FOREX technical analysis - Technical Indicators

Some of the most common technical indicators used in FOREX are:

Average Directional Movement Index (ADX) – is used to determine if a market is entering a trend (either downward or upward) and how strong the trend is. Readings over 25 indicate a trend with higher values indicating stronger trends.

Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD) – shows the momentum of the market and the relationship between two moving averages. When the MACD line crosses the signal line it indicates a strong market.

Stochastic Oscillator – indicates the strength or weakness of a market by comparing a closing price to a price range over a period of time. When the stochastic is above 80 it indicates the currency is overbought while a stochastic below 20 indicates the currency is oversold.

Relative Strength Indicator (RSI) – is a scale of 100 indicating the highest and lowest prices over a given period. When the price rises above 70 it is considered overbought and when the price falls below 30 it is considered oversold.

Moving Average – is the average price for a given time interval when compared with other prices during similar time periods. For example, the closing prices over a 3 day period would have a moving average of the total of the 3 closing prices divided by 3.

Bollinger Bands – are bands which contain the majority of a currency's price. The bands are three lines – the upper and lower lines following the price movement and the middle line showing the average price. During times of high volatility the distance between the upper and lower bands widen. If a bar or candlestick touches one of the bands it indicates overbought or oversold conditions.

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