Objective way to identify trend
I have a trend trading system and most losses appear in the range market condition. What can I use as a range identification for my system other than looking at trendlines and swing highs lows dynamic? I tried using ADX but it doesn't work well, it often signals range when there is a trend and vise versa.
Price has two states available to it: trending and ranging. If you don't want to look at trendlines, then you're going to have a more difficult time finding ranges. You may be interested in the pdf I uploaded
here. In a nutshell, once your trendline is broken, the probability of ranging increases. If an attempt at a reversal fails, the probability of ranging is that much greater.
Your thread title says "objective way to identify trend". As you have a trend-trading system, I assume that what you're looking for is an objective way to identify ranges. The above will help you do that.
There's no reason for trendlines to be subjective. For an uptrend, draw a line across the first two swing lows and a parallel line across the intervening swing high. That's your trend channel. Flip for a downtrend. Add volume and they can provide you with a plan of action.
See the image posted
here.
You could look at the donchian channel. The donchian is a measure of new highs or lows taking place. if there are no new highs or lows within a certain time period, that I find is a really good indication of a range. it doesnt look at swings, just whether a new high or low has taken place
You can easily use that within technical screeners also.