Parabolic SAR - Timing is Everything

The parabolic time/price system was first introduced by J. Welles Wilder Jr. in his book ‘New Concepts In Technical Trading Systems’. It is very often referred to as the SAR system meaning stop and reverse. This means when a stop is hit the system reverses so it is permanently in the market.

The actual point at which the system is reversed is calculated on a daily basis (or whatever time period you are looking at) and the stop moved to create a new reverse point. The SAR point never backs up.

In other words if you are long the market the SAR point will increase every day. The same is true for short positions. This is the time part of the system.

The other important part of the system is the speed at which the SAR point moves. If the market is moving fast the SAR point will move slowly at first and then increase as the market moves higher, this is the price part of the system. The rate at which the system increases is called the acceleration factor.

It is beyond this lesson to give the exact calculation of the acceleration factor and it is not really necessary to know the formula as most charting services now incorporate the system in their indicator range.

Example of what SAR looks like.

So far so good. The system is simple to trade and is very visual so it’s easy to know when you should be short or long. If the SAR point (dots) are above the market you should be short and if they are below the market you should be long.

Here’s the problem! It doesn’t perform very well in the markets I have tested it on nor do I know any traders who trade it as a stand-alone system. Maybe in the markets of the past it would have worked well but not so now. The problem is there is just too much whipsaw.

Now you may be asking if there is too much whipsaw why mention the system at all? Good question and here are two reasons I find a good use for the system.

The system can be very effective if a filter of some sort is used. In the example below of the eur/jpy I have used a MACD as a filter. If we were long the market then only long signals would be taken and the short signals ignored as long as the filter (MACD in this case) remains long. If a short signal is triggered but the filter still remains long you could close the position and wait for the next long signal. The reverse is true for short positions. You could use any oscillator you feel comfortable with or even trend lines.

Sometimes it can be very difficult to find a good place to put your stop. With the SAR system you will always know exactly where to place a stop and it will increase everyday to help lock in profits. It also gives the move enough room for market corrections without taking you out of the position. I like this particular method if I have a long-term position which I only want to check on once a day. I can quickly check how the position is and then move my stop accordingly.

I am sure you can find many other uses for the SAR system and its well worth playing around with the parameters to see if it can be added to your trading arsenal.

Tags: Broker Trading, Daily FX, Forex Broker, Forex Information, Forex Trading, Technical Analysis

Pivot Points and Forex Trading

You may hear that one of the handier tools in a Forex trader’s toolbox is a pivot point calculator. Pivot points are one of the commonly used triggers for trading systems. If you’re new to the Forex market, though, you may be foggy on exactly what pivot points are and what they can mean to your trading.

In a nutshell, pivot points are exactly what they sound like – the point at which the market is expected to turn – if it’s been going down, a pivot point is the value at which it will reverse the trend and begin to climb. If it’s been rising, then the pivot point is where the sentiment of the traders will turn and begin a downward trend. Obviously, being able to predict major movements in the money market is a valuable skill, since it hints at the where the market is moving and whether or not this is the time to trade or stick.

Pivot point trading is an especially popular method of mapping out a trading strategy. It was originally used by floor traders in the stock market who liked it because it allowed them to gauge where the market was heading with just a few simple bits of information and calculations. By knowing the high, low, opening and closing points from the previous day, they could calculate a point at which the market had ‘turned’ to head upward or downward. Pivot points can help predict where the market is going – and coupled with the resistance and support points, give you an idea how far in that direction it will go.

There are a number of ways to calculate the pivot points for the day, but the most common – and easiest – is to average the opening, closing and high points for the last day’s trading. There are other pivot points that can be calculated from those numbers as well. Before we talk about how to calculate them and what they mean, let’s define a few terms:

Pivot point – the point where the market reverses a current trend

Resistance – A high point in a market chart that recurs regularly. Generally, it’s the point where the market (or currency) will begin a downturn

Support – A low point in the market chart that recurs regularly. Generally, it’s the point where the market (or currency) will begin to climb back up.

Traditionally, support and resistance points are difficult to break through. Most of the time as the numbers approach that level; there will be a slight rebound in the other direction. An interesting phenomenon is that once a resistance or support point is broken, it tends to switch sides – a broken resistance will often become a support for prices on the other side of the line.

The most common calculation for arriving at a pivot point is:

Pivot: (High + Close + Low)/3

Resistance: 2 * Pivot – Low

Support : 2 * Pivot – High

USD/EUR Date:02/03/06 14:40 O=0.83174 H=0.83188 L=0.83167 C=0.83188

Given this data for Feb 3, 2006, the pivot points for Feb 4, 2006 would look like this:

Pivot: 0.83180

Resistance: 0.83193

Support: 0.83172

Those numbers give me some points on which to base my strategy for the day. If the market opens above the pivot point, it’s a bull market, and most advisors would go for long trades, since the direction of the market is up. If it opens below pivot, it’s time to favor short trades and quick sales.

There are two common sales strategies using pivot, resistance and support points.

Breakout Trade: When a currency pair breaks through a resistance or support point, there’s usually a surge of activity around it. Buy if the charts show a break through a resistance, sell if the rate drops below a support point.

Pullback Trade: When the exchange rate drops back from a high, most traders will buy, based on other information that’s available. It’s a tricky move, though, since the pullback could just be a temporary pause in the upward momentum, or the beginning of a downward rebound.

Using pivot points to inform your strategy in day trading is a complex subject. You’ll find a great deal written about it by various gurus and experts. These basics can help you understand what you’re reading from them.

Tags: Broker Trading, Daily FX, Forex Broker, Forex Information, Forex Trading, Technical Analysis