A trailing stop loss is simply a stop loss that is continually trailed closer to the current price.

Many traders will employ a trailing stop loss to lock in profits as price moves higher or lower in their favor. Doing this gives the trade a chance to make a larger profit as the stop gets trailed along behind.

You can either manually trail you stop loss or have it automatically done for you.

In this post we look at how to use a trailing stop loss automatically in MT4 and MT5.

Many traders will manually trail their stop loss using strategies such as trailing the stop above or below a moving average or important price action swing points.

An example of a trailing stop loss is on the chart below.

First the entry to go long is made with the stop loss set a little way lower in case the trade fails.

In this example price moves higher and the stop loss is trailed to lock in profits as price continually moves higher.

Why Trail a Stop Loss?

Trailing a stop loss has both its advantages and disadvantages.

The biggest upside is that once price begins moving in your favor you are locking in your profits. You are also moving from a potentially losing trade into a trade that will make profits even if price moves against you.

The disadvantages of trailing your stop loss is the risk you will leave profits on the table.

As you trail your stop loss you are continually putting the stop closer to the current price. This increases the risk of being stopped out.

It is important to use a trailing stop in the market conditions that suit it best. This is often when price is making long running trending moves where you have the potential to capture a large running profit.

Whilst you can manually trail your stop loss by easily readjusting your stop in your charting platform, this post goes into how to automatically have your stop loss trailed.

Trailing Stop Loss MT4

Trailing your stop loss inside MT4 is very straightforward.

To set this up, open your MT4 charts.

NOTE: You can get the correct MT4 / MT5 Charts to Use a Trailing Stop Here. 

Once you have an open trade that you would like to use a trailing stop loss on, navigate to your charts and select; “View” > “Terminal” and “Trade”.

Hover over the trade you would like to set up the trailing stop loss for and right click your mouse.

In the box that will pop up you will see the “Trailing Stop Loss” option. Select this and you will be presented with some options. See the image example below;

You can now set up your trailing stop loss by deciding how many points away you would like to trail your stop away from the price.

Trailing Stop Loss MT5

To use the automatic trailing stop loss in MT5 simply open your charts and then navigate to “view” > “Toolbox”.

Once this is open, hover over the trade order you would like to use the trailing stop loss with and right click with your mouse.

A box will open and one of the options will be “Trailing Stop Loss”.

Once selected you can modify the stop loss to be trailed as far away as you like.

How to Set Trailing Stop on iPhone and Android

As yet the only way to set a trailing stop loss is through the desktop terminal.

This is because of how the trailing stop loss is activated. As outlined above; because the trailing stop loss is executed on the trading platform and not on the server you will need to keep your trading platform running for it to work.

You can read more information on the Metatrader Trailing Stop Loss Function Here.

How to Move Stop Loss to Breakeven MT4

Another very common strategy is moving the stop loss into breakeven once price has moved in your favor.

This can be done manually once price reaches a certain price point or a price action level where you want to have protection in case price reverses.

Using a breakeven stop means that if price reverses you are stopped out at your entry point. You don’t make any money, but you also don’t lose any. It is a breakeven trade.

The difference between a trailing stop and a breakeven stop is the breakeven stop is only moved once into breakeven. It does not continually move higher or lower as price moves.

You can manually do this, but this obviously comes with some major drawbacks especially if price moves quickly and catches you out.

You can also use an expert advisor like the one at MQLTA that will automatically move your position into breakeven for you.

The post Using Trailing Stop Loss MT4 and MT5 Quick Guide appeared first on Foreign Exchange Currency and Stock Price Action.

Not only can Bollinger Bands be used in a large number of markets from Forex, Cryptocurrencies and stocks, they can also be used on all time frames.

Bollinger Bands are most often used as a trend following indicator as well as gauging if a market is overbought or oversold. 

In this post we go through how you can set them up on your charts and three easy strategies you can use to trade with them.

Bollinger Bands Settings

Bollinger Bands are created by three ‘bands’; the upper, middle and lower band.

