How To Analyze Crypto Currency Trading Charts

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Matt, I am a small time entrepreneur with a background in chemical engineering. I own a locksmithing business and a website called mybitcoin.academy. I have spent the last 6 months figuring out how I can maximize my profit out of the volatile crypto market. The growth for the last 6 months has me kicking myself for not investing everything that I had available into so many promising blockchain techs.

An Introduction To Trends

What is a trend? A trend is simply a point on the chart that appears over and over again. This can be in the form of many patterns but mostly you will see it indicated by a linear line. Below you will see a chart of STEEM trading on Bittrex from March - Present.

As you can see I've indicated a past trend that is descending. What was formed is typically called a channel pattern. A channel pattern will give you the ability to profit off of very short trades in a bearish market. Super important if you don't feel like holding your investment in place for months at a time just to break even.

How To Find A Trend

First you will probably want to go to what I consider to be the best tool for learning how to analyze charts. You can find what I'm talking about Here This is a trading tool that lets you watch and draw on live trading information.

Now, the best way to find a trend is to do a best fit line across a very long trading time. If you are looking for a long term investment then you probably want to analyze the chart in 4 hour increments as opposed to 30 minute increments.
Take a look at the chart, it should look something like this. The image below is what XRP/BTC is looking like on Bittrex right now. Can you find the trends?

ripple trading chart 4 hour increment.jpg

If you couldn't find the trends then here are some very basic trend lines. Just by following these trend lines you would have an idea of when a good time to invest into Ripple would be. Obviously this is just a beginners guide and more factors come into the overall decision to invest.
ripple trading chart 4 hour increment trends.jpg

As you can tell the currency followed the red line pretty well until in jumped to the next stage, a savvy investor would have bought at the beginning of the trend but instead of selling at the peaks would have simply purchased additional coins near the bottom of each dip.