#TradingMistakes101 The first mistake that most traders tend to make is not understanding the current trend of the market. There are many different tools that can be utilized to understand the current trend, but one of the most common is the Moving Average indicator.

A Moving Average Ribbon indicator is visualized on the chart below, displaying five moving averages of varying lengths. Traders can set the lengths to any values they’d like but it is generally recommended to utilize an even distribution of short and long lengths.

As you flip through the symbols in your watchlist, you can very quickly see where the price is relative to each of these moving averages and where they are relative to one another. If the price is trading above the moving averages and they’re in alignment, meaning they’re in order from top to bottom, shortest to longest, then the asset is in a strong uptrend. This is visualized in the below image.