Positional Trading Strategies Guide

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Positional Trading Strategies

Guide

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Positional trading can be one of the best ways to make large winning trades.

When making positional trades, you will often be holding your trades for long
periods of time. This gives you the chance to catch long-running trends and also
add to your winning trades as they keep moving in your favor.

This post goes through exactly what positional trading is and how you can use
different strategies to start using it in your own trading.

What is a Positional Trading Strategy?

Position trading is a longer-term trading strategy that allows you to capture profits
by holding positions for months or years.

As a position trader, you are ignoring the very short-term price action movements
and are taking a long-term view.

A lot of traders think of positional trading in the same way they do buy and hold
investing. However, the main difference between the two is that you can both profit
from price moving higher and lower with positional trading.

Because your hold time is longer with position trading, you have the ability to grab
bigger gains. On the flip side, however, that also comes with more risk.

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Position traders will normally use a blend of technical analysis and fundamental
analysis, and as we discuss in this post, you can use many popular trading
strategies to make position trades.

The Best Markets for Positional Trading

Some markets are more suited to position trading over others.

The most popular markets and assets suited to positional trading include; stocks,
commodities, and major indexes.

Markets prone to large amounts of volatility, such as Forex and cryptocurrency, are
not suited to position trading.

Because position trading is a much longer-term trading style, the best markets are
where a trader can get a clear idea of the underlying value and the potential for any
future increase or decline in the price.

Position Trading vs. Swing Trading

The major difference between swing trading and position trading is the length of
time each trader is looking to hold their trades.

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A position trader is looking to make long-running trades that they could hold for
months or even many years. These trades could also be added to as they start to
move in the trader's favor.

A swing trader is looking to profit from the many swings, both higher and lower.
This form of trading is most often done on far smaller time frames, and the trades
are normally held from hours to days.

The Best Indicators for Positional Trading

Many of the popular indicators used for other forms of trading can also be applied
when position trading; however some work better than others.

For example, longer-term moving averages are extremely useful, and so is the
average true range for assessing a market and managing your trades.

Longer-term Moving Averages

One of the most popular indicators for longer-term position traders is slower
reacting moving averages. Of these, the most common of all is the 200 period
moving average.

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This moving average is watched by many market participants on the higher time
frames because it shows a clear overall picture.

When using the 200 period moving average, you can see if the price is trading above
or below it in a trend higher or lower.

You will also find that the 200 moving average will be dynamic support and
resistance on the longer time frames. In the example below, we can see that price is
trending higher above the 200 period moving averages. We can also see that each
time price moves lower into this moving average, it finds support and bounces back
higher in line with the trend.

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Long Term Trading Strategies

Breakout Trading

One of the most popular ways to make position trades is by getting in early to
breakout trades.

If you can get in early into a breakout, you give yourself a chance to make a
long-running and winning trade.

In the example below, we have a clear area where price has found resistance on
multiple occasions.

When we see the third re-test, we could then take a long breakout trades if the price
breaks through this area and ride the next long move higher.

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Support and Resistance Trading

Support and resistance on the higher time frames such as the weekly and monthly
charts can often be another very popular way to find high probability position
trades.

In the example below, we can see price starts to reject an obvious resistance level.

When we see this rejection, we could look for potential short trades and profit from
the next move lower.

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Trend Trading

Using the clear trend can be one of the best ways to make long-running and
winning trades when position trading.

If you give your stop enough room to move, then you can have the chance to make
trades that last for a long time as the trend keeps rolling on in your favor.

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When trend trading, you also can use a pyramid strategy to keep entering more
positions and to make even further profits.

Fundamental Analysis

Most position traders will use some form of fundamental analysis to evaluate their
trading.

Because position trading is most often carried out on markets such as stocks or
major indexes, traders will use fundamental information to gain an insight into the
assets' value.

This information can help you know whether a stock is undervalued or overpriced,
and you can then combine it with your technical analysis to fine-tune your entries.

Boosting Position Size Profits With a Pyramid Strategy

One way to boost your profits is by adding to your winning trades as they move in
your favor. This is known as pyramiding.

With a pyramiding strategy, you are continually making new entries and looking to
make even further profits as price gains in your direction.

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If you use pyramiding correctly, you do not have any extra downside or risk, but it
can boost your profits enormously. See the example below of how more and more
short trades were entered as price continually moves lower before all trades are
finally closed when the trend ends, and price moves back higher.

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Position Trading Books

Position Trading: Buy Like a Trader and Hold Like an Investor - Tony Loton

This book on position size trading by Tony Loton is designed to show you what
stocks to buy and when.

In this second edition version, you will learn how to use proper position sizing and
also how to boost your profits by using a pyramiding strategy.

Another key point you will learn is how to use leverage to make bigger winning
position trades effectively.

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