The common standard setting is to have the middle band set to a 20 period simple moving average.

The upper band is created by taking the middle band and adding twice the standard deviation.

The lower band is created by taking the middle band minus twice the standard deviation.

Standard Bollinger Band Settings

Middle band: Created with 20 period simple moving average.

Upper band: Created from middle band plus two standard deviations.

Lower band:  Created from middle band minus two standard deviations.

Three Bollinger Bands Strategies

Overbought and Oversold Bollinger Bands Strategy

One of the most common Bollinger Band strategies is using them to gauge if a market is overbought or oversold.

A lot of traders will use these bands and look for price to revert back the middle band or to the mean.

When using a mean reversion strategy we are assuming that if price deviates or moves too far away from the mean it will eventually have to come back.

This is often looked at as price moving back from an overbought or oversold market into more true value.

As the chart shows below; price tags the upper band before rotating back lower. It also moves lower before tagging the lower band and moving back higher. Each time it ‘tags’ the upper and lower bands it reverts back to the mean middle band.

When combining these ‘tags’ of the band with other technical analysis such as support and resistance and trendlines they can provide solid trade entry points.

This strategy can work well in ranging and sideways conditions.

However, if price goes on a long trending run, then we can see long periods where price does not move back to the mean and middle band.

This is where using Bollinger Bands in trending markets can be used.

Trend Trading With Bollinger Bands

In strong trending markets where the move has a lot of momentum price will spend a lot of time away from the mean.

If you are trying to trade looking for price to reverse back into the mean and middle band in these market conditions it can lead to endless stop-outs.

Bollinger Bands react to price as it is being created in live time. They will constrict and expand as price moves depending on what the price action is doing.

Using other technical analysis and indicators with Bollinger Bands can help you more clearly identify the trend and also confirm potential trades.

One strategy is to use another moving average such as the 50 EMA.

When all the bands are clearly under the 50 EMA you could look for short trades. The opposite would be true if price was trending higher and all the bands were above the 50 EMA.

See the example below of the clear trend lower with all the bands below the 50 EMA.

Scalping With Bollinger Bands

Because Bollinger Bands can be used on many markets and on all time frames they can make a great tool for scalping.

They can also be a good indicator to find scalp trades because if done right they will help you find fast moving markets where there could be potential for high reward trades.

There are a lot of potential strategies you could test in your own trading, but one scalping strategy is to combine Bollinger Bands with another moving average such as the 50 EMA.

Often when a market is moving in a strong trend above or below the 50 EMA price can make sharp moves. When price is making these sharp moves it will often not revert to the mean and middle band for some time.

An example of this is on the chart below; price is below the 50 EMA in a down trend. A potential entry could be when price closes below the lower band.

The trade could have the profit taken when price eventually does revert to the mean and price closes back above the middle band.

To add confirmation to this strategy you could use both the 200 and 50 EMA’s looking for the golden cross.

An example of this could be if looking to go long; the 50 EMA crosses above the 200 EMA indicating an uptrend.

The Bollinger Bands are above both EMA’s.

When price closes above the upper band entry is taken. When price closes back below the middle band the trade is closed.

NOTE: Make sure you use a news calendar like the DailyFx Economics and news calendar when scalping to make sure you don’t open any trades directly into major news announcements.

Using Bollinger Indicator in MT4 and MT5

Using Bollinger Bands inside your MT4 and MT5 charts is very easy.

First make sure you have the correct and best charts to use Bollinger Bands.

Once you have your charts open click “Insert” > “Indicators” > “Bollinger Bands”.

A box will open on your charts with the standard settings.

You can change these settings as well as the colors you would like the bands to show on your chart.

Lastly

Whilst Bollinger bands can be excellent for gauging the strength of the market, the trend and if a market is overbought or oversold, they should not be used alone.

Other technical analysis and indicators will help you confirm your trade entries such as support and resistance, trendlines, moving averages and the MACD.

