Help needed to improve my trend following strategy

My strategy is pretty simple:

- Find a trend on any time frame and focus on that pair and time frame
- Wait until price pulls back to the 50 EMA
- Buy/sell when indicators/PA confirm

Few notable indicators that I use:

- Round numbers that I use for support/resistance and it prints it automatically
- Pivots
- Stochastics for OB/OS (I know many say there isn't such thing as OB/OS, but I use it in a slightly different way) and for divergence
- 50 EMA high and low that marks the channel

I'd need general improvements and ideas from fellow trend traders in order to improve and minimize my losses. Here are my weak spots:

- Not utilizing multi time frame analysis (or at least checking one higher time frame from the TF you trade) since I do not know what to check and look out for to be frank as I tend to aim for a quick 1:1 RR and a SL of an average of 8 pips. I was thinking about using it to check the higher time frame trend and then enter on the lower time frame in order to pinpoint my entry and to have a bigger RR, but not sure how to do that ... confusing stuff.
- Not being able to catch an entry when price rallies/drops strongly with a very steep angle
- Not truly utilizing a lot of candlestick pattern, except pinbars and engulfings. And since I trade on lower TF most of the time, candlestick patterns don't feel very reliant and not sure what to do at this point
- Not using any specific pattern but just using general price action to hop onto a trend. I'd love to have some sort of pattern I could follow but not sure which one. I still, however, have an edge in my trading; just looking to improve the winrate.
- Not knowing what to pay attention to when buying/selling the dips in an up/down trend since I am mostly focused on indicators (i.e. 50 EMA). Without it, I wouldn't know when to jump into the trend.

Any input would be very appreciated. There are no right and wrong answers and any idea posted here will be used to further enhance my strategy. Thank you for everyones contribution.

I like your thinking. 50EMA is my key indicator also, I do use also 20 and 200EMA's but 50 is the most important. I don't need off-chart indicators after using the MA's as I don't trade reversals: MA's are poor at indicating reversals, off-chart indicators are better for these but trading reversals is a dangerous game - probably a major part of the reason why new traders fail - new traders generally think you have to scan the charts for highs and go short for lows and go long. As we know, most traders fail to make money.

You don't necessarily need the greatest candlestick patterns to define entries, entry patterns are the least important aspect of trading trends. Defining the best trends is key, after that just make sure you do indeed get in.

Trading doesn't have to be complicated to work.

Nicely written, i hope i can be of some help:

Maybe you want to try the opening price of a higher TF. You obviously dont even have to jump to another TFs Chart. If for example you trade the M15 TF you could use the H4 and D opening as an indicator.
If price trades above both opening prices its bullish, below is bearish.

This could be solved by trading via a breakout. You use the previous bars high, or the highest of X Bars or the last top/bottom. Breakouts are my most favorite momentum indicator. This could also solve your pattern problem, as the breakout could be the pattern.

Hope you find it a bit helpful or at least interesting.

1) What makes you think multi time frame analysis works? You do realize that even if you're in a trending-- the most steep angle of price, as you say-- your risks involving yourself in a larger time frame are very much higher? Nobody explains this, but the larger time frame is by design the block that's being built from moment to moment action. What you're actually doing is taking data points that are further apart in space and measuring your risk that way...
2) Even if you had that market condition, and you caught lightning in a bottle, you wouldn't know what to do with it next in order to profit.
3) I had a post about patterns. In short, they don't work because there are infinite ways price can go about in space.
4) Just say it, you're afraid of the risks and want a full proof system to counter any and all risks to profit. The reality is that you're not getting ANY money without being put in awful spots to make decisions and forcing some adaptation.

I would like to first congratulate you on your consistency. Many individuals when they see something doesn't work they way they anticipated, give up or try some other "system"...your consistency will serve you well as you learn and grow.

I would like to offer you these humble suggestions to generally address some of the issues you mentioned...
First: Trend. I would offer you this challenge. WHAT is a trend, and how does your method define it? If you are going to tell me that "trend" is price above or below "x" point or moving average, I challenge you to dig deeper. Where/how does that trending move really start? And conversely where/how does that move end? I would venture to guess that it will start LONG before your indicators "tell" you a trend is in progress. By studying these points (some call them swing points) and finding their commonality you will answer many of the questions you posed here. So my suggestion of a first step would be to challenge your beliefs of what constitutes a trend and how it REALLY begins and ends.

Second: All trends form "inside" a larger context. What I mean by this is that what would appear to be an unstoppable trend on a small time frame is simply a single candle on a larger time frame. This is the very basis for "multiple time frame" analysis. What you will eventually realize is that there is NO SUCH THING. Its all the same market. The current price is the same no matter what time frame you look at...the only difference is how much history you see to the left and how that history is organized. We all look at and relate to TIME as a constant but never seem to realize that constant also extends to the chart we are looking at. When you look at different time frames you are still looking at the SAME market and the same price moves. They are just organized differently to fit in the physical space on your screen. Thus these differing points of view can give you a larger context from which to view the chart you use to trade. It doesn't necessarily change HOW you trade but may affect WHEN you trade and when we talk about entry and exits that makes a significant difference.

Third: I would urge you to study beyond and deeper into what causes price movements in the first place. Doing this you will find that the indicators you rely on become useless and unimportant. But that will be a progression that may take some time and significant study. I would not tell you to abandon what is working for you, only do as you are trying to with this thread...improve. The fastest way to do this is challenge everything you assume to be "true" and find what forces really move price. When this is done, you will find that your accuracy and timing improve greatly.

So to put this together into something that might inspire you...

If you know when a "trend" begins and/or ends, then you will see that when you observe a trend is ending, you can enter in the new trend's direction long before anyone else does and ride that next trend until it is over...which will be just about the time everyone else is jumping on that direction and losing money.

Next if you can observe these trends within the larger context of the over all market (as seen from the view point of a larger time frame), then when you observe your "pull backs" on a smaller time frame, you will know when that smaller "micro trend" is about to end and can enter with a much smaller stop and greater potential for your trade.

Finally, if you are observing what causes prices to move and seeing how that effects your position, you can exit with greater accuracy keeping more of your profits...or conversely hold into larger positions for longer periods of time and add into these positions over time creating a small risk HUGE gain overall position.

Remember all trends have a definable beginning and end...you will do well to understand their causes and what clues you have to these conditions on a graphical representation of price...called your "chart".

Try looking at Linda Raschke's anti and holy grail setups. They take advantage of pullbacks in a trend.

Catch trend at support and resistance level. Sometimes great signal forms at the levels, specially when it has formed exhaustion/sideways

Many traders rely on a single indicator and then blame that the indicator is not working. I always advise traders to use more than one indicator may be three or four at a time nad then try to depict what most of them are going towards. Always go with the majority as majority is authority here!

Correlations add 25 % more profit or less fake trades.

https://www.forexfactory.com/showthr...2#post11359212

Trading expected rises in interest rates is the key.Trends happen on interest rates expectations.

More information here

https://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=805676