Best Trendline Trading Entry?

Hey guys, I'm a trendline trader, My setup is to look for trendlines with 3-5 touches off the h1 chart. I like to trade with the trend. I also use fibs, s&r, 200 & 50 ema to find confluence with areas where PA touches the trendline.

I just wanna know what everyone thinks the best method of entry is. as of right now i like to wait for some confirmation, let PA to go in my direction first, then look to enter about 20-30 pips before the Last swing high or low.
But im wondering if my win / loss percent will go up if i wait for the swing low or high to break before entering. Is there another type that i'm missing? please share.

1) Entry off the trendline, which is aggressive, but is more profitable, higher probability of loss

2) Entry 20-30 pips before Last swing lo or high

3) Entry 1-2 pips after last swing high or low, does it come with a higher probability of success? seems like there's a good chance price will definitely come back and retest that level, possibly triggering your SL breakeven. Also your risk and reward would be smaller.

Below is a chart example from last friday. I've gone live since January, 2011, I've won 485 pips lost 277, total of 207 pips, Not impressive at all, and would like to reduce my losses. I'll admit out of the 277 pips loss, some of them were not because of my system, but just psychological stupidity, and inexperience to live trading.

thanks.

did you try to trade without trendlines? you can use swing highs (lows), if they get taken out, watch the reaction, if there is no countermove, an overextended countermove or some form of basement (S/R) no farther than the last swing low (high), the trend is still valid

I still do pay attention the PA breaking the Swing high or low, when pa reaches that level, i have a hard time reading whether is going to break or not, i think thats why i tend to enter early by about 20-30 pips which is the same value as what triggers my SL break even, and if i price get rejected and come back up, My stoploss has been pushed to +2 pips from my entry. What do you look for to determine the Last swing lo or hi is taken out? If you look at my chart, I made sure the Last swing lo is broken by waiting for the hourly to close below it, come back up and retest that level, once the retest was rejected PA procceed back down, and i place a second order around 1.6070, Although that traded ended up being Stopped out for Break even, it was because i decided to hold it to FE 161.

no need to read if it breaks the high or not, if i was in a trade and it breaks i move the stop. if i am looking for an entry the reaction is what i am interested in, the fashion of the reaction is what determines where or if i enter.

in case of your example these were the setups for me, of course every setup is different and depends on the circumstances, your own risk profile and experience.

just to put the chart in context, on the higher timeframe i was looking for a short entry because i missed the pitchfork test in the asian session, plus there was a confirmed double top (break & test)

yeah the first pattern is a double top, I personally don't trade those at all, the second entry you have circled is too close to the trendline for me, way to aggressive , and i find when i try to trade like that, it doesn't end well for me.

I use to trade different patterns all the time, double tops, h&s, bump&run, diamond, I find i was very inconsistent., im sure plenty of people do it and it works for them, but for me it just seem like it would take me awhile to be able to consistently trade like that and be profitable. What i do now is simplified, didn't take me long to learn and be semi profitable at it. But most important, I have more structure in my trading and i know it will lead to consistency, im not just trading one pattern one day and trading another pattern another day, trading like this, there no way of quantifying high probability trade setup. So all i do now is trade the trendline, use confluence to help me determine high probability trades, the entry is where i need help with atm.

if there was a simple answer to your question, trading wouldn't be much of a challenge.

a trend could be choppy/even, with wide or shallow swings, without distinguishable swings at all, ... let alone taking into account higher timeframe support & resistance, fake breakouts, stop hunts, time of day/week/month, timeframe, news events, sentiment, etc.

the only advice i can give is choose one or two pattern and master them, knowing multiple patterns may provide more opportunites but ultimatively less is more, a few pattern can get you very far, you can always add more as you gain some expertise on the ones you know.

Excellent point, thanks for the advice.