When making trades with Bollinger Bands you always want to take into account the overall market conditions. Using ‘tags’ of the upper and lower bands for entries may work well in ranging markets, but during strong trends it could see you take a lot of losses.

Lastly, always test new indicators, analysis techniques and strategies on a demo trading account to make sure you are profitable with them before ever risking real money.

The post Bollinger Bands Explained With Free PDF Download appeared first on Foreign Exchange Currency and Stock Price Action.

Whilst it may be simple and easy to understand, the way in which you use risk reward in your trading and the strategy you choose to deploy it with is extremely important.

If you are a trader that aims for large reward trades, then your trading style and strategy is going to be completely different to someone else who is aiming for a higher percentage of wins, but lower rewards. This trader would be looking for lower risk trades.

Understanding your risk reward profile is obviously important to the trades that you make.

Being able to find what the potential risk reward ratio is on a trade on the fly in real-time can be very beneficial when deciding whether to make an entry or not.

In this post we look at the best free risk reward indicators for MT4 and MT5 that will quickly show you your potential risk reward right on your charts in real-time.

What is Risk Reward?

At its most basic risk reward is how much you are willing to risk compared to what the potential reward may be.

For example; if you are risking $100, but your trade could have a profit of $300, you would have a 1: 3 risk reward or RR. That is because for every 1 you are risking, you could make a potential 3.

A 1:1 risk reward scenario would be where you are risking 1 with the potential profit outcome of 1. For example; you risk $100 on your trade. If it loses, then you lose $100. If however the trade wins you will make $100.

Risk Reward Examples

Below is a chart showing a potential 1:2 risk reward trade.

In this example; 10 pips is being risked for the stop loss and 20 pips is the potential profit target. The target is two times the risk.

If a trader making this trade was risking $100 and price went against them and hit their stop they would lose $100.

If price moved higher into their 20 pips target they would make 1:2 risk reward or $200.

NOTE: It is crucial you understand how to calculate your profit and loss correctly for your risk reward strategy to work. You can read a lesson on how to correctly calculate your trading profit and loss here.

Risk Reward Indicator MT4

NOTE: If you do not yet have the best MT4 / MT5 charts to use with these indicators, then you can get free demo charts here.

This is a super simple, but also very effective Metatrader risk reward indicator from MT4 Indicators.

This indicator will help you visualize and plan out your trades potential risk reward right on your charts with three lines.

The three lines are;

1: Bid Line

2: Stop Loss

3: Target / Take Profit

You can also drag the stop loss and take profit levels to plan where your risk reward for each trade should be.

As the chart shows above; you will also be able to see exactly what your risk reward potential is in number terms right on your chart.

• You can read about and download the MT4 risk reward indicator here.

Risk Reward Indicator MT5

This MT5 indicator by Invest Soft is designed to help you mark your potential trade entry, stop loss and target entry points easier.

It is also designed to help you work out and plan your risk reward for each trade directly on your chart so you don’t have to do it manually.

This tool will help you analyze the potential risk and also reward of each trade as well as the amount of potential profit or loss you could make which is handy.

NOTE: This indicator comes with a demo / free version and a premium version. Linked below is the demo version.

• You can read about and get the MT5 risk reward indicator here.

NOTE: Need to learn how to download and install MT4 / MT5 indicators? Read the quick tutorial here; How to Download, Install and Use MT4 and MT5 Indicators

Lastly

Risk reward and the ratio you use in your trading is incredibly important, but also dependent on the system and strategy you are using.

Whilst you will hear some traders say ‘you should be using a minimum of xx risk reward’, what is important is the overall mathematics and if your trading strategy makes profits.

Whilst having an indicator such as these can be incredibly useful for analysis especially if you want quickly to see if a trade is a worthy setup, don’t rely on them alone. Make sure you correctly position size your trades and have properly assessed the risks.

The post Risk Reward Indicator MT4 and MT5 (Free) appeared first on Foreign Exchange Currency and Stock Price Action.

You cannot fix a problem if you don’t know that it exists. That is what a trading journal is designed to help you with.

