Moving Averages - How to Use Them For Bigger Profits
By Sacha
Tarkovsky
Moving averages are useful in forex trading but you need to
know how to use them correctly.
If you do they are useful for buying into existing trends,
but they should never be used in isolation.
Let's see how to use them correctly.
There purpose
Moving averages come in various forms, but they all have the
same aim:
To help traders identify trends smoothing out the day-to-day
price fluctuations and show the average price over a set period
time.
The closing price is simply added up and divided by the period
of the moving average.
Popular moving averages
200 Day
are popular for tracking longer trends
20 to 60 Day
are useful for intermediate trends
5 to 20 Days are popular for short cycles.
Which average should you use and when?
They should never be used to identify new trends and never
use
in short time periods i.e under two weeks.
A Lagging not a leading indicator
There a lagging indictor in terms of price action NOT a leading
indicator.
You should NOT use them to identify new trends does not mean
they are not useful.
They are good as a filter for entering existing trends that
are moving strongly.
A simple way to use moving averages
For example, a set up we like in a lot of markets is when a
trend kicks off the 40 day moving average we view as a line
that if broken the trend could be in danger.
We then look for pops back to the 18 day moving average to
consider entering trades in the direction of the existing trend.
Moving averages should never be used by themselves.
They should be combined with other indicators i.e. support
and resistance or a momentum indicator such as the stochastic.
They can be a very useful tool for entering an existing trend
in motion and a warning sign when a trend is ending.
They still have a use
Moving averages are not as popular as they once were - I can
remember the 1970s and you could simply trade using moving averages.
Trends in currencies and commodities then, were not subject
to the volatility they are today, so they can't be used in this
way.
However, as a backup tool for identifying and entering strong
trends they can still make a valuable contribution to your trading
plan.
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