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Nial Fuller

NIAL FULLER Nial Fuller
Professional Trader, Author & Coach

What Is Price Action Trading ?

what is price action tutorial

1- The definition Of Price Action trading

2- Trading with “Messy” Vs “Clean” Charts

3- How to identify trending and consolidating markets using price action

4- How to trade with Price Action trading strategies

5- How to use chart confluence and Price Action signals

The Definition of Price Action Trading

Price Action Trading (P.A.T.) is the discipline of making all of your trading decisions from a stripped down or “naked” price chart. This means no lagging indicators outside of maybe a couple moving averages to help identify dynamic support and resistance areas and trend. All financial markets generate data about the movement of the price of a market over varying periods of time; this data is displayed on price charts. Price charts reflect the beliefs and actions of all participants (human or computer) trading a market during a specified period of time and these beliefs are portrayed on a market’s price chart in the form of “price action” (P.A.).

Whilst economic data and other global news events are the catalysts for price movement in a market, we don’t need to analyze them to trade the market successfully. The reason is pretty simple; all economic data and world news that causes price movement within a market is ultimately reflected via P.A. on a market’s price chart.

Since a market’s P.A. reflects all variables affecting that market for any given period of time, using lagging price indictors like stochastics, MACD, RSI, and others is just a flat waste of time. Price movement provides all the signals you will ever need to develop a profitable and high-probability trading system. These signals collectively are called price action trading strategies and they provide a way to make sense of a market’s price movement and help predict its future movement with a high enough degree of accuracy to give you a high-probability trading strategy.

“Clean” Charts vs. “Messy” Indicator-laden Charts

Next, to demonstrate the stark contrast between a pure P.A. chart and one with some of the most popular trading indicators on it, I have shown two charts in the examples below. The chart on the top has no indicators on it, there’s nothing but the raw P.A. of the market on that chart. The bottom chart has MACD, Stochastics, ADX and Bollinger Bands on it; four of the most widely used indicators AKA “secondary” analysis tools as they are sometimes called:

The image example below shows a clean price action chart, with no mess, and no indicators, just pure price bars:

price action diagram 1

The image example below shows a messy price action chart, with lots of clutter, indicators and mess:

price action diagram - messy 1

It’s worth pointing out how in the indicator-laden chart you actually have to give up some room on the chart to have the indicators at the bottom, this forces you to make the P.A. part of the chart smaller, and it also draws your attention away from the natural P.A. and onto the indicators. So, not only do you have less screen area to view the P.A., but your focus is not totally on the price action of the market like it should be.

If you really look at both of those charts and think about which one is easier to analyze and trade from, the answer should be pretty clear. All of the indicators on the chart below, and indeed almost all indicators, are derived from the underlying P.A.. In other words, all traders do when they add indicators to their charts is produce more variables for themselves; they aren’t gaining any insight or predictive clues that aren’t already provided by the market’s raw price action.

Examples of some of my favorite price action trading strategies:

Next, let’s take a look at some of the price action trading strategies that I teach. Note that I’ve included a “failed” trade setup because not every trade will be a winner; we aren’t here to show you “perfect” past trading results…we are here to teach you in an honest and realistic manner.

In the image example below, we are looking some of my favorite P.A. trading strategies:

price action strategies diagram

Determine a market’s trend using price action

One of the most important aspects of learning to trade with P.A. is to first learn how to identify a trending market versus a consolidating market. Trading with the trend is highest-probability way to trade and it’s something you HAVE TO learn how to do if you want to stand a chance at making serious money as a trader.

The charts below shows how to use price dynamics to determine a markets trend. We consider a market to be in an uptrend if it is making Higher Highs and Higher Lows (HH, HL) and a downtrend is Lower Highs and Lower Lows (LH, LL).

