Leaderboard

Useful educational piece on the different types of orders from Dailyfx using IG's deal and order tickets. https://www.dailyfx.com/forex/education/trading_tips/daily_trading_lesson/2019/02/21/forex-order-types.html

Market action proves it again: this market hinges on the Fed: The US Fed has proven itself as the most important game in town for traders. The FOMC met this morning, and lo-and-behold: the dovish Fed has proven more dovish than previously thought; the patient Fed has proven more patient that previously thought. Interest rates have remained on hold, but everyone knew that was to be the case today. It was about the dot-plots, the neutral-rate, the economic projections, and the balance sheet run-off. On all accounts, the Fed has downgraded their views on the outlook. And boy, have markets responded. The S&P500 has proven its major-sensitivity to FOMC policy and whipsawed alongside a fall in US Treasury yields, as traders price-in rate cuts from the Fed in the future. The US Dollar sends some asset classes into a tizz: The US Dollar has tumbled across the board consequently, pushing gold prices higher. The Australian Dollar, even for all its current unattractiveness, has burst higher, to be trading back toward the 0.7150 mark. Commodity prices, especially those of thriving industrial metals, have also rallied courtesy of the weaker greenback. Emerging market currencies are collectively stronger, too. This is all coming because traders are more-or-less betting that the Fed is at the end of its hiking cycle, and financial conditions will not be constricted by policy-maker intervention. Relatively cheap money will continue to flow, as yields remain depressed, and allow for the (sometimes wonton) risk-taking conditions that markets have grown used to in the past decade. Some risk being taken again, though somewhat nervously: The play into risk-assets makes everything sound quite rosy. There are caveats to this, however. And that relates to what’s been inferred about global growth from the Fed’s meeting this morning. Implicitly, at the very least, the Fed has acknowledged that growth in the US and world economy is all but certain to slow-down. It wasn’t said outright – a central banker would never want to be anything less than cautiously optimistic – but the tone of Fed Chair Powell at his presser suggests a Fed that is sufficiently concerned about the global economy that they will definitively reverse its policy “normalization” course. Positivity was maintained by the Fed about US economic conditions, outrightly. However, the market has read between the lines, and it doesn’t like what it sees. Interest rates are now expected to be on hold for this cycle: So: although swung around post release, the more important bond market is telling a clearer story. The yield on the US 10 Year Treasuries have tumbled nearly 8 points to 2.53 percent, and the yield on US 2 Year Treasuries has fallen 7 points to 2.39 per cent. More remarkably, the yield on Treasuries with 3, 5- and 7-year maturities have dropped over nine points, creating a yield curve with a very flat belly. Of most concern here is that all of these securities are trading just at, or well below, the Fed’s current effective overnight-cash-rate of 2.40 per cent. Traders are now pricing in a greater than 50 per cent chance the Fed will cut rates by early next year, on the basis of deteriorating economic conditions. It’s getting harder for the Fed to get the right balance: The tight rope is getting narrower. For market participants, as always: on one side of it sits the need for accommodative financial conditions, on the other the need for robust growth conditions. It’s the rudimentary in principle, though complicated in practice, interplay between the credit cycle and the business cycle. Out of this Fed meeting, the proverbial tight rope walker is nervously shifting her gaze down towards the economic growth outlook. Powell and his team have apparently not struck the necessary equilibrium in its approach to its policy and communications to the market. Yes (again), risk assets have rallied, but right now, not in such a way that suggests the bulls are significantly more confident in the investment environment being planted before them. Other stories also important, though not as much as the Fed: Some of this could be attributed to the overhang coming from some of the other significant economic stories yesterday. Sentiment has been dented by news that key EU figure Donald Tusk may demand that no Brexit extension is granted for the UK; it has also been liver-punched by a story suggesting US President Trump does not necessarily see a lifting of tariffs on China occurring in any US-Sino trade deal. Once more: it does appear that markets have seen the greatest gravitas in the Fed meeting, though. And traders’ nervousness is being betrayed by this: despite a dovish tact, corporate credit spreads have rallied, the VIX is off its multi-year lows, and US Break-evens are revealing greater inflation risk in the US economy. Australian markets to be defined by Fed and employment numbers: Fittingly, SPI Futures are suggesting the ASX200 will open somewhere between 5-and-10 points lower this morning. Speaking of markets and the growth outlook, not only will Australian trade be impacted by the fall-out from the Fed’s nervously dovish tilt, we also get some highly anticipated employment figures out this morning. The currency and rates markets will be what to watch for: the themes driving the ASX200 this week is the renewed push in iron ore prices, along with the rotation into yield-driven defensive sectors as Australian ACGB yields tumble. The RBA have hitched their hopes for the Australian economy on a tightening labour market and subsequent lift in wages growth and inflation. Watch therefore today for any major downside miss in employment numbers. Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia

this is really relevant to me, see 15:20 min onwards https://www.piworld.co.uk/2017/01/02/conkers-corner-edward-roskill-interview/ "trying to be really disciplined is very important" "trying to be distinguish between fundamentals and the stock price which can be completely different" 18:00 "prices can behave peculiarly" "price is an irrelevance" https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/18/eldorado-resorts-caesars-explore-merger-sources.html we wait.

I had a read of this thread, and don't take this the wrong way but a lot of what you're encouraging people to do is going to cause them to lose money. Mainly because you're holding short into support and long into resistance as that's in the direction of the current 'trend', but you need to anticipate the end of trends too or you end up giving back huge chunks of profits, or worse, if you've added to your positions, end up over leveraged and with big losses. For example, in December, 2350 was the 200 week MA, and also marked 20% down off the high. Typically in bear markets, that's the kind of area where the first bounce has come in. On top of that, on Xmas eve you had the PPT conference call so you know there's the possibility of a strong rally off there. You then added into the first bounce and it never retested the lows. The market was extremely oversold so it was obvious there would be a huge rally as soon as momentum turned around. Then on Monday you're talking about it being in an uptrend so looking for long entries, but the trend has been weakening since last week and price was right at the horizontal resistance in the 2810s. That's a sell set up not a long, regardless of where you are relative to the MAs. I see that now you're saying under the 200 day in 2740s it's a sell, personally I can see it running to the downside for a while, but you're wasting 70 points by waiting for that, and obviously the risk to shorts is right back up to 2800s, so it's critical to get in near the turns and not half way to avoid the whipsaw. For any newbies reading this, I'd say you should focus on being in control of your trades and avoid large drawdowns. To do this, you should focus on little and often. By that I don't mean taking profits as soon as any trade turns green, but I mean that you should focus on 2-3:1 risk reward set ups, try and cash profits every day/few days. It feels good to cash profits, it keeps you fresh mentally and unbiased. The key to this game is keeping the losses small.. you should be winning 50% of the time and losing 50%, with the gains bigger than the losses = profitability. To make the big money it's all about consistency and being able to incrementally increase your leverage.. you won't manage that if your gains are lumpy and inconsistent, and you have large drawdowns. Only risk 2% of your account at a time, set a realistic target for the week and keep building. In addition, I tend to find that markets often bounce around multiple times between levels so this approach allows you to take profits and play the same set up many times over... if you hold on you tend to get annoyed waiting for breaks and sometimes they don't come. Very few people can hold trades and make money, and that's the truth. Because it's very hard to determine how long a trend will last, and psychologically it's also very difficult to sit in positions and not do anything - invariably that leads to adding to trades and losing control of exposure which is a recipe for disaster. You become dependent on your market calls to make or lose money, whereas profitable trading is reactive not predictive. Not saying any of this is easy, but need to give yourself the best chance of being profitable and that doesn't involve adding to positions in random places, chasing momentum and not taking profits at very clear support and resistance areas.

@Britcoin, your pick is of the cfd platform, IG options in UK are only available on the spread bet platform or 'professional' cfd account platform. you will need to open a spread bet account.

@NigelC, yes it's on the cfd platform but not on spread bet as IG consider the potential conflict of interest of otc trade.

@RJDemo and @andysinclair - I've passed your accounts on to be manually resolved whilst we look for this batch fix. Apologies but hopefully should be resolved for you soon. Thanks.