Not only will a trading journal help you see your clear profit and loss figures, it will also help you perfect your trading strategy and increase profits.

In this post we go through the best free trading journals that can be used to track and improve your trading whether you are trading stocks, cryptocurrencies or Forex.

Forex Trading Journal

Trade Insights Trading Journal

Whilst not the prettiest of designs, for a free journal it comes with a lot of benefits and features.

With the Trade Insights journal you have the ability to import your trading history from a broker or via a file.

Unlike other journals that you store on your PC, all of this data is centralized for you so you don’t need to have multiple blogs, spreadsheets or other software.

There are a lot of features, but just a few are;

• Clear profit and loss.
• Allows tracking of stocks, Forex, futures and options.
• Performance metrics.
• Instrument price and volume related performance metrics.
• You can view entries, exits, and profit / loss plotted on charts.
• Breakdown of your trades showing profit and loss. 
• There is a community that shows leading performers and how you are performing in comparison (if you set your journal to be publicly shown).

Get Forex trading journal here.

Earn Forex XLS / Spreadsheet Journal

This is the simplest and most straightforward journal on this list.

It is a spreadsheet / xls journal you can download, save and use as you need and see fit.

This journal has the capability to track profit and loss, show updated balances and how your account is tracking.

If you do not have Excel, then you can use this journal in Google Sheets by first downloading the file, then opening sheets, clicking “file” > “open” > and “upload”. 

Get free spreadsheet journal here.

Cryptocurrency Trading Journal 

MyFxBook Journal

MyFxBook is an extremely well-known and popular website for tracking and verifying trading results.

It is also excellent when being used as a trading journal.

This journal gives you the ability to track any market, Forex pair or cryptocurrency you are trading as the data is being taken directly from your trading history.

MyFxBook shows you very in-depth and detailed information about your trading history.

You can also keep your profile private so that only you are the one who is seeing your trading history making it a great tool for traders who are learning or testing a new strategy.

This journal shows you everything from;

• Account profit and loss.
• Amount of trades made.
• Each trades details.
• If you win more long or short trades.
• What your average pip win and loss amount is.
• What your account growth or loss is in real money and percentage terms.
• And a lot more.

Use My Fx Book Here.

Stock Market Trading Journal

Stock Trader Journal

This is one of the most popular free stock trading journals. It is another online cloud based trading journal and it is also free to use.

This journal allows you to log all of your stock market trades, test potential new trading strategies and spot errors before they start costing your money.

This is a forward looking journal and does not support importing old data. All trades will have to be logged as you make and close them.

Read and download stock market journal here.

Trade Bench Journal

The Trade Bench journal is another free tool with a very nice amount of benefits for free software.

This journal has some benefits that the other journals do not have such as the plan trade feature that allows you to create customizable checklists for your trade plans.

Another really nice feature is that it allows you to add text comments before entering your trade. This is very useful especially for new traders or traders testing out a new strategy. Having this feature allows you to go back and revisit what you were thinking before you made the trade.

Some of the benefits of this journal include;

• Fully pre-plan your trades.
• Compare trades.
• Trades dashboard.
• Real trading & virtual trading.
• Customizable reports.
• Money management, position sizing and risk management.

Read and download stock market journal here.

Lastly

Whilst many trading journals will allow you to track your trades over different markets such as Forex and stocks, they are often more suited to one market over another.

If you trade one particular market, then you would probably be best served using the journal that is created for that market.

If you trade a wide variety of markets you may be better off using a spreadsheet or MyFxBook solution where you can tweak things as you need and have all of your trades easily logged.

The post 5 x Best Free Trading Journals for Stocks, Crypto and Forex appeared first on Foreign Exchange Currency and Stock Price Action.

The Fibonacci can be an extremely powerful tool when used correctly and in the best places.

Having a Fibonacci indicator on your MT4 or MT5 charts that is automatically plotted as price is continually moving can be incredibly handy and that is what we look at in this post.

What is Fibonacci Retracement Trading

Fibonacci is a very popular series of mathematical numbers.

