How to trade with trendlines using a top-down analysis and two lines for entries and exits

Video: This boring trading strategy made me $526,454

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Oct 30, 2026 · based on the channel Tori Trades

Trading with trendlines means marking the swing points that define a trend, drawing one line through them, and then acting only when price returns to that line and reacts. The system is deliberately boring: no indicators, no signal scanning, no guessing — just top-down analysis, a correctly drawn line, an entry trigger at the Action Line and a stop behind the Safety Line. Tori Trades, who has used this process for over 11 years and reports $526,454 in results, walks through the full framework in the video, and you can join the waitlist for her trading resources to follow the same process.

What a trendline actually represents in trading

A trendline is a straight line drawn through consecutive swing points that shows where buyers have repeatedly stepped in (in an uptrend) or where sellers have repeatedly taken control (in a downtrend). It is not a prediction tool; it is a map of where the market has already defended a price level.

Three properties matter for the line to be usable:

1. Direction. In an uptrend the line connects higher lows and slopes up; in a downtrend it connects lower highs and slopes down. A line that does not follow the swing structure is decoration, not analysis.
2. Touch count. A line validated by several reactions carries more weight than one drawn through two random points. Each additional touch confirms that the same group of participants is still active.
3. Recency. The most recent swing points define the line that matters now. Old lines that price has abandoned belong on a higher timeframe chart, not on the one you are trading.

Because the line is derived from price alone, it works the same way on futures, forex, indices or crypto — the instrument changes, the geometry does not.

Top-down analysis before you draw anything

The top-down process starts on a higher timeframe and only then moves down, so that the lower-timeframe line you trade is a zoomed-in view of the same structure rather than a separate idea.

1. Open the higher timeframe (for example, the daily or 4-hour chart on an intraday instrument) and identify the prevailing direction: higher highs and higher lows, lower highs and lower lows, or a range.
2. Mark the swing points that define that direction — the obvious pivots, not every small wiggle.
3. Draw the trendline on that higher timeframe first. This is your reference line.
4. Drop to the execution timeframe and redraw the same line through the corresponding swing points. The line should point in the same direction and sit in roughly the same place relative to price.
5. If the two timeframes disagree, there is no trade. The higher timeframe wins.

The purpose of this sequence is conflict avoidance: most losing trendline trades come from lines drawn on a five-minute chart that contradict the daily structure.

Rules for drawing trendlines correctly

Correct lines follow a small set of rules, and applying them consistently is what makes the strategy repeatable.

• Anchor to swing points, not to wicks or bodies arbitrarily. Pick one convention — for example, the low of the candle at a swing — and use it every time.
• Never force a line through price. If the line cuts through candles instead of touching their extremes, it is wrong; adjust it to the swing points.
• Do not connect points that are not swing points. A line through two random candles will produce false reactions.
• Keep the line clean. Two or three well-chosen touches are better than a line bent to touch everything.
• Redraw when structure changes. When a new higher low forms in an uptrend, the line moves up to include it. This maintenance is ongoing, not a one-time task.

A useful discipline: if two traders following these rules would draw noticeably different lines, the structure is too messy and the setup should be skipped.

The Action Line and the Safety Line

The framework reduces every decision to two lines. The Action Line is the trendline where you look for an entry; the Safety Line is the level that invalidates the idea and therefore hosts your stop.

Entry criteria at the Action Line:

1. Price returns to the line and shows a reaction — a rejection candle, a bounce, or a clear refusal to close beyond it.
2. The higher-timeframe direction agrees with the trade.
3. The distance to the Safety Line is acceptable relative to your position size.

Exit criteria at the Safety Line:

1. A close beyond the Safety Line means the trend structure has failed and the position is closed.
2. The stop sits just beyond that line, not at an arbitrary percentage.
3. If price never reaches the Safety Line, the trade stays open and the line is trailed forward as new swing points form.

The strength of this design is that there is nothing to interpret in the moment: the entry and the invalidation are both visible on the chart before the trade is taken.

Position sizing, stops and trailing

Risk is defined by the distance between the entry and the Safety Line, and position size is calculated backwards from that distance.

• Decide the maximum you are willing to lose on the trade as a fixed share of the account.
• Measure the distance from entry to stop in ticks or points.
• Divide the risk amount by that distance to get the number of contracts or lots.
• If the resulting size is too large for the instrument's liquidity or your margin, the trade is too tight — skip it or wait for a wider setup.

Trailing works the same way. As price makes new swing points in the direction of the trend, the Action Line is redrawn and the stop follows behind it. The trade ends in one of two ways: price hits the trailed stop, or price closes beyond the Safety Line. Nothing else closes the position.

Common questions and doubts from traders

Beginners often ask whether a strategy this simple can survive contact with a live account. The recurring concerns are consistent.

"Is it really just lines?" Yes, and that is the point. Indicators are calculations of past prices; a trendline is a direct read of the same prices without an extra layer of interpretation. Many traders add indicators before they can read structure, then remove them later.

"What about small accounts?" The framework scales because risk is defined by distance, not by account size. A small account simply trades smaller size; the entry and exit rules do not change.

"How long before it works?" Drawing lines is mechanical, but recognising which swings matter takes repetition across many charts. Expect the first weeks to be about consistency of drawing, not profit.

"Why do my stops keep getting swept?" Usually because the line was drawn on a lower timeframe against the higher-timeframe direction, or because the stop was placed inside the noise instead of beyond the Safety Line.

Tools and links from the video

• Join the waitlist — access to Tori's trading resources.
• TradeZella trade tracker — journaling and analytics; the code TORI20 gives a discount on the yearly plan.
• TradeStation broker — the platform used for execution.
• Instagram and Facebook — the only official social accounts.

Conclusion

The trendline strategy works because it removes choices: the higher timeframe sets direction, the line sets the entry, and the Safety Line sets the exit and the risk. Everything else — position sizing, trailing, maintenance of the line — follows from those two lines. Tori Trades presents the full walkthrough in the video breakdown above, including how the lines are adjusted across timeframes. If you want to apply the same process, join the waitlist here and start by drawing lines on one instrument on two timeframes before risking any capital.

Source: This boring trading strategy made me $526,454 · Markdown version