It seems likely to me that what will actually happen here is that Mike Ashley will bid, because aside from anything else, the House of Fraser is not of critical size without combining with Debenhams and is losing money heavily. As Mr Ashley does not have access to enough luxury brands, so he is having to fill the House of Fraser stores with Sports Direct stock which is badly weakening the House of Fraser brand. He needs to combine Debenhams with the House of Fraser fairly urgently I would say, especially now that Debenhams has signed off the Li + Fung deal which promises a pipeline of decent quality items into its stores. Equally, I believe he will use a mixture of Sports Direct shares and cash to make such a bid, this being far cheaper for him than using just his own cash or the supposed £1billion warchest he has accrued. It will also allow him to unify the purchase behind one corporate entity and use any tax advantages to the full. It seems to me that this possibility is being ignored by many writers, yet it seems very likely. The issue of the £220m bondholders is to a degree a red herring in this. It is akin to the entry price to being involved in this bid, as the bond holders have to be paid back in full if he makes a bid, equally if an administration event happens, the bondholders are the first to become indemnified and will simply swap their £220m for equity in the new entity via the administrator. That means the bondholders have to be bought out automatically as a part of the cost of buying Debenhams. Why should Mike Ashely want then to allow Debenhams to go into administration? He would totally lose his equity stake and have to bid for the parts of the group he wants from the administrator in a queue with any other bidders, without preference. That may then be more costly to him that just paying the equity cost now of a bid – say £150m plus the bonds = £370m = bargain price. The banking facility can then be renegotiated afterwards or combined with Sports Directs facility, probably with the same banks, but at a fraction of the cost! So then it is down to the cost of the equity – a takeover at these share price levels would be very cheap – probably around £100m – 150m plus £220m for the bonds, and plus say another £100m to stabilise Debenhams would mean that the total purchase would cost less than half Mike Ashley’s £1bn warchest. I’d say that would be a bargain for him for such an asset.

Is the FTSE showing an inverted h&s pattern on the weekly. If it is and it's broken the neck line of that, what is the likely target?

@RedSwift, Market makers can create scenarios which can be perceived by traders as demand for a share and they can move the price (bid/ask) to make it look like a price gain but in realty it is not. I see this on the U.K. AIM and NEX markets a lot. A lot of shares on these markets are illiquid and the market markets try and look to create price movements which look like there is demand for the shares. In reality there are liquidity issues which are being camouflaged.

I was listening to the recent interview that IG conducted with Jim Rogers, the famous commodity investor, and of course the Co-Founder for Soros Fund Management and the Quantum Fund. If you have not seen this interview then it is nothing special and the usual vagueness and spiel. You most probably can still find it on IG's platform and within the IG Community section. I was disappointed in the lack of any detail or substance within the interview which seemed a waste when you have a so called legendary investor in Jim Rogers. One thing that Jim Rogers mentioned was Sugar. He stated that Sugar was around 80% down from its all time high and at some point it had to go up and recover. It got me thinking. More and more sugar is being reduced in soft drinks and confectionary. More and more sugar substitutes are being launched around the world. More and more sugar alternatives are being introduced. This may have something to do with the depressed prices, demand and of course a glut of supply in Asia! Why must it go up? I then conducted some research on the internet and established that Jim Rogers has been singing the 'Sugar Mantra' for well over a year now. You can by all means check this via Google to confirm this. I then carried out more research and he was humming this tune back in 2008 and singing this song in 2009. It seems he has been 'long' Sugar for over 10 years now. He will want to make the biggest return possible and will want as many people as possible to jump on his bandwagon. When everyone piles in, he will be exiting and profiting. This is why he is a billionaire. Then I began to think does Jim Rogers have his own sugar company somewhere in the world which is not doing as well as it could? Has he investing in Sugar producing companies and wants to raise the prices? I looked at the Sugar - London No.5 chart on IG and it seems it is making new 'higher lows' since middle of August to date. The chart looks horrific from a long term trade perspective due to the sharp upward and downward moves. Risk management would be extremely tricky and it is not an easy trade at all. However, could he be right (timing would be key) in the sense that Sugar is about to go on an upward trend and could this trend if it ever happened be worth trading? I shall be keeping an eye on Sugar going forwards via this new thread and commenting on the price action and any trends that materialise. At the moment it is trading above its 200 DMA but below its 20, 50 and 100 DMA. If it begins to trade above all four of these and the MA curves being sloping upwards then I may get interested.

I have been keeping close tabs on Sugar and it seems to be enjoying a brief upward turn. There are no real fundamental reasons why Sugar should go above and stay above $360 apart from 'Speculation'. There is a supply glut in Asia. The one thing in favour of positive Sugar prices is that countries are trying to force the price upwards. This may see some upward price movement beyond $360 but I really do not know if that will happen. I am still at monitoring the price action stage at this moment. I shall keep those who are interested within the IG Community updated via this thread.