In the image example below, we can see how higher highs and higher lows signal an up-trend in a market:

uptrending price action diagram

In the image example below, we can see how lower highs and lower lows signal a down-trend in a market:

downtrend price action diagram

Determine Trending VS. Consolidating markets using price action

As we discussed earlier, P.A.or “price action trading analysis” is the analysis of the price movement of a market over time. From our analysis of price movement we can determine a market’s underlying directional bias or “trend”, or if the market has no trend it is said to be “consolidating”…we can easily determine whether a market is trending or consolidating from simply analyzing its P.A.. We saw how to determine a market’s trend above, to determine if a market is consolidating we just look for an absence of the HH, HL or LH, LL patterns. In the chart below note how the “consolidating price action” is bouncing between a horizontal support and resistance level and is not making HH, HL or LH, LL but is instead going sideways…

The image example below shows a market moving from a consolidation phase to a trending phase:

consolidation price action diagram

How to Trade with Price Action Trading Strategies

So how exactly do we trade with price action? It really boils down to learning to trade P.A. setups or patterns from confluent levels in the market. Now, if that sounds new or confusing to you right now, sit tight and I will clarify it soon. First we need to cover a couple more things:

Due to the repetitive nature of market participants and the way they react to global economic variables, the P.A. of a market tends to repeat itself in various patterns. These patterns are also called price action trading strategies, and there are many different price action strategies traded many different ways. These reoccurring price patterns or price action setups reflect changes or continuation in market sentiment. In layman’s terms, that just means by learning to spot price action patterns you can get “clues” as to where the price of a market will go next.

The first thing you should to begin P.A. trading is to take off all the “crap” on your charts. Get rid of the indicators, expert advisors; take off EVERYTHING but the raw price bars of the chart. I prefer to use candlestick charts because I feel they convey the price data of the market more dynamically and “forcefully”, if you are still using classic bar charts and want more info on candlesticks then checkout this candlestick trading tutorial.

I like simple black and white charts the best, as you can see below. In metatrader4 you simply right click on the chart and adjust the “properties” of the chart to get it looking like mine below. If you want more info on how to setup your MT4 trading platform checkout this metatrader 4 tutorial.

After you’ve removed all the indicators and other unnecessary variables from your charts, you can begin drawing in the key chart levels and looking for price action setups to trade from.

The image example below shows examples of some of the trading strategies I teach in my price action trading course. Note the key support / resistance levels have been drawn in:

price action setups 1

How to trade price action from confluent points in the market:

The next major step in trading P.A. is to draw in the key chart levels and look for confluent levels to trade from. In the chart below we can see that a very obvious and confluent pin bar setup formed in the USDJPY that kicked off a huge uptrend higher. Note that the pin bar trade setup showed rejection of a key horizontal support level as well as the 50% retrace of the last major move, thus the pin bar had “confluence” with the surrounding market structure…

In the image example below, we can see a pin bar setup that formed at a confluent point in the market:

price action retracements diagram

All economic variables create price movement which can be easily seen on a market’s price chart. Whether an economic variable is filtered down through a human trader or a computer trader, the movement that it creates in the market will be easily visible on a price chart. Therefore, instead of trying to analyze a million economic variables each day (this is impossible obviously, although many traders try), you can simply learn to trade price action, because this style of trading allows you to easily analyze and make use of all market variables by simply reading and trading from the P.A. trail they leave behind in a market.

Closing thoughts on Price Action Trading…

I hope today’s introduction to Price Action Trading has been a helpful and enlightening lesson for you. No matter what strategy or system you end up trading with, having a solid understanding of P.A. will only make you a better trader. If you’re like me, and you love simplicity and minimalism, you’ll want to become a “pure” P.A  trader and remove all unnecessary variables from your charts. If you’re interested in learning how I trade with simple price action strategies, checkout my Price Action Trading Course for more info.

Good trading, Nial Fuller

Related Price Action Lessons:

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Nial Fuller

About Nial Fuller

is a Professional Trader, Investor & Author who is considered ‘The Authority’ on Price Action Trading. His blog is read by over 200,000+ followers and he has taught 25,000+ students since 2008. In 2016, Nial won the Million Dollar Trader Competition. Checkout Nial's Professional Trading Course here.
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  1. Lalit

    Please teach become a perfect treder please help me sir

    Reply
  2. Bhavin Mistry

    Nice explanation with charts.

    Reply
  3. Abraham

    Woo I love all the explanation in this sight

    Reply
  4. Matt

    Your teaching great simple straight forward and easy to understand I love it.

