Trading strategies
Playbooks you can actually follow
54 trading strategies explained end to end — the exact entry, exit and stop rules, which indicators and timeframes to use and why, with the setups drawn on charts. Free, no signup, and cross-linked to the indicators that power them.
Trend following
Buy strength, sell weakness, and ride the move until it turns.
Moving Average CrossoverBuy when a fast moving average crosses above a slow one and ride the trend until it crosses back — the classic, mechanical trend-following entry.MACD Trend FollowingBuy when the MACD line crosses up through its signal line in an uptrend and ride the momentum until the histogram rolls over — a smoothed, momentum-aware take on the moving-average cross.Supertrend Trend RideTrade one self-adjusting ATR line: buy when Supertrend flips green beneath price, ride the move with the line as a built-in trailing stop, and exit when it flips red.Ichimoku Cloud TrendRead the whole trend at a glance with Ichimoku: go long when price breaks above the cloud with the conversion, base, and lagging lines all confirming, and ride until price re-enters the cloud.ADX Trend StrengthUse ADX to trade only when a trend is genuinely strong: enter in the direction of the dominant DI line as ADX rises above 25, and stand aside when ADX is low and the market is chopping.Parabolic SAR Trailing StopLet the Parabolic SAR dots do the work: enter when the dots flip below price, ride the trend, and exit the instant a dot is hit — a mechanical stop-and-reverse system that never stops trailing.EMA Ribbon TrendStack a fan of EMAs into a ribbon: go long when the fast group pulls above the slow group and the ribbon fans out in order, buy pullbacks into the ribbon, and exit when it tangles and rolls over.Golden Cross Position TradeThe classic long-horizon regime signal: go long when the 50-day average crosses above the 200-day (the golden cross) and stay invested until the death cross flips it back.
Mean reversion
Fade stretched moves back toward a fair-value average.
RSI-2 Mean ReversionLarry Connors' short-term pullback system: buy deep 2-period RSI dips inside an established uptrend and exit fast on the snap-back.Bollinger Band FadeIn a range, fade the extremes: buy when price pierces the lower Bollinger Band with %B near zero and sell it back to the middle, treating the bands as elastic boundaries around fair value.VWAP ReversionFade intraday extremes back to fair value: when price stretches far from VWAP into its outer band, buy the snap-back toward VWAP, using the session's volume-weighted average as a magnet.Stochastic Oversold BounceBuy the bounce out of oversold: in a range or uptrend, wait for the stochastic to dip below 20 and turn back up through its signal line, then ride the swing toward overbought.RSI Divergence ReversalCatch the turn before the crowd: when price makes a new low but RSI makes a higher low, momentum is fading — enter on confirmation and ride the reversal off the exhausted move.Keltner Channel FadeFade the intraday edges: when price pokes the outer Keltner band in a flat, rangebound session, buy the push back toward the middle EMA, using the ATR channel as elastic boundaries.CCI ReversalTrade the swing out of an extreme: when the CCI plunges below -100 and then curls back up through it, the oversold stretch is reverting — buy the turn and target the zero line or the opposite extreme.Williams %R ReversalA simple intraday reversal read: when Williams %R sinks below -80 into oversold and then climbs back above it, the dip is turning — buy the recovery and exit into the overbought zone.
Breakout
Enter as price escapes a range, level, or volatility squeeze.
Opening Range BreakoutMark the high and low of the first 15-30 minutes, then trade the break of that range in the direction of the day's developing trend.Donchian Channel BreakoutBuy fresh N-period highs as price breaks above the Donchian channel and ride the trend — the original Turtle-style breakout, exiting on a shorter opposite channel.Bollinger Squeeze BreakoutWait for the Bollinger Bands to pinch to a multi-month low, then trade the first decisive break out of the quiet range and ride the volatility expansion.TTM Squeeze BreakoutTrade the John Carter squeeze — enter when the Bollinger Bands fire back outside the Keltner Channels in the direction the momentum histogram points.Support & Resistance BreakoutTrade the break of a well-tested horizontal level, going with the move once price closes decisively through support or resistance — ideally on the retest.Ascending Triangle BreakoutBuy the break above the flat ceiling of an ascending triangle — rising lows against fixed resistance — and target a measured move equal to its height.Keltner Channel BreakoutTrade the moment price closes outside a volatility envelope built from an EMA and ATR — a clean, objective intraday breakout in the direction the channel is opening.52-Week High BreakoutBuy strength at its most visible: a stock breaking to a new 52-week high inside a healthy uptrend, then hold the position for weeks to months as momentum carries it.
Gap trading
Trade the overnight gap: continuation plays, fades that fill it, and the breakaway, runaway and exhaustion gaps pros classify.
