March 25, 2009

Bollinger Bands

Filed under: Bollinger Bands, Trading Charts — Tags: , , — @ 5:15 pm

Bollinger Bands are a technical trading tool created by John Bollinger in the early 1980s. They arose from the need for adaptive trading bands and the observation that volatility was dynamic, not static as was widely believed at the time.

The purpose of Bollinger Bands is to provide a relative definition of high and low. By definition prices are high at the upper band and low at the lower band. This definition can aid in rigorous pattern recognition and is useful in comparing price action to the action of indicators to arrive at systematic trading decisions.

Bollinger Bands consist of a set of three curves drawn in relation to securities prices. The middle band is a measure of the intermediate-term trend, usually a simple moving average, that serves as the base for the upper and lower bands. The interval between the upper and lower bands and the middle band is determined by volatility, typically the standard deviation of the same data that were used for the average. The default parameters, 20 periods and two standard deviations, may be adjusted to suit your purposes:

Middle Bollinger Band = 20-period simple moving average
Upper Bollinger Band = Middle Bollinger Band + 2 * 20-period standard deviation
Lower Bollinger Band = Middle Bollinger Band - 2 * 20-period standard deviation

Two important tools are derived from the Bollinger Bands: BandWidth, a relative measure of the width of the bands, and %b, a measure of where the last price is in relation to the bands.

BandWidth = (Upper Bollinger Band - Lower Bollinger Band) / Middle Bollinger Band
%b = (Last - Lower Bollinger Band) / (Upper Bollinger Band - Lower Bollinger Band)

BandWidth is most often used to quantify The Squeeze, a volatility-based trading opportunity. %b is used to clarify trading patterns and as an input for trading systems.

Awesome Oscillator

Filed under: Awesome Oscillator, Trading Charts — Tags: , , , — @ 5:14 pm

Awesome Oscillator determines market momentum (the second of five market dimensions) at a given time on the last 5 bars, comparing them to the momentum on the last 34 bars.
Awesome Oscillator is simply the difference between the 34 period and 5 period simple moving averages of the bar’s midpoints (H+L)/2.

Signals to buy:
This is the only signal to buy that comes when the bar chart is higher than the naught line
The saucer signals generated when the bar chart reverse its direction from up to downward where the second column is lower than the first one and is colored red, the third column is higher than the second and is colored green & should have at least three columns.
Signals to sell:
Awesome Oscillator Saucer sell signal is the opposite of the Awesome Oscillator Saucer buy signal
The saucer signal is reversed and is below zero. Naught line crossing is on the decrease, the first column of it is over the naught & the second one is under it. The two pikes signal is higher than the naught line and is reversed too.

Average True Range

Filed under: Average True Range, Trading Charts — Tags: , , , — @ 5:13 pm

Average True Range Technical Indicator (ATR) is an indicator that shows volatility of the market. It was introduced by Welles Wilder in his book “New concepts in technical trading systems”. This indicator has been used as a component of numerous other indicators and trading systems ever since.

Average True Range can often reach a high value at the bottom of the market after a sheer fall in prices occasioned by panic selling. Low values of the indicator are typical for the periods of sideways movement of long duration which happen at the top of the market and during consolidation. Average True Range can be interpreted according to the same principles as other volatility indicators. The principle of forecasting based on this indicator can be worded the following way: the higher the value of the indicator, the higher the probability of a trend change; the lower the indicator’s value, the weaker the trend’s movement is.

Here’s a chart using the ATP:

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