# Trendline Trading Strategy With Action And Safety Lines

A rule-based trendline trading strategy: top-down analysis, drawing rules, the Action Line entry, the Safety Line exit, position sizing and trailing stops.

Source: https://pl71428.top/trendline-trading-strategy/ · based on the channel [Tori Trades](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0ep2A36j7gTFdqW2Yvngbg) · Video: [This boring trading strategy made me $526,454](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnIkSLm2yRk) · 2026-10-30

![Trendline Trading Strategy With Action And Safety Lines](https://pl71428.top/trendline-trading-strategy/trendline-trading-strategy.webp)

## Key takeaways

- The strategy uses only trendlines drawn on price: no indicators, no oscillators, no volume filters.
- Tori Trades says she has traded the same framework for over 11 years and cites a $526,454 result.
- Entries trigger at the Action Line, a trendline drawn off the most recent swing; the Safety Line defines the invalidation point.
- Analysis runs top-down: higher timeframe first, then the trendline is adjusted for lower timeframes.
- Position size is set from the distance to the stop, not from a fixed contract count or lot size.

Trendline trading is a price-action method in which a diagonal line drawn through successive swing lows (in an uptrend) or swing highs (in a downtrend) defines where a trade is taken and where it is invalidated. Tori Trades, who runs the channel of the same name, presents it as a complete system built on two lines — an Action Line for entries and a Safety Line for exits — with no indicators, and says she has used the same framework for over 11 years, citing a result of $526,454. The waitlist for her material is open at [the Tori Trades waitlist page](https://go.toritradez.com/9acc4ff4).

## What a trendline actually represents

A trendline is a straight line connecting two or more swing points that shows the direction and slope of the trend, and it only becomes tradable once price has reacted to it at least twice. The first two touches define the line; the third touch is where the line starts to act as a decision point rather than a drawing exercise.

In an uptrend the line is drawn below the swing lows, in a downtrend above the swing highs. The practical consequence is that a trendline is always a boundary between "trend intact" and "trend broken", which is why it can serve as both an entry trigger and a stop reference. Traders who draw lines through wicks on one chart and through bodies on another get inconsistent results, so the method fixes body-versus-wick rules before any trade is considered.

## Top-down analysis before any line is drawn

The method starts on a higher timeframe and works downward, so the trendline a trader acts on is always a zoomed-in version of a line that already exists on a bigger chart. The sequence is:

1. Open the higher timeframe and identify the dominant direction: higher highs and higher lows, or lower highs and lower lows.
2. Mark the swing points that define that structure.
3. Draw the trendline on the higher timeframe first.
4. Move to the lower timeframe and adjust the line so it respects the local swings inside the same structure.
5. Only then look for a touch of the Action Line.

This ordering matters because a line drawn on a 5-minute chart in isolation often contradicts the daily structure. Top-down analysis filters out those trades before they are taken.

## Rules for drawing trendlines correctly

Correct trendlines follow fixed rules, and the rules are what make the strategy repeatable rather than subjective. The core principles:

- Use confirmed swing points, not every small pause in price.
- Never force a line through price that does not touch it; if the third touch requires bending the line, there is no line.
- Keep the line in contact with the price action it describes — a line floating far from the candles tells you nothing about risk.
- Do not redraw a line after entry to avoid a stop; redrawing is how a rule-based system turns into discretion.
- Re-check the line as new swings form, because a trendline is a living object that must be maintained.

One refinement that traders often add is anchoring lines only to swing points that are objectively confirmed, for example a low with several higher lows on each side. That way two people looking at the same chart draw the same line, which is a precondition for backtesting the strategy at all.

## The Action Line and the entry criteria

The Action Line is the trendline closest to current price, and it is where the trade is triggered. Price returning to the Action Line inside an intact higher-timeframe trend is the setup; the entry is taken on the reaction at that line rather than in the middle of the range between lines.

This is the part of the method that requires patience. Most of the time price is travelling between the Action Line and the Safety Line, and there is nothing to do. Trades only exist at the boundary. That single rule removes most impulsive entries, which is why the approach is often described as boring — and why it survives contact with real markets better than setups that require constant screen time.

## The Safety Line, stops and position sizing

The Safety Line is the second trendline, placed beyond the Action Line, and it marks where the trade idea is wrong. Position size is derived from the distance between entry and the Safety Line, not from a fixed number of contracts or lots.

