Average True Range.

You may have read that many traders use the average true range for setting their stop losses. The reason is that the average true range is a fantastic measure of volatility and market noise.

Very simply, the average true range (ATR) determines a security’s volatility over a given period. That is, the tendency of a security to move, in either direction.

More specifically, the average true range is the (moving) average of the true range for a given period. The true range is the greatest of the following:

# The difference between the current high and the current low
# The difference between the current high and the previous close
# The difference between the current low and the previous close

If the current high-low range is large, chances are it will be used as the True Range. If the current high-low range is small, it is likely that one of the other two methods would be used to calculate the True Range. The last two possibilities usually arise when the previous close is greater than the current high (signaling a potential gap down or limit move) or the previous close is lower than the current low (signaling a potential gap up or limit move). To ensure positive numbers, absolute values were applied to differences.













Calculation:

True Range is the greatest of the following three values:

* difference between the current maximum and minimum (high and low);


* difference between the previous closing price and the current maximum;


* difference between the previous closing price and the current minimum.

The indicator of Average True Range is a moving average of values of the true range.

Alligator Indicator.

Introduction:

Alligator indicator consists of 3 lines. They are Moving Averages with various parameters. Here they are:

The First line, or the chap of alligator, is a line of balance to the considerable period of time. It's used for the chart constructing - 13 period smoothed shifting average, moved on 8 bars to the future. The Green line, or the lips of alligator, is the line of balance for the considerable period of time, which is one more step less - 5 period smoothed shifting average, moved on 3 bars to the future. The Red line, or the teeth of alligator, is the line of balance for the considerable period of time, which is one step less - 8 period smoothed shifting average, moved on 5 bars to the future.

Interpretation :

How to interpret the lines? When all of them are jolloped, it means that the "Alligator" is sleeping, and the more it sleeps the more hungry it gets. Of course, when it wakes up after long sleep, it's very hungry and starts "hunting for food", which is price, till it is glutted. As soon as it happens, it looses interest to the food, which is price, and then the balance lines meet at the same point. It's when you should fix your profit. It's time to close all positions and wait till Alligator awakes up next time.

Awesome Oscillator.

Awesome Oscillator Technical Indicator (AO) is a 34-period simple moving average, plotted through the middle points of the bars (H+L)/2, which is subtracted from the 5-period simple moving average, built across the central points of the bars (H+L)/2. It shows us quite clearly what’s happening to the market driving force at the present moment.

AO signals to buy:

* "Saucer" is the signal to buy which appears when the direction changes from the downward to upward with the second column is lower than the first one and is colored red and the third column is higher than the second and is colored green. It is generated when the bar chart is higher than the nought line.

* "Nought line crossing" is a signal to buy which appears when the bar chart passes from the negative values to that of positive. Two columns are necessary for it: one of them has to be below the nought line while another has to cross it.

* "Two tops" signal is generated when the bar chart values are below the nought line and when a top pointing down is followed by another one which is higher thus closer to the nought line. If the bar chart crosses the nought line in the area between the tops, the signal to buy is not generated. If an additional higher top is formed and the bar chart has not crossed the nought line, an additional signal to buy will appear.

Calculation:

Awesome Oscillator bar graph is a difference between 5-periods simple moving average, built on central points of the bar (H+L)/2 and 34-periods simple moving average built on central points of the bar (H+L)/2.
MEDIAN PRICE = (HIGH + LOW) / 2 AO = SMA (MEDIAN PRICE, 5) - SMA (MEDIAN PRICE, 34)

Where:

MEDIAN PRICE - median price;
HIGH - maximum bar price;
LOW - minimum bar price;
SMA - simple moving average.

Accumulation Distribution (AD).

After AC lets talk about Accumlation/Distribution(AD). The more expanded the volume of trade is the more noticeable the price changes will be. Accumulation/Distribution Technical Indicator is determined by the changes in price and volume. This indicator is a less commonly used variant of the indicator On Balance Volume. When the Accumulation/Distribution indicator grows, it means accumulation of a currency, as the overwhelming share of the sales volume is related to an upward price movement. When the indicator drops, it means distribution (or selling) of the currency, as most of sales take place during the downward price trend.

Divergences between the A/D indicator and the currency price indicate the upcoming change of prices. As a rule, in this case, the price tendency moves in the direction in which the indicator moves. For instance, if the indicator is growing, and the price of the security is falling, a soon turnaround of price is expected.














Calculation:

* Description: Accumulation Distribution (AD) is a comparison of the price movement and the current range, with the result being used to weight the current volume.
* Calculation:
AD = ((Close - Open) / (High - Low)) * Volume

Trading Use:

Accumulation Distribution is usually used as a divergence indicator, with long entries signaled by bullish divergence, and short entries signaled by bearish divergence. Accumulation Distribution can also be used as an exit indicator, by showing the end (or the weakening) of the current trend.

Accelerator/Decelerator (AC).

Accelerator/Decelerator (AC) is an oscillator that measures activation or deactivation of the driving force on the market. It changes its direction before any changes in the direction of the price take place. This oscillator has much in common with Awesome Oscillator, but unlike AO, the crossing of the zero line is not a buy/sell signal.

Accelerator/Decelerator is mostly used to predict the change of the driving force on the market. When AC is at the zero line it means that the driving force is at balance with the acceleration. When AC crosses the zero line and goes up or down the only thing that should be traced is the change of the color of the bars.

