Breaking down the 5-3-1 forex trading strategy (2024)

Intro: 5-3-1 trading strategy

The 5-3-1 trading strategy is a simple guide used by forex traders to help establish the best forex trading plan for their own style. The 5-3-1 strategy is especially helpful for new traders who may be overwhelmed by the dozens of currency pairs available and the 24-7 nature of the market.

The numbers five, three, and one stand for:

  • Five currency pairs to learn and trade
  • Three strategies to become an expert on and use with your trades
  • One time to trade, the same time every day

Let’s look at each element of 5-3-1 trading in more depth.

Five

The 5-3-1 trading strategy designates you should focus on only five major currency pairs. The pairs you choose should focus on one or two major currencies you’re most familiar with. For example, if you live in Australia, you may choose AUD/USD, AUD/NZD, EUR/AUD, GBP/AUD, and AUD/JPY. You may base your pairs around the times they are most traded, but we’ll get to that part of the strategy later.

By focusing on only five pairs, you can gain a deep understanding of how the pairs move.

Three

Next, you should pick maximum three specific strategies to use when trading. This limit applies both to the trading style you choose and the indicators you employ with technical analysis.

Keeping your trading plan focused on just three specific strategies allows you to focus your technical analysis on specific timeframes that best fit with your chosen indicators. It also ensures you don’t become confused by using too many indicators to the extent they begin to contradict each other and show mixed signals.

Number three can be further broken into three components:

  • First, pick a specific trading style that works best with your goals. This may be carry trading, scalping, news trading, swing trading, etc.
  • Then, choose a few indicators that work best with your chosen style. Moving average-based indicators like the MACD and Stochastic Oscillator work well for day trading, and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is popular among momentum traders
  • Finally, decide on a risk management strategy that best fits your style. You may prefer to set close stop-loss and limit orders to lock in small profit gains and prevent losses, or you can use trailing stops to capture gains during long-term momentum trades

One

Followers of the 5-3-1 strategy only trade at one time, every day. One of the biggest draws to the forex market is its 24-7 availability. The all-hours trading offers liquidity and the opportunity to trade whenever you want. However, failing to log in to your trading account on schedule will guarantee you miss trading opportunities, or the market will move against you without your knowledge.

The time you pick to trade should be when the currency pairs you’ve chosen to trade are most active. Traditionally, the forex market is separated into three sessions: the Tokyo session, the London session, and the New York session. You can probably guess by the names which currency pairs are most traded during each session.

For example, The Tokyo session may not seem worth your time if you live in western Europe or the Americas. It also features the least liquidity across all currency pairs. However, if you’re interested in the carry trade strategy, it may be worth choosing this time as AUD/JPY and NZD/JPY are two of the best currency pairs for carry trading.

The time frame you choose to monitor your trades daily depends on the first two steps of this plan. Yet it is also the most crucial for you to execute your trading strategies. If you log in to trade a currency that has low liquidity during that time, you’ll be stuck unable to execute your trades according to your strategy.

Practise the 5-3-1 trading strategy

You can practise implementing this formula with different currency pairs and trading strategies risk-free when you create a City Index demo account.

If you’re an experienced forex trader ready to apply the 5-3-1 strategy to your own trading, log in to your account or open a new account with City Index.

Breaking down the 5-3-1 forex trading strategy (2024)

FAQs

Breaking down the 5-3-1 forex trading strategy? ›

Clear guidelines: The 5-3-1 strategy provides clear and straightforward guidelines for traders. The principles of choosing five currency pairs, developing three trading strategies, and selecting one specific time of day offer a structured approach, reducing ambiguity and enhancing decision-making.

What is 5-3-1 strategy Forex? ›

Clear guidelines: The 5-3-1 strategy provides clear and straightforward guidelines for traders. The principles of choosing five currency pairs, developing three trading strategies, and selecting one specific time of day offer a structured approach, reducing ambiguity and enhancing decision-making.

What is the 531 rule of forex trading? ›

The 5-3-1 rule in Forex is a trading strategy based on three key principles: choosing five currency pairs to trade, developing three trading strategies, and choosing one time of day to trade.

