Trend has a definition that fits in a sentence: a sequence of higher highs and higher lows, or lower highs and lower lows. Everything else is commentary.
The practical value is that it gives you a falsifiable statement. If you are long an uptrend, the trend is intact until price makes a lower low. That is not an opinion, and it is where your stop belongs. "The trend looks tired" is not a trading decision; "it broke the last higher low at 4.12" is.
VWAP
Volume-weighted average price: the average price paid today, weighted by size, reset each session. It is the most useful single line on an intraday chart, for a reason that has nothing to do with technical analysis: it is the benchmark large orders are measured against, so real flow reacts to it.
- ·Above VWAP: the average buyer today is in profit. Dips get bought.
- ·Below VWAP: the average buyer is underwater. Rallies get sold into by people getting out flat.
- ·Losing VWAP after holding it: one of the cleanest intraday signals there is. The character of the day changes.
- ·Reclaiming VWAP on volume: the VWAP reclaim setup. Needs participation, or it is noise crossing a line.
Moving averages, and how few you need
| MA | Intraday role | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 9 EMA | The trailing edge of a strong trend. Momentum names ride it. | Keep |
| 20 EMA | Where the first real pullback usually finds support. | Keep |
| 200 EMA (1-min) | Rough session-level context, occasionally a magnet. | Optional |
| 50 / 100 / 200 SMA (daily) | Meaningful on liquid names. Largely decorative on a microcap that IPO'd 11 months ago. | Drop intraday |
A moving average is a lagging summary of price you already have on the screen. Its honest use is as a visual trailing stop and a way to see whether pullbacks are getting shallower or deeper. It is not support in the way a prior high is support: nobody has a position at the 9 EMA, because the 9 EMA is not a price anyone traded.
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