I'm not a fan of indicators.90% of the times I prefer to keep my charts clean relying on pure price action.But there's an indicator I use to help me ride long-term trends: The Smoothed Heiken Ashi.In this post, I'm gonna show you how to set it up and take advantage of its use.Don't worry, it's free, you don't have to pay anything.🔸The difference- The classic Heiken Ashi can produce multiple false signals as it reacts in a more sensible manner to volatility- The smoothed version filters the market in a better way as it provides consistent signals🔸Why you should be using it- It helps you to have an additional confirmation of the trend ongoing- It helps you to spot potential trend reversals🔸Setup- Open TradingView- Select "indicators"- Type "smoothed heiken ashi"- Click on the first one The second step is creating the right set up.Since I'm not a short term trader but a trend rider, I'm gonna adjust the EMAs with longer ones, switching the "smooth length" and "after smooth length" to 20. 🔸How to use itThe concept is very simple.- An uptrend is determined by a string of green candles- A downtrend is determined by a string of red candlesWhen the size of the candles increases we have a strong momentum.Vice-versa when the size of the candles decreases the trend is getting weaker.Here is a concrete example: As you can see, the SHA indicator has been useful to gauge the strength of the bullrun, with candles' size that has constantly increased.But, at some point, the candles became thinner and the price broke below the SHA compromising the overall structure.In fact, the color of SHA switched from green to red confirming the bear market as candles' size started to increase.🚨 During the past bull market -> green candles became thinner -> BTC broke below SHA -> you would have 2/3 of the signals confirming a trend reversal 🔸Let's see a trading example taking the chart of $SOL As you can see from this chart, SHA flashed to green after the SOL's price increase.Jumping on board after that candle would have been a late and therefore a bad move.So what we should have done?2 things:- Waiting for a SHA retest- A confirmation of strength given by the following candleEntering in the yellow area would have brought to a +170% move over time.🔸Important clarification- Price action always moves first while 90% of the indicators are lagging ones, meaning they react later SHA is no different and I use it as a confirmation tool to support my main thesis.It can also be useful for beginners who aren't familiar with most price action patterns but want to have a reliable signal of the trend ongoing.👁️ Oh, and if you liked this post, don't forget to like and repost to support my work!🙌