@RedSwift, no, it's solely down to what people are willing to buy at and sell at, the broker is there to match the two together. If the broker can't find a match then there is no trade (and no addition to the volume figure).

FX is 24 hr, spreads don't change on a time basis but will change for periods of high market volatility so there is the minimum spread and the average spread.

so Dow is using the USD rate and USD uses 360 instead of 365 in the calc so the IG rate (commission and libor) is 5.02% for a long trade and -0.02% for a short. so to give the the full calc for the cost of the long trade in the example above is; (£6.69 overnight charge for a £2/point bet.) see calc below And for the £2/point short in the example; -£0.03 overnight charge (credit) see calc below; So for your own calc you will need to use your £/point and update the closing price, the commission is set and the libor rate is currently fairly stable.

If the price stays the same on the daily chart today and I know it's a big if, has that formed a double top?

No worries. Have found it is 13p. Hope this helps anyone else who comes here looking.

A picture

Pivots can also be used In metatrader fractals are a high with 2 lower bars on each side (opposite for low) In prorealtime you can use this indicator /////////// FRACTALS DE BILL WILLIAMS //Varible = cp - par défaut =2 cp = 1 if high[cp] >= highest[2*cp+1](high) then LH = 1 else LH=0 endif if low[cp] <= lowest[2*cp+1](low) then LL= -1 else LL=0 endif if LH=1 then hil = high[cp] endif if LL = -1 then LOL=low[cp] endif return hil, LOL (If you use cp = 1 then you have a top with 1 lower bar on each side)

Hi @Masonmmunch, the share dealing platform will be updated to html same as the sb platform with all the bells and whistles but it's taking a long time and there is still no date for roll out yet.

@Nelsy-Boy, good question. On the main time frames such as H1 and Daily owning the bar is important and the close will be fought over but on the less popular time frames say 30 min or 10 min the close is not so relevant. The wicks however are always important because they show the precise level that bears (for example) stepped in and turned the market. This also begs the question 'did all their orders get filled or are there more sell orders sat waiting at that level?' Your chart shows this well, every time price ran into 3340 sell orders overwhelmed the bulls, not just once or twice but over and over again. From here it becomes a battle of attrition, who has the resources to win, we can't know so have to wait for a victory and then follow the winner up or down on to the next level. Stay out of the battles at the levels and look to catch a ride between them.

@Pikto, With the second day of Brexit related voting in Parliament, Gold, has remained in its bullish tone. With a further third day of voting tomorrow I am expecting further uncertainly surrounding Brexit and Gold has a high probability chance of going beyond $1310. You asked me on Saturday if Gold would go above $1302. Well Gold's price action has answered your question.

No problem @Nelsy-Boy, trends should always exhibit a zig-zag succession of higher highs and higher lows (bull), if that pattern is broken the trend has at least stalled or may have collapsed all together. The pullbacks are caused by profit taking, the continuations are caused by re-entries, there has been no real bear participation up til now because the bears have all been sat here waiting for price at 3340, after all, why sell at a lower price when price is rising. This is why support and resistance is the king of indicators, they are obvious levels on a chart for like minded types to hang out and wait for price to come to them.

I've built an Excel Add-in and have added some client sentiment formulas. What I find interesting is the much higher proportion of long positions across all asset classes. Surprisingly the FTSE100 is the least shorted of all the major stock indices. In the FX world, IG clients are long on all major pairs, regardless of whether they are effectively long or short the USD. I will post this again with updated data, will be interesting to see how it changes over time (I suspect it won't actually change that much!).

Hi Andy, I can confirm the the API works with IG Switzerland. Some responses come in german. This is the only difference I noticed so far.

Gold is getting a small bounce but is that on the back of stocks Bearishness, USD apparent strength or something else. I can't really tell right now and unless Stocks are following my #2 scenario (see USD indices, are we there yet thread) I can't really see this as the end of the larger retrace. So I remain with my previously posted road map. This rally will, under that scenario, either trace a wave B from here or give us another small leg down before it does. After that comes a longer wave C to complete the retrace, possible as low as a retest of the prevailing long term supporting trend-line, which would suck in a lot of precious metal Bears, prior to a long, long rally. For precious metals I feel it is important to watch USD moves in the short to medium but overall economic and stocks moves for the long term. The Negative Momentum Divergence is still dominant in the technical set up for me but Stochastic is over sold so a period of bullishness is likely, remains to be seen whether this will turn back down before a higher high or run up to hit the the overhanging resistance first before any medium term retrace. This uncertainty means precious metals are not a good bet right now for me. I am content to hold Longs from way down for the long term, having cashed some on a dual bet strategy. I am waiting for this current pattern to trace out before looking for additional Longs but I will not be taking precious metals Short nor swing trading in what I expect to be a volatile (whip plash type - not the good type) period and view the set up as too uncertain. I would rather look to swing trade stocks and main USD FX pairs that Gold/Silver at present.

