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Introduction
A pullback is a moderate breakout or decline in a stock or commodity’s price chart from recent highs as part of an ongoing uptrend. Withdrawal is similar to retracement or consolidation; the terms are sometimes interchangeable. The term “pullback” is generally used for price declines that last for a relatively short period – several consecutive sessions – before an uptrend resumes.
A pullback is a temporary reversal of the upward movement in an asset or security price. Rollback typically takes only a few consecutive sessions. A longer pause before an uptrend resumes is commonly called consolidation. The pullback can be an entry point for traders looking to enter a position when other technical indicators remain bullish. Traders can use limit or stop orders to take advantage of a pullback and join a significant uptrend.
What is a Pullback Trading
A pullback trading means a price movement unpredictable with the usual market trend. The term best describes pullback trading ‘the trend is your friend.’ This is because trends bring a lot of trading opportunities, especially after an active higher or lower price trajectory. Without a movement within to trade, it is impossible to profit from a pullback.
Thus, you place your trade after confirming the market’s direction with pullbacks, making it a widely successful strategy. Pullback trading includes buying an asset at a lower price point only to sell it when the upward trend restates itself in the future.
The two key pullback trading strategies include the aggressive versus the conservative approach.
One of the most critical steps in pullback trading is precisely evaluating whether a pullback or a trend setback reasons an incline in asset prices.
How Does a Pullback Trading Work?
Pullbacks can occur due to several reasons. Most trade with an average history of upward trends faces a price drop due to prevailing brand and market sentiments. If a scam, hidden insolvency, or news of nonstop income loss comes into the public light, several investors jump, trading off various shares.
Therefore, it leads to a fall in the share prices of the brand. Such things are also daily in the commodity market, especially in the case of gold and oil prices. Therefore, the temporary dip in a generally upward-trending asset price is a trade pullback.
Note that the dip should be temporary; if it continues to dip lower without recovering, it will become a reversal. A pullback is handy to achieve the fundamental trading aim of buying low and selling high. To successfully trade pullbacks, you must purchase the asset during the ‘dip’ and then sell it during the ‘rally.’ Mentally.
Consequently, a pullback trading strategy is easy to create and execute, even for beginners. Pullbacks, therefore, offer traders buying opportunities for security that keep rising in value.
Why does pullback trading occur?
The pullback can happen thanks to changes in market sentiments for various reasons. For example, a scam or hidden insolvency suddenly brought to light can be one of those reasons.
Pullback versus Reversal
At first glance, both may look similar on a chart. However, there is a profound change between the two. A reversal represents a change in the general trend of the price of an asset. So if the stock price had an upward trend before, a reversal would mean a new downward trend.
A retracement, as mentioned above, is simply a temporary countermovement within a more significant trend. Therefore, they are short-lived, while reversals are further lasting.
Every trader aims to identify retracements for better entry points. But they must also avoid getting caught up in trend reversals. Context and price action are the two core factors that can help differentiate between a reversal and a retracement. To know price movement, a trader must determine whether current asset prices represent the trend’s beginning, middle, or end.
One needs to have an overview of the market and understand what caused the start of a trend and where it is going. Then, it will help predict significant changes in the market that could cause a current trend to alter direction.
By paying responsiveness to price action, traders will assess whether a drop in the asset’s price is a pullback or a reversal. For example, if there is a drop in a stock that is trending higher, they should wait to see if momentum returns in their favor. On the other hand, if the recession is steady and uninterrupted, it may signal a reversal rather than a temporary dip.
Pullback Trading Strategies
The different pullback strategies
Having explained what pullback trading is, let’s look at the different strategies.
1. The breakout strategy
It is considered the most common strategy; The breakout retracement commonly occurs at market turning points. It includes the price breakdown of consolidation patterns such as head and shoulders, triangles, rectangles, and wedges.
When paying this strategy, it is essential to remember that trailing a stop loss so that you can break even can be pretty unprofitable, not to mention dangerous, because breakout pullbacks happen often.
2. The strategy of horizontal steps
The horizontal steps strategy is defined as the natural rhythm of the price, which shows the ebb and flow of market behavior. Stock prices often exhibit staggered patterns during ongoing trend phases. This strategy complements the breakout strategy very well.
While breakout retracements rarely occur near market turning points, if you miss the first entry opportunity, horizontal steps can allow you to find alternative entry scenarios as the trade progresses.
You can also use this strategy to safely place your stop loss behind the trend by waiting until the price completes one step and then putting your stop loss behind the previous retracement area.
3. The trend line strategy
The trend line is another popular retracement strategy. It requires three points of contact to be validated. As a trader, you can connect two random points; however, a trend line occurs only when it finds a third point to connect to.
As such, the main disadvantage of the trend line strategy is that it often takes a long time to validate. Also, remember that the trend line retracement can only be traded at the third, fourth, or fifth touch point. If you choose this strategy as a standalone method, you could miss out on several opportunities, as trend line validations take a long time.
4. The Moving Average Strategy
This is considered the most implemented strategy in technical analysis; It can be employed in several ways, including pullback trading. As a trader, you can use 20, 50, or 100-period moving averages, depending on whether you are a short-term or long-term trader.
Short-term traders often use shorter moving averages. However, these averages are often more vulnerable to erroneous signals and noise. By contrast, long-term moving averages move slowly compared to short-term standards but are much less susceptible to noise and false signals. However, you may miss short-term trading opportunities if you are not a frequent trader.
5. The Fibonacci Strategy
The final retracement is known as the Fibonacci strategy. Fibonacci levels work exceptionally well in financial markets. As a trader, you can also use this strategy for pullback trading. It would help to wait for a new trend to emerge to take advantage of this strategy.
Once the trend emerges, you can draw the A-B Fibonacci tool from the point of origin to the end of the trend wave. You can then use the C point of the Fibonacci retracement to pull back. You can also effectively combine the Fibonacci retracement strategy with the moving average process.
Also, when a Fibonacci retracement falls back into the same place as the moving averages, you can take advantage of high-probability retracements.
Conclusion
Pullback trading has been tested and proven among the most profitable trading strategies. Its high success rate is because trade is in the prevailing trend. But, unfortunately, it’s not as easy as it looks, especially for new traders.
Trading pullbacks requires skills and careful consideration of the above seven factors. In addition, you will need an effective trend trading strategy, proper risk management, and discipline to succeed in the trade. Then, combine that with analysis tools independently or together to develop stronger signals.