The mechanics:

1. Measure the distance from the planned entry at the Action Line to the invalidation point at the Safety Line.
2. Decide the maximum acceptable loss on the trade as a fixed share of account equity.
3. Divide that money risk by the per-contract or per-lot value of the measured distance to get the size.
4. Place the stop beyond the Safety Line, not exactly on it, to allow for the spread and for wicks that pierce the line without breaking structure.

A wider gap between the two lines means a smaller position for the same risk; a tighter gap allows a larger one. This is how a system with a modest win rate can still compound: risk per trade stays constant while the distance to invalidation changes.

## Trailing stops and ongoing maintenance

Trailing a stop means moving it in the direction of the trade as new swings form, and in this framework the stop follows the Safety Line rather than an arbitrary number of points. When a new higher low appears in an uptrend, the Safety Line is redrawn to that swing and the stop moves with it, locking in part of the open profit without cutting the trade short.

The maintenance routine is the unglamorous half of the strategy: revisit the lines as structure develops, retire a line once it has been broken and price has accepted the break, and re-run the top-down sequence after a significant move. Lines that are never updated become fiction, and trades based on fiction are the ones that turn a planned loss into a large one.

## Typical questions and doubts from traders

Beginners most often ask whether the method works without indicators, and the answer inside the framework is that the trendline itself is the indicator — it is a visual representation of swing structure, and adding an oscillator on top only creates conflicting signals. A second recurring doubt is whether the approach is too simple to be profitable; the counter-argument is that simplicity is what allows the same rules to be applied identically on every chart and in every market, which is what makes results measurable at all.

A third theme is time. Traders coming from indicator-heavy systems expect frequent signals, while a two-line framework can go days without a valid setup, so the discipline of doing nothing between the lines is part of the skill being trained. Finally, many ask about applying the same lines to forex, futures, indices and crypto at once — the geometry transfers, but contract specifications, spreads and session hours do not, so position sizing has to be recalculated market by market.

## Tools and links from the video

Tori Trades points viewers to a small set of resources that support the workflow described above:

- Waitlist for the Tori Trades material: https://go.toritradez.com/9acc4ff4
- Trade tracking with TradeZella (discount code TORI20 on the yearly plan): https://go.toritradez.com/yt-tradezella
- The broker used in the videos, TradeStation: https://go.toritradez.com/yt-tradestation
- Instagram: https://go.toritradez.com/yt-instagram
- Facebook: https://go.toritradez.com/yt-facebook

Trade tracking deserves a note of its own: a journal that records entry, exit, the line the trade was taken at and the resulting R-multiple is what turns a drawn line into evidence about whether the system has an edge on a given market and timeframe.

## Summary

The trendline framework is deliberately minimal: top-down analysis to establish direction, two lines to define where a trade is valid and where it is dead, and position sizing derived from the distance between them. Tori Trades presents it as a system she has run for more than a decade, with a stated result of $526,454, and the structure explains why it holds up — every decision is defined before the trade, so there is nothing left to improvise in the moment. The remaining work is maintenance: keeping lines current, trailing stops with new swings, and logging every trade. Readers who want to follow the material can join [the Tori Trades waitlist](https://go.toritradez.com/9acc4ff4).

## Questions & answers

**Do I need indicators to trade trendlines?**

No. In this framework the trendline is the only tool: it encodes swing structure and defines both entry and invalidation. Adding oscillators or moving averages on top tends to produce conflicting signals, because a line can be intact while an indicator is already overbought. The discipline is to act only at the line.

**How do I decide position size with the Action Line and Safety Line?**

Measure the distance from your entry at the Action Line to the invalidation point at the Safety Line, then divide the money you are willing to lose on the trade by the per-contract or per-lot value of that distance. A wider gap means a smaller position for the same risk. Place the stop slightly beyond the Safety Line to absorb spread and wicks.

**Does the same trendline strategy work on forex, futures and crypto?**

The geometry transfers to any liquid market, but the details do not. Contract size, tick value, spreads, funding and session hours differ, so position sizing and stop placement have to be recalculated for each instrument. Test the rules on one market and one timeframe before applying them across several.

**Why does the strategy feel so slow compared to indicator systems?**

Because trades only exist at the boundary lines, and price spends most of its time travelling between them. A two-line framework can go days without a valid setup, and sitting out those periods is part of the method rather than a flaw in it. Fewer, rule-defined entries are what make the results measurable.