    Reply
  5. RAVINDARAN

    Thank You So Much !!

    Reply
  6. Mohammad Reza

    Hello good time
    I read this article, it was great because you did not use the indicator. I would like him to teach me about this. Thank you very much.
    Sincerely
    Mohammad Reza

    Reply
  7. Nwiwu Austin

    Thanks so for your style of teaching you are too good.

    Reply
  8. Sachin Warpe

    Dear sir,
    The way you have explained much information in short with ???????? chart easy to understand for begginer also.

    Great job, Thanks a lot sir!!
    You helped us, God will help you.

    Reply
  9. Daniel

    Thanks for the insight and God bless you.

    Reply
    • Emmanuel Ruzuga

      Hey broo how you?? Sorry broo also me I beginer forex trender I want to master price action so i need support for you my broo or advise to master this strategy

      Reply
      • Suvra prakash nayak

        Excellent presenteatio

        Reply
  10. Efemena palmer

    Thank you sir for this wonderful knowledge.

    Reply
  11. Victor Etteh John

    You are the best.
    I confirm all you said to be true

    Reply
  12. fitir

    nail u are 1 of my best top 3 Forex mentor, u are obviously great keep it up, GOD bless. pls i want u to discus the strategy, best time to use in trading crude oil, gold and silver thanks.

    Reply
  13. Mr Hoang

    Thanks Sir!

    Reply
  14. Tom

    Hi,

    So, this is my first time browsing your site and I can see you have some useful info on the site; however, what I noticed is that almost all of your teachings are based off of a ‘daily’ chart! Now, unless somewhere on your site or in your courses you mention to people that trading off of a daily chart requires a rather large trading account, none of this analysis would really mean much or be useful to someone with a small account (which is almost everyone looking for a new trading course) who is trading on a 1, 2 or 5 min chart.

    Taking your signal bars on a 5 minute chart would cause many many stop outs before one would work out, simply because of the noise. Unless you have other signals bars to enter on smaller timeframes of course.

    Just my opinion and based on my own studies and trading of price action on all timeframes over the past 10 or so years. Robust price action trading should work on all timeframes, not just the higher timeframes in my opinion.

    Cheers

    Reply
    • Nial Fuller

      You are incorrect on 2 points. It is incorrect to assume price action works the same on all timeframes. The lower the timeframe the less effective the signal is because of noise. If a signal takes a day to form it has more weight behind it, if a signal takes 5 minutes to form is has much less weight behind it. Does a pebble have the same impact on a pool of water as a boulder ? Think about that for a moment.
      It is incorrect to assume that daily charts mean you need a larger size trading account, you can solve this problem by reducing position size per trade (less contracts or fractional lots).

      Reply
      • Peter

        Agree totally Nial

        Reply
  15. Percy

    This was so helpful for me as a beginner.Looking forward to put it into action and learn more.

    Reply
  16. Albert Mutemeri

    Wow,thank you so much Sir Nail this was so eye opening and informative.

    Reply
  17. ABDULLAH-AL-AMIN

    Sir many many thanks. God bless you.

    Reply
  18. Denish

    Mentor Nial, thanks so much for your concern and introduction to price action strategy, am now off to go now Mr Nial, thanks so much

    Reply
  19. Priyanka

    Neil, Thanks for a great read. I have few questions
    1) On what time frame do you draw support and resistance? Do you keep changing it as per time frame or keep it constant?
    2) If I get a pin bar at 1 hour chart, Can’t i trade it without getting confluence from longer time frame of charts?

    Reply
  20. Machi

    It’s 2020 so far no better PA explanation than this one..your writing is concise and no BS.

    Keep up good work..

    Thanks

    Reply
  21. Mr Rock

    To be sincere, as a trader, price action gives me an edge over the market every time. And no other trading strategies I have ever seen comparable to the price action strategy. Therefore, any trader who really wants to make it big in this business has to learn this price action strategy wholeheartedly. I love it so much. Though the learning curve is long, but the end result is highly, incomparably and indisputably profitable.

    Thanks Nial for this great work here!

    Reply
  22. George Mukanda

    You have helped me to deepen my understanding of the price action strategy.Thank you so much. God bless you abundantly.

