Saturday, August 06, 2011

Stochastic

The Stochastic is another indicator that helps us determine where a trend might be ending.
By definition, a Stochastic is an oscillator that measures overbought and oversold conditions in the market. The 2 lines are similar to the MACD lines in the sense that one line is faster than the other.

Stochastic used on Charts

How to Trade Using the Stochastic

As we said earlier, the Stochastic tells us when the market is overbought or oversold. The Stochastic is scaled from 0 to 100.

When the Stochastic lines are above 80 (the red dotted line in the chart above), then it means the market is overbought. When the Stochastic lines are below 20 (the blue dotted line), then it means that the market is oversold.

As a rule of thumb, we buy when the market is oversold, and we sell when the market is overbought.

Stochastic overbought

Looking at the chart above, you can see that the Stochastic has been showing overbought conditions for quite some time. Based on this information, can you guess where the price might go?

Price drops after stochastic hit overbought

If you said the price would drop, then you are absolutely correct! Because the market was overbought for such a long period of time, a reversal was bound to happen.
That is the basics of the Stochastic. Many traders use the Stochastic in different ways, but the main purpose of the indicator is to show us where the market conditions could be overbought or oversold.

Over time, you will learn to use the Stochastic to fit your own personal trading style.
Okay, let's move on to RSI.


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