The Fibonacci sequence is; 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, etc.

There is also what people refer to as the “Golden Ratio” which is 1.618, or its inverse 0.618. 

The 0.618 is a very commonly used level in trading as well as the non-Fibonacci level the 50% retrace.

In this post we are going to look at what exactly the Fibonacci indicator is, how you can trade with it and how you can use an auto fibo retracement indicator on your MT4 and MT5 charts.

How to Use Auto Fibonacci Indicator to Find Trades

As traders we are constantly on the lookout for quality trading opportunities. 

It can be hard enough to just find high quality trades. That is even before having to manually add indicators, trendlines, support and resistance levels and use candlesticks on every chart.

Similar to other indicators discussed on this blog that will save you time when hunting for trades such as the pin bar indicator or the 123 pattern indicator, the Auto Fibo Retracement Indicator finds and plots the Fibonacci on your chart for you.

The cool thing about having an indicator that automatically plots the Fibonacci levels for you is that you don’t have to ‘eyeball’ every chart to see if there could be a possible Fibo level. You will have it all pre-marked for you.

When using the Fibo indicator for retracement trading we are looking for price to retrace into one of the important levels and then watching to buy or sell.

The Fibonacci indicator is often used with other technical analysis and indicators to give better confirmation and higher quality trades. 

An example of this is on the chart above; the Fibonacci 0.618 levels also lines up with the important support level and is a potential area to watch for long trades.

Auto Fibo Retracement Indicator MT4 

NOTE: If you do not yet have the correct charts to use with these indicators, make sure you read about the best trading charts and the broker to use these indicators with here.

This free MT4 auto fibo retracement indicator is by Tonny Obare at MQL5.

Whilst this is a free indicator it is very easy to use and comes with a range of options.

You have the option to choose how many candles or time periods you wish to have the Fibonacci drawn over. Once this is selected the Fibo tool will automatically be drawn on your charts.

Another nice feature is that the indicator continually updates in real-time as the highs and lows are being created.

You can read about and download the MT4 Auto Fibo Indicator Here

Auto Fibo Retracement Indicator MT5

This is an MT5 indicator from MQL5 that is by the same creator of the MT4 version.

It has all of the same settings and options of the MT4 version and has the following options that you can set to your choosing;

• Bars To Scan: How many time periods the Fibonacci should use to be created.
• Level_1: Fibonacci level 1
• Level_2: Fibonacci level 2
• Level_3: Fibonacci level 3
• Level_4: Fibonacci level 4
• Level_5: Fibonacci level 5
• Level_6: Fibonacci level 6
• Levels Color: Customize colors for different Fibonacci levels.
• Fibo Name: You can attach multiple Fibonacci’s to one chart and give each their own name.

You can read about and download the MT5 Auto Fibo Indicator Here

NOTE: Need to learn how to download and install MT4 / MT5 indicators? Read the quick tutorial here; How to Download, Install and Use MT4 and MT5 Indicators

Recap

Once mastered the Fibonacci indicator can be a very useful tool that will add to your technical analysis.

Most traders find using the Fibo with other indicators and technical analysis will provide for higher quality trades and better confirmation. This could be using the MACD, moving averages, trendlines and other strategies such as the pin bar reversal.

Lastly, always make sure to test all new strategies on good demo charts before ever risking real money.

The post Auto Fibonacci Indicator for MT4 and MT5 (Free) appeared first on Foreign Exchange Currency and Stock Price Action.

Whilst this is a longer term indicator, it can be extremely useful for finding trends, placing and managing trades and using it with other EMA’s in a crossover strategy.

What is the 200 EMA

The moving average is an indicator that smooths out the price action’s moves and helps you find clear trends. It can also help you find dynamic support and resistance.

The moving average is created by showing the average price over a set period of candles or time. For example; a 200 day moving average is using the last 200 days price information.

There are two popular forms of moving averages that are used. These are;

1: Simple Moving Average (SMA)

2: Exponential Moving Average (EMA)

The main difference between these two types of moving averages is that the exponential moving average gives more weight to the recent price. This will mean they react faster.

