Buy a Bounce

Buy a bounce is a strategy that focuses on buying a given security once the price of the asset falls toward an important level of support. Traders who "buy a bounce" attempt to profit from a short-term correction or "bounce" off of the identified support.

Buy a bounce trading strategies are typically identified from technical analysis patterns. There are numerous patterns that can be used with various trading strategies that can also be deployed to profit from a buy a bounce strategy.

Many technical analysts use envelope channels as a key way to identify support lines for the buy a bounce strategies. Two of the most commonly used envelope channels include Bollinger Bands and Donchian Bands.

Bollinger Bands: Bollinger Bands are drawn using a moving average center trendline. A moving average trendline is calculated as the average of the security’s closing price over a specified time period, typically 50 or 200 days. Once a moving average trendline lines is established, chart’s draw a resistance and support line two standard deviations above and below the midpoint moving average.

Donchian Channels: Donchian Channels are an envelope channel that is created using the high and low price of a security over a specified timeframe. In a Donchian Channel the resistance trendline is created from the highest daily price over a specified timeframe. Adversely the support channel is created from the lowest daily price over a specified timeframe.

Buy a bounce trading opportunities are identified when a security reaches its support trendline. Securities will generally trade within a specified price channel range for an extended period of time with the security’s price fluctuating within the resistance and support price ranges.

When a security’s price reaches the support line, traders can potentially use a buy a bounce strategy to profit from an expected increase off the low support level. Most traders will want to confirm a bounce off of a support level by using a combination of qualitative and quantitative technical indicators before entering a position.

The most basic trade would include buying shares of the security to profit from a price increase. Traders can also use options to seek potential profits. In this scenario an investor would want to buy an in the money call that is expected to create greater profit as the price rises. As the price rises, the investor can exercise the call option at a strike price below the current price and benefit from the difference.