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Educational: A case for low volatility
🔹INTRODUCTION
A prevalent saying in the trading world is that you need high volatility to make money in the markets. However, this statement needs to be more accurate. While high volatility is, in fact, necessary, it is very much based on perspective, and there are many cases where an extremely volatile market will be your downfall.
🔹UNDERSTANDING THE ISSUE
The image above is an example of what a highly volatile market looks like. There are substantial moves and constant reversals. If you trade using traditional methods such as trend following, the majority will struggle to earn, executing in highly volatile markets.
In highly volatile markets, the odds of reaching your profit target drop significantly, and this is because the market could reverse at any time. You will also often hear that scalpers strive in these kinds of markets, which is very much possible, but this is because scalpers often trade at a negative risk ratio and take small gains from the markets. As a result, they can capitalize on those significant moves. See the image below.
However, what is happening within that highly volatile candle? One would be surprised to know that the market is not volatile within that candle on a lower timeframe. The market was very smooth and very consistent in its behavior.
Notice how the trend was very clear on the lower timeframe? Moreover, there are rarely any large spikes. Well, that is also low volatility, which brings us to another misconception between high and low volatility. Many people are under the assumption that low volatility means the market is not moving much. This is not the case. The market could be moving a lot; however, due to each move being consistent, it is considered low volatility. In other words, there is little variability in the movements. Each candle is within the same range of percentage change.
Notice how there are usually no large spikes in the low volatility charts? As long as that does not happen, trending markets can also be considered low volatility.
🔹SOLUTION
So, with all this understanding, how does one use high and low volatility to one's advantage? Well, at this point, it is clear. What anyone wants to do is use high volatility to enter the market is going to trend. So, we want to establish high volatility from a much higher timeframe. By doing this, we ensure that the market will trend significantly on a lower timeframe. What we then do is go to a much lower timeframe and execute within that volatility to catch extremely large moves in the market. Often, this will be within a single highly volatile candle. See the image below.
A prevalent saying in the trading world is that you need high volatility to make money in the markets. However, this statement needs to be more accurate. While high volatility is, in fact, necessary, it is very much based on perspective, and there are many cases where an extremely volatile market will be your downfall.
🔹UNDERSTANDING THE ISSUE
The image above is an example of what a highly volatile market looks like. There are substantial moves and constant reversals. If you trade using traditional methods such as trend following, the majority will struggle to earn, executing in highly volatile markets.
In highly volatile markets, the odds of reaching your profit target drop significantly, and this is because the market could reverse at any time. You will also often hear that scalpers strive in these kinds of markets, which is very much possible, but this is because scalpers often trade at a negative risk ratio and take small gains from the markets. As a result, they can capitalize on those significant moves. See the image below.
However, what is happening within that highly volatile candle? One would be surprised to know that the market is not volatile within that candle on a lower timeframe. The market was very smooth and very consistent in its behavior.
Notice how the trend was very clear on the lower timeframe? Moreover, there are rarely any large spikes. Well, that is also low volatility, which brings us to another misconception between high and low volatility. Many people are under the assumption that low volatility means the market is not moving much. This is not the case. The market could be moving a lot; however, due to each move being consistent, it is considered low volatility. In other words, there is little variability in the movements. Each candle is within the same range of percentage change.
Notice how there are usually no large spikes in the low volatility charts? As long as that does not happen, trending markets can also be considered low volatility.
🔹SOLUTION
So, with all this understanding, how does one use high and low volatility to one's advantage? Well, at this point, it is clear. What anyone wants to do is use high volatility to enter the market is going to trend. So, we want to establish high volatility from a much higher timeframe. By doing this, we ensure that the market will trend significantly on a lower timeframe. What we then do is go to a much lower timeframe and execute within that volatility to catch extremely large moves in the market. Often, this will be within a single highly volatile candle. See the image below.
C Nicholas Downie
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