Trend lines are the first tool every trader learns and the one most draw badly — forcing the line to fit the story they want instead of the one the chart is telling.
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A trend line connects a series of swing points to visualize a trend's direction and slope, and to mark dynamic support or resistance. Simple in theory, but how you draw it decides whether it helps or misleads.
Drawing it right
For an uptrend, connect the rising swing lows (the trend line sits below price as support). For a downtrend, connect the falling swing highs (above price as resistance) (support and resistance). You need at least two points to draw a line and a third touch to validate it — two points is a guess, three is a trend line.
Common mistakes
The classic error is forcing the line — cutting through candles or ignoring touches to make the chart fit your bias (confirmation bias). Others: drawing on too small a sample, using wicks vs bodies inconsistently, and treating a trend line as a precise price rather than a zone. A trend line is an approximation, not a laser (anchoring bias).
If you have to torture the chart to make the line fit, the line is fiction. The best trend lines are the ones you didn't have to force.
Using them
A held trend line offers pullback entries in the trend's direction (the pullback entry); a decisive break (with confirmation, not a single wick) warns the trend may be changing (breakout vs fakeout). Combine with horizontal levels and moving averages for confluence (confluence, moving averages).
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