Understanding Trend vs Range Market State Transitions

This is an essential skill required by every aspiring trader. All professional traders definitely know this, for it forms the basis of many setups, and can mean the difference between breezing on the right side of the market, or clenching your fists in anger as the market goes against you.

I am referring to the ability to tell the state of the market.

Besides behavioral analysis, there are some simple price action guidelines that we can use to accurately determine the state of the market. This is important for obvious reasons.

There are 2 basic states of the market – trend or range. As the market shifts between these 2 states, it creates many trading opportunities in the form of setups.

Newbies who attempt to trade by memorising setups while ignoring the underlying structure of the market are heading for the proverbial iceberg. That said, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

This video should provide you an idea of how prices move, and if I have a chance to share more in upcoming seminars next year, I will show how these transitions give rise to the different trading setups that we teach during our training programs.

Important Announcement

We’ve been informed by our fans that Facebook has made some changes to FanPages lately, restricting the visibility of posts made by all FanPages like ours. We are now required to pay for the visibility of posted content, even if you have signed up to see these posts by liking our Page. If a post is not promoted, it will be seen by only around 10-15% of the Page’s followers.

How to Continue Receiving Updates

Here are some easy steps to make sure that you don’t miss out on our updates:

1. Go to our page. www.facebook.com/synapsetrading
2. Hover over the ‘Liked’ button and select ‘Get Notifications’‘Show in News Feed’
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4. ‘LIKE’ this post to make sure that your friends, who may not have seen this, know about it!

We’re so grateful for all your support thus far and we look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events!

Last weekend, we concluded another full-house run of the Synapse Program, training another batch of promising new traders, and imparting to them lifelong real trading skills, which we hope they will continue to apply to achieve consistent results in the markets.

Another Batch of Promising Traders

Another Batch of Promising Traders 2

We look forward to seeing all of you participate actively in the discussion forum, and at the upcoming monthly mentoring workshops. Remember, a skill is not learnt overnight, and it takes practice to perfect it. Together, we can avoid the common pitfalls that most beginners struggle with.

Feedback

“The topics covered are very complete and cover all aspects of trading. Spencer is also very knowledgeable and is able to answer all the questions asked.”
– Ivan Tan (PCS Security)

“Content is simple and easy to understand, very useful for novice and even experience traders. One of the best courses in the market, will gladly recommend to other family and friends.”
– Adrian Khwang (Standard Chartered Bank)

“I have known Spencer for several years. He is a passionate trader & very well read in the subject of price action and technical analysis. Definitely someone good to talk to in terms of trading ideas and TA.”
– T.Y. (Proprietary Trader, Propex Derivatives)

“Detailed explanation of the 7 setups!”
– Christopher Chan (Mitsubishi Corporation)

“This is a very good training program for beginner, even for those seasoned traders.”
– Lam Lee Lee (HR Professional)

“”Detailed program which covers full aspects of trading. Good explanation given on the technical aspects of charts. Very friendly and nice trainer.”
– Janice Ong (Student)

Shares Investment Guest Article Feature

Recently, I was asked to write a feature article in the “Shares Investment” publication to give an outlook on the Singapore market. As you can briefly see from the chart in the picture, I am expecting a larger correction, which would at least see prices dip below the 3,000 round figure. To find out more, this publication is available at selected bookstores and most news stands.

Shares Investment Guest Article Feature 2

 

According to Investment Trends’ Singapore Broking Report 2011, Shares Investment (Singapore) is the most popular magazine among frequent stock market traders in Singapore. Since july 1995, Shares Investment has been weel-acclaimed by both the investing public and local stock brokers – boasting of more than 30,000 readers every issue.

StockWhiz Trader Profiling

 

Recently, I got profiled for the SGX StockWhiz Online Investing Competition, and was asked to share some of his experiences with the participants:

  • What are some trading strategies that you would like to share?
  • What are the key elements of successful trading?
  • How do you decide which financial instruments to trade?
  • What are some educational resources you would recommend?
  • Who would you consider to be your trading mentor?

To read the full interview, click here.