trading is suitable
for you in light of your circumstances
and financial resources.
This publication contains references to
hypothetical trading results. This
publication contains references to
hypothetical trading results.
HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE
RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT
LIMITATIONS, SOME OF WHICH
ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. NO
REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE
THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS
LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR
LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE
SHOWN. IN FACT, THERE ARE
FREQUENTLY SHARP
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE
RESULTS AND THE ACTUAL
RESULTS SUBSEQUENTLY
ACHIEVED BY ANY PARTICULAR
TRADING PROGRAM. ONE OF THE
LIMITATIONS OF HYPOTHETICAL
PERFORMANCE RESULTS IS THAT
THEY ARE GENERALLY PREPARED
WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT.
IN ADDITION, HYPOTHETICAL
TRADING DOES NOT INVOLVE
FINANCIAL RISK, AND NO
HYPOTHETICAL TRADING RECORD
CAN COMPLETELY ACCOUNT FOR
THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL RISK
IN ACTUAL TRADING. FOR
EXAMPLE, THE ABILITY TO
WITHSTAND LOSSES OR TO
ADHERE TO A PARTICULAR
TRADING PROGRAM IN SPITE OF
TRADING LOSSES ARE MATERIAL
POINTS WHICH CAN ALSO
ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL
TRADING RESULTS. THERE ARE
NUMEROUS OTHER FACTORS
RELATED TO THE MARKETS IN
GENERAL OR TO THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF ANY
SPECIFIC TRADING PROGRAM
WHICH CANNOT BE FULLY
ACCOUNTED FOR IN THE
PREPARATION OF HYPOTHETICAL
PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND ALL
OF WHICH CAN ADVERSELY
AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING
RESULTS
** THE MATERIAL DISPLAYED IN
THIS PUBLICATION IS INTENDED
FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES
ONLY