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MACD
MACD Buy and Sell Signals
While some traders will invariably come up with unique and novel MACD trading systems, MACD trade signals are usually indicated by: crossovers, divergences and dramatic rises in the technical indicator.
Crossovers - A simple MACD trading strategy is to short the market when the MACD moving averages and histogram crosses down at the same time, and visa versa for long trades. A point of caution though, traders often enter trades prematurely when it appears that a trading signal is forming. However, no trading signal is confirmed until the candle for the period has closed. This is because the market can reverse or bounce just before the cross is confirmed, in which case the trade signal becomes invalid; see figure 1.
Divergence – The MACD indicator usually signals that a turn around is about to occur when the security price diverges from the indicator. For example, if the market has made a new high but the MACD fails to also make a new high, a reversal is forecasted. In these instances, the MACD is said to be a forward-looking indicator because of this forecasting characteristic.
Dramatic rise or fall - Another signal that a reversal could occur, or that a security is overbought/oversold happens when the shorter moving average moves away from the longer-term moving average in a dramatic manner. If the trend remains intact this pattern could signal that a pullback, in the price of the security, could occur before the moves continues.
Use dramatic moves to identify instances when the market could pullback prior to continuing the current trend, or use trend lines and other indicators to identify market turns.
Finding Good MACD Trade Signals
Generally speaking, it is better to trade in the direction of the trend. Doing so improves the chances of a trade being profitable. Even if a long trade was entered high, or a short trade was entered low, the market may forgive that trading error by virtue of the fact that the trade was entered to take advantage of the momentum and general trend of the market.
The principle is also true when trading a MACD strategy; it is better to ignore all MACD trade signals that oppose the general trend. If one is day trading intra-day timeframes (i.e., 15min, 1hr and 3hr charts), look to the daily charts to get a sense of the overall direction and momentum of the market before deciding on whether to go long or short and a particular instrument.
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+ //| MACD Sample.mq4 | //| Copyright © 2005, MetaQuotes Software Corp. | //| http://www.metaquotes.net/ | //+------------------------------------------------------------------+ extern double TakeProfit = 50; extern double Lots = 0.1; extern double TrailingStop = 30; extern double MACDOpenLevel=3; extern double MACDCloseLevel=2; extern double MATrendPeriod=26; //+------------------------------------------------------------------+ //| | //+------------------------------------------------------------------+ int start() { double MacdCurrent, MacdPrevious, SignalCurrent; double SignalPrevious, MaCurrent, MaPrevious; int cnt, ticket, total; // initial data checks // it is important to make sure that the expert works with a normal // chart and the user did not make any mistakes setting external // variables (Lots, StopLoss, TakeProfit, // TrailingStop) in our case, we check TakeProfit // on a chart of less than 100 bars if(Bars<100) { Print("bars less than 100"); return(0); } if(TakeProfit<10) { Print("TakeProfit less than 10"); return(0); // check TakeProfit } // to simplify the coding and speed up access // data are put into internal variables MacdCurrent=iMACD(NULL,0,12,26,9,PRICE_CLOSE,MODE_MAIN,0); MacdPrevious=iMACD(NULL,0,12,26,9,PRICE_CLOSE,MODE_MAIN,1); SignalCurrent=iMACD(NULL,0,12,26,9,PRICE_CLOSE,MODE_SIGNAL,0); SignalPrevious=iMACD(NULL,0,12,26,9,PRICE_CLOSE,MODE_SIGNAL,1); MaCurrent=iMA(NULL,0,MATrendPeriod,0,MODE_EMA,PRICE_CLOSE,0); MaPrevious=iMA(NULL,0,MATrendPeriod,0,MODE_EMA,PRICE_CLOSE,1); total=OrdersTotal(); if(total<1) { // no opened orders identified if(AccountFreeMargin()<(1000*Lots)) { Print("We have no money. Free Margin = ", AccountFreeMargin()); return(0); } // check for long position (BUY) possibility if(MacdCurrent<0 && MacdCurrent>SignalCurrent && MacdPrevious<SignalPrevious && MathAbs(MacdCurrent)>(MACDOpenLevel*Point) && MaCurrent>MaPrevious) { ticket=OrderSend(Symbol(),OP_BUY,Lots,Ask,3,0,Ask+TakeProfit*Point,"macd sample",16384,0,Green); if(ticket>0) { if(OrderSelect(ticket,SELECT_BY_TICKET,MODE_TRADES)) Print("BUY order opened : ",OrderOpenPrice()); } else Print("Error opening BUY order : ",GetLastError()); return(0); } // check for short position (SELL) possibility if(MacdCurrent>0 && MacdCurrent<SignalCurrent && MacdPrevious>SignalPrevious && MacdCurrent>(MACDOpenLevel*Point) && MaCurrent<MaPrevious) { ticket=OrderSend(Symbol(),OP_SELL,Lots,Bid,3,0,Bid-TakeProfit*Point,"macd sample",16384,0,Red); if(ticket>0) { if(OrderSelect(ticket,SELECT_BY_TICKET,MODE_TRADES)) Print("SELL order opened : ",OrderOpenPrice()); } else Print("Error opening SELL order : ",GetLastError()); return(0); } return(0); } // it is important to enter the market correctly, // but it is more important to exit it correctly... for(cnt=0;cnt<total;cnt++) { OrderSelect(cnt, SELECT_BY_POS, MODE_TRADES); if(OrderType()<=OP_SELL && // check for opened position OrderSymbol()==Symbol()) // check for symbol { if(OrderType()==OP_BUY) // long position is opened { // should it be closed? if(MacdCurrent>0 && MacdCurrent<SignalCurrent && MacdPrevious>SignalPrevious && MacdCurrent>(MACDCloseLevel*Point)) { OrderClose(OrderTicket(),OrderLots(),Bid,3,Violet); // close position return(0); // exit } // check for trailing stop if(TrailingStop>0) { if(Bid-OrderOpenPrice()>Point*TrailingStop) { if(OrderStopLoss()<Bid-Point*TrailingStop) { OrderModify(OrderTicket(),OrderOpenPrice(),Bid-Point*TrailingStop,OrderTakeProfit(),0,Green); return(0); } } } } else // go to short position { // should it be closed? if(MacdCurrent<0 && MacdCurrent>SignalCurrent && MacdPrevious<SignalPrevious && MathAbs(MacdCurrent)>(MACDCloseLevel*Point)) { OrderClose(OrderTicket(),OrderLots(),Ask,3,Violet); // close position return(0); // exit } // check for trailing stop if(TrailingStop>0) { if((OrderOpenPrice()-Ask)>(Point*TrailingStop)) { if((OrderStopLoss()>(Ask+Point*TrailingStop)) || (OrderStopLoss()==0)) { OrderModify(OrderTicket(),OrderOpenPrice(),Ask+Point*TrailingStop,OrderTakeProfit(),0,Red); return(0); } } } } } } return(0); } // the end.
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