How to identify the trend (and why it comes first)
An uptrend is a series of higher highs and higher lows; a downtrend, lower highs and lower lows. Identifying the trend is the first thing any trader should do before thinking about entering, because trading with it puts probability on your side. "The trend is your friend" is a cliché precisely because it's true.
The simple method: highs and lows
Forget indicators for a moment. Look at the chart and ask: are the peaks and valleys rising or falling? If each high is higher than the last and each low too, it's an uptrend. If both fall, a downtrend. If they go sideways with no clear direction, it's a range. You can see this at a glance, with no tool. It's the most basic and most important reading.
Why trading with it changes everything
In an uptrend, rises are broad and falls are brief corrections. If you buy with it (on pullbacks), the market's own momentum works for you. If you insist on selling against the trend hunting the top, you fight the current: you may be right sometimes, but probability is against you. Most profitable traders win mainly by going with the main trend.
The trend depends on the timeframe
A crucial detail: there can be an uptrend on the daily chart and a downtrend on the 15-minute at the same time. Neither is "the real one": they depend on the timeframe you look at. What matters is being clear about which timeframe you trade and what the trend is in that timeframe and the one above. Aligning your trading with the higher timeframe's trend is one of the simplest and most powerful improvements there is.
The typical mistake: trying to catch the bottom or top
There's something tempting about trying to buy the exact low or sell the high. But catching turns is among the hardest things there is: you're betting against the prevailing trend, hoping it exhausts right now. Experienced traders prefer to enter late and safe (when the trend is confirmed) than early and guessing. Making money doesn't require catching the bottom: it requires climbing onto the trend and letting it work.
Where to start
Before each trade, ask one question: what's the trend on my chart and the one above? If you're going to trade, do it with the trend. This single filter, applied with discipline, eliminates a huge percentage of bad trades. It's the simplest and one of the most profitable things you can add today.