Been trading for a few years now and still rely heavily on channels and trendlines for my setups.
With all the algo trading and AI stuff happening, wondering if these basic technical tools still hold up or if the market dynamics have shifted too much.
The basic concept works, but I ditched trying to draw perfect lines and channels.
Market structure beats exact slopes every time. I hunt for zones where price bounced multiple times instead of obsessing over perfect touch points.
If a zone held three or four times, that’s where the real action is - doesn’t matter if your line looks messy.
Algorithms actually make trendlines more reliable. Institutions program their systems to recognize these levels because they know retail traders watch them. When a clear trendline forms, you get human and algorithmic reactions at the same spots. I’ve seen cleaner bounces off major trendlines lately, especially on daily charts. Draw them right and wait for confirmation. Skip the fancy stuff - stick with what institutional money respects.
Had the opposite experience from winter_soldier. I’ve been tracking trendline trades for two years and fake breakouts are brutal now.
Algos trigger stops just above resistance or below support, then reverse. Can’t count how many times I got stopped out only to watch price rocket back in my direction an hour later.
Now I wait for the initial break, let algos do their stop hunting, then enter on the pullback. Takes more patience but my win rate jumped from 40% to 65% on trendline setups.
Still use them but entry timing changed completely. The levels matter but you gotta respect how different the game is now.
Channels and trendlines are still useful, especially for longer timeframes.
While algorithms dominate short-term trading, they generally respect significant levels of support and resistance.
I incorporate them into my strategy but rely on additional tools for a complete analysis.
They work, but you can’t use them solo anymore. Major levels still get respected by price action. This video helped me understand better trendline strategies:
Combine them with other indicators - that’s the key.
Still solid on higher timeframes but it’s mostly noise on 5min charts.