@Pikto, The honest answer is that I do not have a 'crystal ball' so I cannot possibly know the outcome. My personal opinion, gut feeling and instinct is that it will cut through $1302 before the Brexit vote. After that it all depends on the reaction to the outcome of the vote by the rest of the world. There could be further downside movement and one cannot rule that out but at the moment there are 'recessionary risks' that major economies around the world face. There are increasing national debts in the US that do not seem to be managed effectively. There could be monetary policy implications going forwards. For now I think we could see a couple of days of positive price action for Gold and then I don't know. These things always tend to go the opposite direction of what one thinks is likely to happen. So it could easily continue the next leg downwards. If you go long or are already long then just ensure you absolutely have a stop loss in place and if in profit a trailing stop loss based on your risk management strategy. You must have an exit plan and and opportunity to exit if the trade should go against you.

@Trevbeats, spread betting is only available in the UK because it takes advantage of specific UK law. Other counties don't have an equivalent law and are unlikely to create one. The sole advantage of an account outside of ESMA regulation is having a lower margin requirement (higher leverage).

Hi @Trevbeats, to get the tv version online instead of the online version you would need to go through a 3rd party site such as https://ukfree.tv/channels/all

It tells me that IG have not tested their web pages across multiple browsers.

I would add watch so many charts that at some poi t the patterns will start to be self evident and the behaviour of the price will be less unpredictable. Commit little money but master your system at every trade. Embrace the power of timeframes 😀

@Dantro, No problem. Stick to one specific asset and master it. So for example one specific FX pair, one commodity or one major indices. Then just trade that specific asset, learn what makes it move and why it moves in a certain direction. Learn to identify trends and really master trading in that asset. Learn about volatility and how to set effective stop losses so that volatility does not stop you out when you are correct in the direction of the trend and right in the trading direction.

@Dantro, First of all you need to decide what type of trading do you want to conduct? Do you want to participate in day trading, scalping, trend following, momentum trading, swing trading, contrarian trading, etc. You need to do the following three things before you trade any more of your capital. Create a Trading Plan Create a Trading Strategy Create a Trading System I repeat do not trade any more of your money until you have done the above three. To do the above three you will need to put the hours in (effort), have the desire / passion to apply yourself and then conduct some serious reading and research around this. Google is an easy place to start. You will then find references to reading material. This process takes as long as it takes. If it takes you three months or a year then so be it but make yourself a strong foundation to build upon. Try Googling why a trading plan, a trading strategy and a trading system are important. This will be an excellent place for you to start and then take it from there.

Hello, I was wondering if IG could please confirm a) if they are looking in to providing the following and b) if so, what the timelines are. 1) fund dealing, UCITS and mutual funds, the type HL, ii, AJBell and most others offer. 2) adding new international markets, (Canada, France, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Finland, Japan) EM markets like, India, South Africa, Egypt would also be great. 3) provision of better details for company financials (e.g. what Morningstar, Reuters provide and including cash flow statements) Is IG going to commit to improving their Stock broking offering for the long term, or should current customers be seeking alternative providers? It would be helpful to understand the direction of travel. The stock broking offering seems to have taken a backseat in the strategy yet there is the potential to create a strong competitor to the likes of HL, II, AJ Bell, that offers DMA and good FX charges for foreign dividends, however personally I am growing impatient waiting for the above improvements to happen. Any information that can be provided would be appreciated. Many thanks,

Found this about download data and backtesting MT4 https://quivofx.com/school/metatrader-4-strategy-tester/