Interpretation:

The nought line is basically the spot where the driving force is at balance with the acceleration. If Acceleration/Deceleration is higher than nought, then it is usually easier for the acceleration to continue the upward movement (and vice versa in cases when it is below nought). Unlike in case with Awesome Oscillator, it is not regarded as a signal when the nought line is crossed. The only thing that needs to be done to control the market and make decisions is to watch for changes in color. To save yourself serious reflections, you must remember: you can not buy with the help of the Accelerator Decelerator Oscillator, when the current column is colored red, and you can not sell, when the current column is colored green.

Methods of use:

1. When the chart is above the zero line and there are two green bars, it is a signal to buy.
2. When the chart is below the zero line and there are two red bars, it is a signal to sell.

How To Use Moving Average For Your Profit.

Now we going to discuss that how we can use moving average to out advantage. As we already aware moving average is a lagging forex indicator which means that it is slow and it can only tell you what had just happened instead of telling you where the price is likely to move. However, by utilizing this lagging forex indicator together with repetitive price patterns, you can then form a reliable forex trading system to use.

If you have been seen a forex chart, you will notice that the price is constantly fluctuating up and down making it tough for you to visualize price action. What moving average does for you is to give you a visualizing line that can allow you to see the price movement.

Other than using the gradient of the moving average as a trend indicating tool, you can also make use of this forex indicator to place your trade. One of my favourite method of using moving average is the crossover.

This is what you need to do with this forex indicator:

Step 1: Set up a long term EMA (50 EMA)

Step 2: Set up a short term EMA (20 EMA)

Step 3: Observe the crossover of these two lines

If the short term moving average is above the long term moving average, this is known as the golden cross and it usually indicates that the trend is moving up. If the short term moving average is below the long term moving average, this is know as the death cross and it usually indicates that the trend is moving down.

This does not means that you should trade every crossover as it can be very devastating to your account. What you need to do is to make use of trend line or trend wall to help you place your trade. Remember this, you should only trade when there is a trend line break. If you are looking for forex indicator to use for your trading, you must add moving average to your toolbox.

Different Types Of Moving Average.

Now we are going to discuss different types of moving average(MA):

Simple Moving Average (SMA)

Simple, in other words, arithmetical moving average is calculated by summing up the prices of instrument closure over a certain number of single periods (for instance, 12 hours). This value is then divided by the number of such periods.

The volatility of the forex market is much more smoothed at the long periods of time due to the equal weight given for the daily price by SMA. Only the long-term trends bay me seen out of the long-term averages as far as any insignificant fluctuations get smoothed. For finding put short-term trends the short-term averages are taken, however they still give the long term expense.

The prices are mostly located close to the moving average but still aside from it. The moving average changes following the trend changes giving the additional data of the trend strength taking the slope steepness as its basis.

Exponential Moving Average (EMA):

Exponentially smoothed moving average is calculated by adding the moving average of a certain share of the current closing price to the previous value. With exponentially smoothed moving averages, the latest prices are of more value. P-percent exponential moving average will look like:

As moving averages are sometimes applied for the trend defining, they can also be used to see whether data is opposing the trend. Entry and exit systems usually compare data to a moving average to determine if it is supporting a trend or starting a new one. That's why the exponential moving average is just one of the types of a moving average.

In an ordinary moving average, all price data has the same weight in the calculation of the average with the oldest eliminated value as each new value is added. And in the exponential moving average equation as the average is being measured the most recent market action gets greater importance. Still the oldest pricing data in the exponential moving average is never eliminated.

A sell signal occurs if the short and intermediate term averages cross from the top to the bottom the longer term average. On the contrary, a purchase signal happens if the short and intermediate term averages cross from bottom over the longer term average. If you trade only 2 exponential moving averages in a crossover system it's better to use longer term averages.

It's rather important to know that a 5-day exponential moving average usually consists of over 5 days worth of data and can comprise data from all the life of a futures contract. So such moving averages can be more successfully searched by their actual "smoothing constants," as the number of days of data in the computation remains equal for the 5-day average as for the 10-day average. Exponential calculations are held at various moving average values depending on the point you start with.

Weighted moving average:

A weighted average is any average that has multiplying factors to give different weights to different data points. Mathematically, the moving average is the convolution of the data points with a moving average function; in technical analysis, a weighted moving average (WMA) has the specific meaning of weights which decrease arithmetically. In an n-day WMA the latest day has weight n, the second latest n − 1, etc, down to zero.
By looking at the moving average of the price, a more general picture of the basic trends can be seen MA are useful for smoothing raw, noisy data, such as daily prices. Price data can change greatly every day without demonstrating if the price is increasing or decreasing.

Moving averages can be used to see trends, that's why they can also be used to predict if data is bucking the trend. A weighted moving average is measured by multiplying each of the previous day's data by a weight. The weight in its turn is based on the number of days in the moving average. In this example, the first day's weight is 1.0 while the value on the most recent day is 5.0. This gives 5 times more weight to today's price than the price 5 days before.

Soothed Moving Average:

A Smoothed Moving Average is sort of a cross between a Simple Moving Average and an Exponential Moving Average, only with a longer period applied. The Smoothed Moving Average gives the recent prices an equal weighting to the historic ones. The calculation does not refer to a fixed period, but rather takes all available data series into account. This is achieved by subtracting yesterday’s Smoothed Moving Average from today’s price. Adding this result to yesterday’s Smoothed Moving Average, results in today’s Moving Average.

In a Simple Moving Average, the price data have an equal weight in the computation of the average. Also, in a Simple Moving Average, the oldest price data are removed from the Moving Average as a new price is added to the computation. The Smoothed Moving Average uses a longer period to determine the average, assigning a weight to the price data as the average is calculated. Thus, the oldest price data points in the Smoothed Moving Average are never removed, but they have only a minimal impact on the Moving Average, which is similar to how an Exponential Moving Average places more weight on the more recent data.