Where a simple moving average averages the price data equally for all periods, the exponential moving average has more emphasis on the recent price.

The 200 period EMA is using the last 200 periods of information to create a moving average on your chart.

You can use this on any time frame to find trends or dynamic support and resistance. For example; if using it on a 15 minute chart, then the 200 EMA will be using the last 200 periods from the 15 minute time frame.

How to Use the 200 EMA Indicator on MT4 and MT5

Setting up and using this indicator in your MT4 or MT5 charts is very simple.

• Open your MT4 / MT5 charts.
• Navigate to “Insert”.
• Click “Indicators” > “ Trend” > “Moving Average”.

Once you have done this a box will open up on your chart and you will be presented with some options.

To start using the 200 EMA select; “200” under the period and “Exponential” under the MA Method boxes. Then, click okay and the moving average will be applied to your chart.

NOTE: If you do not yet have the correct charts make sure you read about the best trading charts and the broker to use the moving average trading strategy with here.

What is the 200 EMA Trading Strategy

The 200 EMA trading strategy is incredibly simple and easy to use. It has a lot of benefits and applications that you could potentially use it in your trading for. You can also use it on all time frames and markets.

The main strategy when using the 200 EMA is identifying larger trends or looking for when trends are changing. This way you can either find new long running trend trades, or exit with healthy profits.

Keep in mind this is a longer term indicator set over 200 periods that is best used to find longer term trends.

How to Use the 200 EMA to Find Trades

There are two main strategies that are normally used to find trades with the 200 EMA.

1: Trend Trades

2: Dynamic support and resistance

Trend Trades

When trend trading with the 200 moving average we are looking for large running trends.

This also means we are looking for larger pip targets with larger stop losses.

To use the 200 EMA for trend trading we are waiting for a clear direction either higher or lower.

As the chart shows below; the 200 EMA begins to move clearly lower. Price also makes tests at breaking through higher, but can’t and continues to move with the trend.

Eventually the move and trend lower ends and this is signified by the 200 moving average being broken and price beginning a trend back higher.

Dynamic Support and Resistance

One of the other main strategies used with the 200 period moving average is trading the ‘bounces’ off dynamic support and resistance.

Dynamic support and resistance is simply support and resistance that is changing as price is moving higher or lower.

As the first chart shows below; price is in a clear trend lower with the 200 EMA making a solid downward slant.

Price continually tests the 200 moving average, but each time this level holds as a dynamic resistance level and potential area to enter short trades.

The other way that dynamic support and resistance can be used is in conjunction with standard support and resistance.

You can also use it with your trendlines.

Using them both together will give a higher probability trade and higher confirmation.

As the chart shows below; both the support level and 200 EMA line up to give a possible long trade entry.

EMA 50 Crosses EMA 200 Trading Strategy

A very popular way to use the 200 period moving average is with another smaller period moving average.

The most popular and widely used combination is the 200 and 50 moving average.

The reason for using two moving averages, one a longer period than the other is because the shorter period moving average will react more quickly to what price is doing.

Whilst the 200 moving average is a longer term indicator, the 50 period will remain a lot closer to the price action.

This can tell you a lot about what price is doing and where it could be heading.

Two examples of how the 50 and 200 EMA could be used are;

1: When the 50 crosses the 200.

2: To spot a mean reversion or trend growing momentum.

EMA 50 Crosses EMA 200

When the 50 EMA crosses the 200 EMA it often signals that the shorter term trend is changing.

As the chart shows below; the 50 EMA breaks below the 200 EMA and price begins to make a strong move lower.

Mean Reversion or Trend Momentum

Another way this pair of moving averages is used is to identify the strength of the trend.

When the 50 EMA is moving a long way away from the 200 period EMA it shows a strong trend in one direction.

If they begin to come together it shows price has rotated back to the mean and the trend is stalling.

The Golden Cross and Death Cross

A lot of traders use what is commonly known as the Golden and Death Cross in their trading.