End of 2018 and time to take stock (Short HaHa!). I have been waiting for a big stocks Short opportunity for several years and finally it looks like it is arriving. It could be the biggest Shorting opportunity any of us have ever seen. Some have pointed to Bitcoin but that was not a credible opportunity in my opinion, unless you are a pure gambler. Patience is certainly a virtue with this trading game if you are seeking to catch a big move and it has been on FX too. Having missed the first bearish wave down from April 2018, I have been watching for the probable retrace to get Short for the big wave 3 down. I am also interested in swing trading the retrace and have been attempting to do this for the last few months of this year but each time a possible rally presented itself it broke down to set another lower low. It is very hard to catch a wave 1 termination but another possible turning point is currently presenting itself. Will this be the one? And what might happen next? I regularly relook at my entire assessment to see if anything has changed materially and now seems like a good time to relook at FX. The monthly chart shows the long term perspective and the potential for a long Bearish move, once the retrace rally is out of the way. The Euro had been on a charge vs USD since its inception in 2002 (well the paper currency launch) but peaked in 2008 during the Credit Crunch and since then, as with most currencies, has been steadily losing value against USD. This also comes during a period of increasing turmoil in the EU (in particular for the Euro zone), which has been well covered in other threads but in short the Euro zone has some insurmountable (in my opinion) structural problems including a disparity between the various country economies (the likes of Greece and Portugal urgently need to devalue and Italy and Spain have major issues), inability to operate a true central bank and a wide range of individual country credit rating (resulting in a lack of uniform debt cost). Add to that political turmoil that is unlikely to be resolved any time soon (not least the migrant issue) and the Euro could not only fall heavily but could actually unravel just as the previous iteration, the ERM, did. So from both a fundamentals and technical perspective I see the Bearish trend continuing in 2019. I fully expect the inception levels of sub $0.90 to be reached and quite possibly the theoretical all time lows of $0.63, if not oblivion. But what about that pesky retrace? Not much point in placing a short now unless you are willing to take a huge stop loss exposure, which I'm not. Looking at the Weekly chart you will notice a nice head & shoulders formation in 2017 that broke out through the neckline with a large gap, that crucially remains unclosed. I expect this to be closed in due course. The whole of the 2017 rally is enclosed by a consolidation Triangle formation, a likely Pennant/Flag that was broken to the downside in April. The move down since then is also enclosed in a Triangle that is now on the verge of a breakout into a rally. I also have a credible EWT 1-5 form for the wave 1 (blue) down and I expect the rally to be an A-B-C retrace, which would confirm the overall trend is still Bearish. I also have Positive Momentum Divergence (PMD) at the Nov wave 1 (blue) turn, which can also be seen clearly on the Daily chart. The wave 1 (blue) also turned on a strong weekly chart pin bar, which was coincidental with the Fib 50% off the 2008 high (see Monthly chart). Looking at the Daily chart then I can see that PMD at wave 1 (blue), which is looking strong. The move down to the turn is enclosed in a possible ending triangle that was broken and retested (support held) and then that support zone was tested again and again held and then put in a sharp rally followed by another retrace down, which put in a higher low. This kind of price action is typical of a consolidation phase prior to a strong wave 3 rally and now the market is poised over New Year at the crucial Weekly Chart Triangle upper line. A breakout through this line (which is a must to confirm the retrace) that is fast and long (signature of a wave 3), maybe even with a gap through the resistance, would tee up a run to a wave A of an A-B-C that could ultimately terminate with a retest of the breakout zone of the Pennant (circa 12,300) and the Fib 76/78% but we will have to see how the move progresses to assess the likely turning point back into the Bear. While the retrace may be lucrative it is always risky trading counter trend, especially if you do not deploy swing trading techniques, as trend trading often does not work, unless you get an early A-B and a long C trend. The bigger opportunity is clearly tracking this potential road map to spot the next Bearish phase. However as a swing trader I am more than happy to trade this and related FX pairs and am already Long from previous lows. My trading strategy is to hold those further down Longs for the termination of the A-B-C move and to add on key breakouts for a shorter term trade to the Wave A turn. I will not trade the Wave B but wait to see if I can spot the turn back into the final wave C move and pyramid this to the end of the whole retrace before reversing into the Bear move.

