The Andrews Pitchfork Trading Strategy
Our team at Trading Strategy Guides likes to use the Pitchfork trading system to identify a change in market behavior and make a profit from it. It’s important to understand what Andrews Pitchfork is and what pivots to use. This will give us more confidence later when taking the trades based on the Pitchfork trading system.
Moving forward, we present the buy-side rules of the Andrews Pitchfork trading Indicator.
Step #1: Identify the Three Pivot Points necessary to Draw the Pitchfork lines.
The first thing you need to establish for the Pitchfork trading system is to identify three pivot points necessary to draw the Pitchfork lines. For more insights into this topic, check out the what is Andrews Pitchfork section.
Since we’re looking for buying opportunities, we need to identify a series of rising pivot points.
Step #2: Apply the Pitchfork indicator starting from Pivot 1 and move through Pivot 2 and Pivot 3.
Now, use the three pivots identified and draw the Pitchfork trading system lines by connecting the pivots together. Start from Pivot 1 and move forward through Pivot 2 and Pivot 3.
During this stage, you’ll be plotting the Pitchfork trading system lines. This will map the most important dynamic support and resistance levels. Once you’ve done this correctly you will see a rectangle or pitchfork formed.
Step #3: Buy at the market at the first retest of the lower Pitchfork support trendline.
With the Andrews Pitchfork trading strategy, the price should be contained inside the Pitchfork parallel channel. In this regard, if we’re looking for buying opportunities, assume the lower Pitchfork support trendline to hold the price for a bounce.
We recommend buying when the lower Pitchfork support trendline is tested.
The next logical thing we need to establish for the Andrews Pitchfork trading strategy is where to take profits.
Step #4: Take Partial Profit at the Median Line, and Take Profit 2 at the upper Pitchfork Resistance trendline.
The Pitchfork trading system gives you the flexibility to manage your trades in many different ways.
Our mantra is, “Keep it Simple, Stupid.” In this regard, since the core principle of the Andrews Pitchfork trendline is that price tends to gravitate towards the median line, it’s the logical place to take some profits off the table.
We only take partial profits on the median line because we also want to maximize our profits. This will give the market a chance to retest the upper Pitchfork resistance trendline.
With the Andrews Pitchfork trading system, we’re trading in the direction of the trend. So, the expectation is to see the price moving higher and eventually retest the upper Pitchfork limits.
Note: After TP1 was reached, move your SL at BE. We accomplish two things by doing this. First, we make sure that we accumulate profits. And secondly, if the markets reverse, make sure you stopped at BE and don’t lose any money.
The next important thing we need to establish is where to place your protective stop loss.
Step #5: Place the Stop Loss below the lower Pitchfork trendline and add a buffer of 20-30 pips.
The recommended place to hide our protective stop loss is by adding a buffer of 20 – 30 pips below the lower Pitchfork trendline.
Normally, in an uptrend, the support Pitchfork trendline should hold the price above. However, in order to protect ourselves from possible false breakouts, we’ve added a buffer of around 20-30 pips to our protective stop loss.
Note* In a strong uptrend, it’s quite normal for the price to break and trade above the resistance Pitchfork trendline. Inversely, in a strong downtrend, it’s quite normal for the price to break and trade below the support Pitchfork trendline.
Andrews Pitchfork Trading Strategy Conclusion
There are many Andrews Pitchfork trading strategies that can be built around the Pitchfork trading system lines. They can all be simply derived from the Pitchfork’s trading rules. In order to use this system, you need to understand what Andrews Pitchfork is. You can also read our best short-term trading strategy.
Andrews Pitchfork is simple to understand because, according to the Pitchfork trading system principles, you only need to know these three rules:
Price tends to gravitate towards the median line.
When price breaks the median line there is a high chance it will pull back to retest again the median line.
When price breaks the Pitchfork channel on the opposite side of the channel direction, there is a shift in market sentiment and the trend can reverse.