    Reply
  23. Clemence saulo

    Thank you sir you have change the way I have been trading

    Reply
  24. konky dare

    wow!!! what a wonderful information, very understandable and comprehensive… more knowledge to your wisdom.

    Reply
  25. The Forex Scalpers

    Thank you for sharing such a piece of wonderful information with us. Great job!

    Reply
  26. KAVUO ISSAH DIYAKA

    woow your lesson was fantastic. i wish to get more . i graduated from the university 3 months ago and want to divert my profession to fx trading. thanks so much sir.

    Reply
  27. Kabelo Qhelane

    thank you so much sir for this wonderful explanation. i am really happy for this information because its now that i became aware that i was lost by other traders.

    thank you so much, i wish you can go deeper if possible

    Reply
  28. Oageng

    Hey Nial. I’ve been a price action trader for almost a year now, and what you wrote is completely relatable. I do this. If I may ask though, what are the benefits of being your group member? With all this info at our disposal and all. Is there any more stuff to learn?

    Reply
  29. Pheello Nkaki

    Thank you Nial, the lesson was so interesting and have started to use those stratergies, will give youfeedback.

    Reply
  30. Kenneth Majola

    Thanks for sharing price action it helped me be a profitable trade

    Reply
  31. wali ogechi

    i think u will be a great teacher

    Reply
  32. robert

    lesson was very comprehensive,thanks alot

    Reply
  33. NWEKE UCHENNA EMMANUEL

    Great lesson

    Reply
    • Adegboyeg

      You have explain price action in a very simple way, well- done

      Reply
    • Julius Freeman

      So great !!!

      Reply
  34. Karel Ben

    Hello Nial,
    I am from the Czech Republic and have searched on the internet for 50% retracement setup and discovered your site. Even though I went through the training of some good teachers, I see that studying your articles will move me another piece on my journey to be a trader. Thank you very much.
    So far I want to study them and get them under my skin.
    Then I’ll call and sign up for your live course.

    Everything good in the new year.

    Karel

    Reply
  35. Emmanuel Binya

    Thank you so much for this special knowledge you provide, I suggest if possible to convert to pdf so that can be easy for someone to read when they are offline

    Reply
  36. Logan Fx

    Thank you Nial I found this P.A useful sir

    Reply
    • Ferdous Kamal

      I,without any hesitation would like to comment that your articles are so simple ,informative and educative that even a novice like me can easily understand .I feel myself to be a lucky guy to meet a great teacher like you .Thank you very much .

      Reply
  37. Kabole

    thanks sir I went through it seems interesting, I’ll practice price section and see the results

    Reply
  38. Dave

    I am a beginner. And I find your articles interesting. They are full of insights. Thanks a lot.

    Reply
  39. Francis de Souza

    Probably the best lesson I have ever learned in forex ; I’ll practice and see the result

    Reply
  40. Jerome

    This Article helped a lot in helping grasp the concept. I’m using the support & resistance strategy to trade but one thing always gets me losing when the market is consolidated: how do I select my entry and re-entry points?

    Reply
  41. MD. Firoz zaman

    It is a nice technical analysis.

    Reply
  42. Zamokwakhe Emmanuel Mohase

    Good evening I find your lesson vey usefully I am looking forward to build a career out of trading so i will need all the help I can get

    Reply
  43. Quintin

    I took the week off from work to learn more and today my last day of the week cane across this article. I’m so thankful as it is all confirmation that I am on the right track. Also if I hadn’t traded the whole week before it might not have made so much sense. Thanks a million for this great informative and accurate information! GREAT JOB!

    Reply
  44. Thembile

    Thank you so much Nial.

    Reply
  45. Ravi

    Amazing!!!

    Reply
  46. Chidi

    nice one

    Reply
  47. Luis De Menezes

    Congratulations.Between all market Gurus I like your writtings and v. simple explanations by charts.I am trading since 1992

    Reply
  48. Joao

    Awesome Stuff

    Reply
    • maximillian Sasagu

      Wao!! your are Great Sir its Precisely understandable we are together
      your MAXIMILLIAN SASAGU

      Reply
  49. Tamonokare Adokiye Ferguson

    Loving this already. So insightful.