The golden cross refers to when the 50 period moving average breaks through and above the 200 period moving average.

The death cross is the opposite. This is where the 50 period moving average crosses below the 200 period moving average.

As the chart example shows below; price was trading sideways in a range and both the moving averages were close together. Then, the 50 EMA crossed below the 200 EMA and a strong trend lower began.

Lastly

Whilst the 200 EMA is a longer term indicator to help you find longer term trends, when used with other EMA’s such as the 50 period, it can also help you find shorter term moves.

As with all indicators, the EMA is best when traded and confirmed with your other favorite technical analysis. An example of this could be using the 200 EMA with support and resistance or with your candlestick patterns.

The post 200 EMA Trading Strategy and How to Use Golden Cross appeared first on Foreign Exchange Currency and Stock Price Action.

A lot of traders have the need for multiple monitors in their trading.

Some traders are small time frame traders day trading the markets and don’t want to miss out on trades. Other traders are using news and economic outcomes and they need to stay up-to-date when making their trades.

Having the ability to use multiple monitors (even if that is just your laptop and another main monitor) that show individual charts or another monitor with a news feed can often be a real benefit.

The problem many traders run into is how to set this up and how to ‘float’ different charts across multiple monitors.

What are Undocked and Floating Charts?

Floating or undocked charts are very convenient when you want to use multiple monitors in your trading.

Floating charts give you the ability to select each individual chart you choose and have them show on any monitor or screen you want.

Most traders use this to be able to see multiple charts at the same time on different monitors. 

This obviously has its benefits especially if you are a smaller time frame trader and are watching for quick moves.

How to Use MT4 Floating Charts

The best extension for MT4 that will help you undock your charts and use over as many monitors you like is by ‘Floating Charts’.

There are other scripts out there that will allow you to undock your charts, but they don’t have anywhere near the capability of this extension.

This extension is easy to download and once installed inside your MT4 charts you will be able to select the chart you want, hit the “FLOAT” button and the chart will be undocked for you to place wherever you like.

How to Download and Use MT4 Floating Charts

1. On this page Here hit the ‘Download Now Button’.
2. When prompted, select the Run button in the download bar.
3. Once the file has downloaded, begin the installer.
4. Follow the prompts and click next.
5. After the installation finishes restart your MT4 charts.  
6. Inside MT4 you will now have three new options under the ‘Window” menu. These will be; ‘Float’, ‘Float All’ and ‘Unfloat All’.

NOTE: This is a premium MT4 extension that costs $77. It does however come with a free 14 day trial that allows you to download and use without having to give over any payment details. You can try the Floating Charts Extension for MT4 here.

Once you have this extension installed it is very simple to use.

Open your MT4 charts, go to the chart you would like to float, select “window” and then “FLOAT”.

This chart will now be undocked and you will be able to move it to any monitor you choose.

How to Use MT5 Floating Charts

A cool thing about MT5 is that the ability to undock your charts is built right into the platform and it is very easy to use.

To float your charts in MT5 simply go to the chart you want to undock, right click on your mouse and select “Docked” to toggle it on or off.

The keyboard shortcut is ALT + D.

If you want more information and instructions on how to float your charts in MT5 you can read an in-depth post at MQL5 here.

Note: Make sure your MT5 is updated to the latest build release for this to work correctly.

Lastly

Many traders will find multiple monitors offer them great benefits, but there are also some that will just not find any use at all.

Before running out and buying yourself a multi-monitor trading setup make sure you actually need it and that it will benefit your trading.

If having more monitors will just lead to over analysis and analysis paralysis, then maybe it is best to stick to the one monitor.

The post How to Undock and Use Floating MT4 and MT5 Charts appeared first on Foreign Exchange Currency and Stock Price Action.

The double inside bar pattern is a candlestick pattern very similar to the inside bar.

The major difference between the double inside bar and the inside bar is that the double has two inside bars form back-to-back.

In this quick guide we take a look at how to identify the double inside bar and how you can use it in your trading.