Dear @TrendFollower , you probably wont like this response but , I just trade what I see, not what I think. There is so much geopolitical stuff going on that it could screw your thinking. However, the politicians & Central Bankers seem to prefer the markets going up, any dips & the Central Banks come to the rescue.. We are over halfway through the US Presidential cycle & I'm sure Potus will want everything looking good next year. I attach a current chart. As you see we are back at a trend line resistance. I have suggested some consolidation @ here before a further move up, but who knows. Short term trend is up, but you could also say that the market looks sideways albeit in a big range. Sideways is my best guess

What do traders and investors on IG Community think will happen should the three major US indices hit their respective 52 week high price level? Does the IG Community think they will continue to go upwards and if so why? Does the IG Community think this will present one of the biggest shorting opportunities of recent time and if so why? Does the IG Community think there will be sideways price action for a considerable period of time and if so why? I shall try and keep a score of how many of you respond to 1, 2 and 3 and see what the IG Community thinks and then what actually happens. This will be an interesting exercise that will really provide some insight to the price action expectations of the IG Community for US indices. I hope traders and investors alike partake in this. @JamesIGyou may wish to share with the IG Analysts / Staff who may wish to participate if allowed to do so. I am including @Caseynotes, @cryptotrader, @elle, @PandaFace who seems to be both active and frequent participants on the IG Community to help start kick things off but please do not wait for them to respond.

Gold has dropped hard and fast. It has breached the $1300 level which means a bearish phase to me. Silver has dropped just as aggressively. This is with the backdrop of Brexit and India-Pakistan tensions. The stronger US dollar is not helping matters. I think the US Dollar has played a part in this deep sell off. Both Gold and Silver have gone below their 20 and 50 DMA's. Silver is awfully close to its 100 DMA and Gold is on its way there. I personally would not suggest anyone try and be clever and go 'Long' on both Gold and Silver while we are witnessing a 'Falling Knife' scenario and an aggressive drop such as this. By all means go 'Short' even if it is a short term trade but I would recommend waiting for a trend reversal confirmation before going 'Long'. This may present a better entry point to a longer term upward trend but patience and trend reversal confirmation will be key. It is possible that this large drop leads to further downside pressure or is the big correction before the next bigger leg upwards. At this moment in time I do not know which so all one can do is monitor the price action closely.

IG has the 'Parabolic SAR' as one of its technical indicators. This can help identify trend reversals. One can use this indicator to help set 'trailing stop losses'. One could also use it to assist in the identification of entry and exit points. I like to use it along with moving averages and RSI. A point of warning is that it can be ineffective when the price is trending sideways.

It's the lookback period which I suspect is in days (a 14 day lookback seems to be standard for stocks).

Remember if the trend reverses then use indicators such moving averages (trying to keep this very simple for you) to ensure your stop loss is set to execute an exit should the trend reverse.

resistance and decreasing volumes on the daily....

Traders who adopt trend following principles will love to see strong trends as you can see in Live Cattle. Trading with the trend increases your probability of success in the trade. The odds tilt in your favour. It does not guarantee a profitable trade but merely increases your chances. Trading is difficult at the best of times. The markets are ruthless. Trend following may not be the most profitable strategy but it is a strategy that can certainly decrease some of the risk associated with trading by never trading against the trend.

Live Cattle is still going!

Shanghai composite gets massive boost in volume.

24/02/2019 - ProOrder still down and no word...

@Dantro, My personal basis is to start with the daily and then compare it to the weekly and monthly. Only then do I look at lower timeframes and primarily 4 hour to 1 hour timeframes to establish if in sync with direction of trend. I only use lower timeframes for day trading or short term trades. When I am trend following then I am looking at the longer timeframes more as I am going to keep the position open until the trend changes. If there are any big drops and the trade has clearly gone against me then my stop loss should have triggered and executed an exit from the trade. I always know my exit price before I enter the trade. This is a key part of my trading strategy. When I am in profit then I switch to a trialing stop so I know I cannot make a loss in that trade. I have no issues re entering that trade should trend confirmation take place. I am comfortable entering the trade as many times as I need to but at the same time I am happy to move on to the next trend should any trend confirmation not be established. I try not to trade against the trend.

Worth a watch ......

Hi, I've recently moved to IG from Etoro and just getting my head around the new fee system. Let me see if i have this right; As an example - i bought x amount of shares for Tesco (single trade). I sell them at £40 profit an hour later. The fees are; the spread AND a trading fee of £10? the CFD fees are only applicable overnight? Is that the only fee or is there also commission on top? would this be correct? also i noticed on the demo account that fees aren't brought up in the history section. In which case i was wondering how to actually find a record of them within the account. Apologies for the lame questions - seems the spreads are better here at IG - but the interface isn't as intuitive. Just want to get these questions sorted before i open the live account. Thanks, Olly