What is the 3 5 7 rule in trading strategy? ›

The strategy is very simple: count how many days, hours, or bars a run-up or a sell-off has transpired. Then on the third, fifth, or seventh bar, look for a bounce in the opposite direction. Too easy? Perhaps, but it's uncanny how often it happens.

What is 90% rule in Forex? ›

The 90 rule in Forex is a commonly cited statistic that states that 90% of Forex traders lose 90% of their money in the first 90 days. This is a sobering statistic, but it is important to understand why it is true and how to avoid falling into the same trap.

What is the most powerful pattern in Forex? ›

Engulfing Pattern

While there are many candlestick patterns, there is one which is particularly useful in forex trading. An engulfing pattern is an excellent trading opportunity because it can be easily spotted and the price action indicates a strong and immediate change in direction.

What is the 357 rule in trading? ›

What is the 3 5 7 rule in trading? A risk management principle known as the “3-5-7” rule in trading advises diversifying one's financial holdings to reduce risk. The 3% rule states that you should never risk more than 3% of your whole trading capital on a single deal.

What is the 80 20 rule in forex? ›

The 80/20 rule, which is also known as the Pareto Principle, states that 80% of outcomes come from 20% of inputs. This principle can be applied to almost every aspect of life, including forex trading.

What is the golden rule in forex? ›

Let profits run and cut losses short Stop losses should never be moved away from the market. Be disciplined with yourself, when your stop loss level is touched, get out. If a trade is proving profitable, don't be afraid to track the market.

What is the 2% rule in forex? ›

One popular method is the 2% Rule, which means you never put more than 2% of your account equity at risk (Table 1). For example, if you are trading a $50,000 account, and you choose a risk management stop loss of 2%, you could risk up to $1,000 on any given trade.

What is the 11am rule in trading? ›

It is not a hard and fast rule, but rather a guideline that has been observed by many traders over the years. The logic behind this rule is that if the market has not reversed by 11 am EST, it is less likely to experience a significant trend reversal during the remainder of the trading day.

What is the 70 30 trading strategy? ›

The strategy is based on:

Portfolio management with 70% hedge and 30% spot delivery. Option to leave the trade mandate to the portfolio manager. The portfolio trades include purchasing and selling although with limited trading activity.

What is the 9 20 trading strategy? ›

One such strategy that has gained traction among experienced traders is the 9:20 AM short straddle. This dynamic approach involves selling both a call option and a put option with the same strike price and expiration date, allowing traders to potentially profit from market movement, regardless of the direction.

Is $500 enough to trade forex? ›

This forex trading style is ideal for people who dislike looking at their charts frequently and who can only trade in their free time. The very lowest you can open an account with is $500 if you wish to initiate a trade with a risk of 50 pips since you can risk $5 per trade, which is 1% of $500.

Why do 95% of forex traders lose money? ›

Poor Risk Management

Improper risk management is a major reason why Forex traders tend to lose money quickly. It's not by chance that trading platforms are equipped with automatic take-profit and stop-loss mechanisms.

What is the 1% rule in forex? ›

The 1% risk rule means not risking more than 1% of account capital on a single trade. It doesn't mean only putting 1% of your capital into a trade. Put as much capital as you wish, but if the trade is losing more than 1% of your total capital, close the position.

What is the 5-3-1 rule? ›

There's math. It's called the 5-3-1 rule, and it goes like this: One of you offers five choices (of activities, restaurants, or TV shows -- whatever). The other eliminates two of those choices, no explanation necessary, leaving three. Then the original partner eliminates another two choices.

What is the 3 1 rule in trading? ›

To increase your chances of profitability, you want to trade when you have the potential to make 3 times more than you are risking. If you give yourself a 3:1 reward-to-risk ratio, you have a significantly greater chance of ending up profitable in the long run.

What is the 123 strategy in forex? ›

The 123-chart pattern is a three-wave formation, where every move reaches a pivot point. This is where the name of the pattern comes from, the 1-2-3 pivot points. 123 pattern works in both directions. In the first case, a bullish trend turns into a bearish one.

What is the 3 candle rule in forex? ›

It consists of three successive candlesticks – the first is long and bearish and is followed by a smaller bullish bar that is completely engulfed by the first one. The third candle is bullish and closes above the second candle's high, suggesting a potential shift from a downtrend to an uptrend.

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