ford motor co f was falling more than 5 on thursday as it continued to trend within a confirmed downtrend pattern a downtrend occurs when a stock consistently makes a series of lower lows and lower highs on the chart the lower lows indicate the bears are in control while the intermittent lower highs indicate consolidation periods traders can use moving averages to help identify an uptrend with descending lower timeframe moving averages such as the eightday or 21day exponential moving averages indicating the stock is in a steep shorterterm downtrend and descending longerterm moving averages such as the 200day simple moving average indicating a longterm downtrend a stock often signals when the lower low is in by printing a reversal candlestick such as a doji bullish engulfing or hammer candlestick likewise the lower high could be signaled when a doji gravestone or dragonfly candlestick is printed moreover the lower lows and lower highs often take place at resistance and support levels in a downtrend the trend is your friend until it’s not and in a downtrend there are ways for both bullish and bearish traders to participate in the stock   bearish traders who are already holding a position in a stock can feel confident the downtrend will continue unless the stock makes a higher high traders looking to take a position in a stock trading in a downtrend can usually find the safest entry on the lower high   bullish traders can enter the trade on the lower low and exit on the lower high these traders can also enter when the downtrend breaks and the stock makes a higher high indicating a reversal into an uptrend may be in the cards want direct analysis find me in the bz pro lounge click here for a free trial the ford chart ford reversed into a downtrend on march 30 which was accelerated on tuesday after the stock was unable to regain the 200day simple moving average sma as support the day prior the most recent lower high within the pattern was printed on april 1 at the 1634 level and the most recent lower high was printed at 1673 the following day   if ford closes the trading session near its lowofday it will print the third bearish kicker candlestick in a row which could suggest lower prices will come on friday if lower prices come traders and investors can watch for a reversal candlestick to develop because the stock is entering into oversold territory with a relative strength index of 32 which could indicate a bounce to the upside is in the cards   ford has a gap above on the chart between 1859 and 1987 gaps on charts fill about 90 of the time so its likely ford will trade up to fill the empty range in the future although it could be some time before that happens   ford has resistance above at 1551 and 1645 and support below at 1434 and 1279 see also 3 ways rising gas prices are impacting the auto industry