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Swing Trading Fundamentals

Candlesticks, moving averages, RSI, and disciplined stop-losses.

Module 1: Reading a Chart

Candlestick Basics

A candlestick packs four prices into one shape. Learn to read the body and wicks at a glance, with a worked bullish-vs-bearish comparison.

Moving Averages, Explained

A moving average smooths daily noise into one clean line. Here's how it's calculated, with a worked comparison of a fast and slow average.

Reading Volume on a Chart

Price tells you what happened; volume tells you how convinced the market was. Here's how to read the two together, with a worked comparison.

Module 2: Momentum & Volatility Indicators

RSI: The Relative Strength Index

RSI turns recent gains and losses into one number from 0 to 100, showing how stretched a move has become. Here's the formula and a worked example.

Relative Strength vs. the Broader Market

A stock can be falling and still be a relative winner, if it's falling less than everything around it. Here's how relative strength compares a stock to the market.

ATR: Measuring Volatility for Stop Placement

ATR turns a stock's typical daily range into one number, useful for sizing a stop-loss to how much the stock actually moves. Here's a worked comparison.

Module 3: Trade Management

Setting a Stop-Loss

A stop-loss caps how much a single trade can lose, set in advance instead of decided in the moment. Here's how to size one with ATR from the previous module.

Setting a Profit Target

A profit target is the stop-loss's counterpart — a predetermined exit on the winning side. Here's how to set one with a real risk/reward ratio.

Where Swing Trading Fits: The Swing Shift Smart Portfolio

This course has covered running a swing trade by hand. Here's how AskProsper's Swing Shift Smart Portfolio applies the same discipline in a managed, rules-based way.