Gap and GoTrade the momentum continuation of a strong pre-market gap right off the open — long above VWAP on a break of the opening range, riding the catalyst-driven trend while it lasts.Gap Fill FadeFade an ordinary, catalyst-free opening gap back toward the prior close, betting the common gap fills — using VWAP and the opening range as the line that says the fade is working.Opening Gap ReversalTrade the sharp reversal when a big opening gap fails — a gap-up that cannot hold rolls over through VWAP, handing you a fast move the other way in a high-volume mover.Earnings Gap TradeTrade the post-earnings gap after the report prints — never through it — using the reaction and post-earnings drift to ride a confirmed gap in its direction with volatility-sized stops.Breakaway Gap ContinuationBuy the gap that breaks a stock cleanly out of a base on heavy volume — a breakaway gap that starts a new trend and, unlike a common gap, is not meant to fill.Runaway Gap ContinuationAdd to a strong trend when it gaps again mid-move — a runaway or measuring gap that signals the trend's strength and often marks the halfway point of the whole run.Exhaustion Gap ReversalFade the final, climactic gap at the end of an extended run — an exhaustion gap on huge volume that marks a top or bottom, confirmed by an RSI divergence, and tends to fill fast.Red-to-Green MoveBuy a gap-down stock as it reclaims the prior close and flips green on the day — the red-to-green flip that triggers short covering and momentum above VWAP.
Momentum
Trade the strongest, fastest-moving names in their direction.
MACD Histogram MomentumTrade the MACD histogram directly: its bars measure how fast momentum is building, so a flip through zero with expanding bars is an early, mechanical intraday momentum entry.Rate of Change MomentumUse a pure momentum oscillator — the percentage change of price over a lookback — to swing with the trend: go long as Rate of Change turns positive and ride while it stays there.Awesome Oscillator MomentumBill Williams' momentum histogram compares a fast and slow average of the bar midpoint; trade its zero cross, saucer, and twin-peaks signals to swing with the momentum of the trend.Relative Strength RotationRank a basket of sector ETFs or stocks by their rate-of-change, hold the few strongest, and rotate weekly into whatever leads — a systematic way to always own the market's momentum leaders.RSI Momentum TrendRead RSI as a momentum gauge rather than a reversal signal: in an uptrend it holds above 40 and pushes into overbought as a sign of strength — buy the pullbacks that hold the 40-50 zone and ride the trend.Pullback Momentum EntryBuy strength on sale: in a confirmed uptrend, wait for price to pull back to a rising EMA while RSI resets toward 40, then enter the bounce — a low-risk way to join a trend without chasing.Stochastic Momentum CrossUse the stochastic oscillator's %K/%D crossover to time entries in the direction of the trend — buy the cross up out of oversold, sell the cross down from overbought, and keep it simple.
Volume & flow
Read where real volume is trading to time entries and exits.
VWAP ScalpFade intraday extensions back to VWAP and ride VWAP as dynamic support — the institutional fair-value line scalpers lean on all session.Volume BreakoutOnly trust a level break when volume surges behind it — a beginner-friendly filter that separates real breakouts from the fakeouts that trap the crowd.OBV DivergenceWhen price makes a fresh high or low but on-balance volume refuses to follow, the move is running on empty — a volume-divergence heads-up that a swing reversal is near.Anchored VWAP SwingAnchor VWAP to a pivotal event — an earnings gap, a major low, a breakout day — and trade pullbacks to the true average price everyone has paid since, a line institutions defend.Money Flow ReversalThe Money Flow Index is a volume-weighted RSI — when it plunges below 20 or spikes above 80 and then turns, buying or selling pressure has exhausted and a swing reversal is set up.Volume Profile Value AreaRead where volume actually stacked up — the value area and point of control — and trade its edges: fade rejections back to the high-volume node, or ride acceptance beyond it.Accumulation BreakoutWatch the Accumulation/Distribution line climb while price chops sideways — hidden buying inside a base — then buy the breakout that the smart money already telegraphed.
Price action
Trade structure — levels, patterns, and candles — with few tools.
Pullback to Moving AverageIn a healthy trend, buy the dip to a rising moving average and sell the rally to a falling one — the simplest way to join a trend without chasing it.Support & Resistance BounceBuy the bounce at support and sell the rejection at resistance — the most fundamental range trade, where the level does the work and your stop sits just beyond it.Trendline BounceConnect the swing lows of an uptrend into a rising trendline, then buy each bounce off that diagonal support — a moving level that follows the trend up.Double Bottom ReversalTwo lows at the same level with the second showing an RSI higher-low, then a neckline break — the W-shaped bottom that signals a downtrend has run out of sellers.Pin Bar ReversalA single candle with a long rejection wick — a hammer at support, a shooting star at resistance — marks where price was firmly rejected and points to a quick reversal.Engulfing ReversalA two-candle pattern where one big bar fully swallows the prior one — a bullish engulfing at support or a bearish engulfing at resistance flips control in a single, decisive move.Inside Bar BreakoutAn inside bar is a coil — a bar trapped inside the prior bar's range — and the breakout from it, especially on a strong marubozu, releases pent-up energy in the trend's direction.Fibonacci Retracement EntryTrends retrace before they resume — measure the prior leg with Fibonacci and buy the pullback into the 50-61.8% golden zone where the trend most often reloads.