    Reply
  50. Olive Peace Nabuuma

    youre really excellent at this. too bad the membership is too high

    Reply
  51. Jeremy Kirui

    Invaluable reference and knowledge this is truly tailor made.

    Reply
  52. Hazman Zakaria

    Big thanks

    Reply
  53. Cucu Pok Leh

    a very good info tQ sir

    Reply
  54. Gazman Mohd Nor

    Good info….

    Reply
  55. Chokthiwat Chokthiwat

    Ok. …..

    Reply
  56. Vicent Michael

    Nice

    Reply
  57. INDUWARASG

    THANK YOU SIR

    Reply
  58. Anesu

    Lucid,brevity and stark thanks Nial.

    Reply
    • Robert

      This is clear and very well simplified for us beginners . Thanks

      Reply
  59. Ada Tripple A

    Big Thanks!

    Reply
  60. Gjep Ahmad

    thank you sir

    Reply
  61. Batubo Moses

    thanks i understand it now

    Reply
  62. Kittichoti Mala

    Fantastic!

    Reply
  63. Offsfish Nyaze

    Great stuff thanks

    Reply
  64. Steve Abayomi Otokiti

    nice

    Reply
  65. Miri Al Ali

    Amazing…

    Reply
  66. Ravin Nair

    thanks

    Reply
  67. siswono

    i want your student in forex analisis

    Reply
  68. Mohlomi Seitlheko

    very useful

    Reply
  69. Anass Tourabiil

    pretty useful

    Reply
  70. วิศิษฐ์ ทองรอง

    Thank you

    Reply
  71. Uzzal Baidya

    thank u so much…

    Reply
  72. Shafie Mohd

    Great article

    Reply
  73. Oleste Cemelus

    wow youre great .

    Reply
  74. Tim van Niekerk

    Great article Nial. Straightforward yet detailed enough to offer a solid grasp of PA trading.

    Reply
  75. Chyka Jacobs

    thank u sir

    Reply
  76. irfan

    Nial price action article is superb….! very informative..
    Thanks

    Reply
  77. dave j

    Nial,Thanks for the free information on p/a I found it makes sense and is easy to understand so far gday davej

    Reply
  78. Alex

    Dear Sir Nial,
    You done the best job for us to learn price action trading strategy easily. Hope every one can learn this price action trading easily if they read carefully this article.

    Reply
  79. Emalban FX

    This is great, am glad for the job Mr Fuller is doing here. Thanks.

    Reply
  80. Forex Winners

    good work
    all respect

    Reply
  81. Mike G.

    Hi Nial,

    I find your blog site very valuable and interesting. Theres a lot to learn here. Now I come to know why I fail in my trading. Thanks for the free information Nial. Its a good place to start learning to trade profitably. I will consider learning more from you and eventually be part of your community. :-)

    Many thanks Nial.

    Mike G.

    Reply
  82. Olalekan

    Dear Nial Fuller,
    . your teaching is the fuel to my Motor to keep moving and profit in my forex trading .
    Thank you for the time you use for all of them.
    Olalekan

    Reply
  83. Sulaiman

    Thanks for the clearer picture Nail! I have studied all available indicators in the trading scope and they confused me even more and have decided to go for price-action trade through my own conciense. Your affirmation in this strategy give me more confidence. I would like to learn more from you.

    Reply
  84. Ahesan FX

    Thanks Sir, this article totally change my view towards market now I feel much more confident with simple pure price chart. Eager to learn more from you…

    Reply
  85. Obinna

    this is the final piece to my forex puzzle. Sir Nial Fuller you are indeed an expert in forex strategy. thanks

    Reply
  86. abideen

    nail u are 1 of my best top 3 Forex mentor, u are obviously great keep it up, GOD bless. pls i want u to discus the strategy, best time to use in trading crude oil, gold and silver thanks.

    Reply
  87. gary

    Thanks for the lesson..eager to learn more and glad I found you

    tks

    Reply
  88. mideel

    Thanks, for the lessons.

    Its really clear and comprehensive.

    Reply
  89. calvin

    Sir Nial this is such a great introduction. This proved to be helpful in concept building thanks…!

    Reply