What is the Double Inside Bar 

The double inside bar is a series of candlesticks where price forms back-to-back inside bars. 

Inside bars are a sign of indecision or lack of volatility in the price action where the market has paused and is looking for its next major move.

When we see two inside bars form in succession it shows price is consolidating and could be getting ready to make a large breakout.

How to Identify the Double Inside Bar

The double inside bar is quite easy to identify.

To spot this pattern on your chart you are looking for three candles.

1: The first candle is the candle that houses the inside bars.

2: Inside bar #1.

3: Inside bar #2.

See the chart example below;

How to Trade the Double Inside Bar

The double inside bar is normally traded as a breakout pattern.

Whilst you can use this pattern to trade both long and short, you want to use the other market factors to help you find the best trades.

For example; if price has been trending higher, then looking for a double inside bar breakout higher would be the higher probability play.

You can also use your other technical analysis tools to make the trade setup higher probability. These could include using relevant support and resistance, moving averages and other key indicators.

Entry

Below is an example of the double inside bar pattern formed in an uptrend.

If looking to enter this trade you could set your entry for when price breaks out higher and the pattern is confirmed.

If price does not break higher you would cancel your entry order.

Stop Loss

The stop loss would normally be placed on the other side of the inside bar pattern.

As the chart example shows below; after taking an entry on the breakout higher, the stop loss could be set on the other side of the pattern so that if price reverses the loss would be minimized.

Target

You can set your target using the relevant price action support and resistance levels and using your other key indicators.

These could include reading the price action clues or looking for important Fibonacci levels.

Lastly

The double inside bar is best traded and is used in conjunction with other technical analysis tools such as the moving average, major support and resistance levels and your favorite indicators.

Whilst you can find and trade this pattern on all time frames, the 15 minute chart and higher will tend to work better as the price action picture is clearer with less noise.

The post Double Inside Bar Trading Strategy appeared first on Foreign Exchange Currency and Stock Price Action.

Whilst it is fairly straightforward and simple to identify, the dragonfly doji does not form all that often compared to other candlestick patterns.

How to Identify a Dragonfly Doji Chart Pattern

The dragonfly doji can be found in all markets and time frames.

You will be able to quickly spot this pattern as it looks like a “T”. 

Example Dragonfly Doji

This candlestick pattern is created with price first opening, then trading lower, followed by price pushing back higher and wiping away all of the sessions losses.

This shows that whilst the bears were at first in control of the selling, at the end of the session that bulls had jumped back in to wipe away any of the losses.

What Does a Dragonfly Doji Signal?

The dragonfly doji can signal both a potential reversal to the upside or downside. That is because it is an indecision candlestick.

Whilst this doji is most often used as a bullish reversal trade setup, it is crucial to know when and where to play them.

If price is in a downtrend or it has retraced lower within a trend higher, the dragonfly doji could be signalling a reversal back higher.

As the chart example shows below; price is in an uptrend and makes a small move back lower.

After this move lower, it forms a dragonfly doji that signals a potential reversal back higher inline with the trend.

The other crucial part to this candlestick pattern is the confirmation. The following candle should confirm the doji.

For example; if looking for a reversal back higher a confirmation would be price breaking to the upside. This could also be a trigger for a trade entry.

How to Use the Dragonfly Doji

Trades are often entered into once price confirms the pattern and the doji breaks.

An example of this may be if looking to go long on a bullish reversal, setting your entry to trigger when price breaks the high of the doji.

Your stop loss for this candlestick pattern could be on the other side of the dragonfly doji and if the pattern does not confirm you would take off your entry order.

Keep in mind this is a one candlestick pattern. It will always work best when you are using it with your other technical analysis and favorite trading indicators.

Because this pattern is a sign of indecision they tend to work best at areas of supply and demand and when trading inline with the overall trend.

Dragonfly Doji Examples

Below is an example of a dragonfly doji that is inline with the strong trend higher.

A potential entry for this pattern could be to enter when price confirms the pattern on the breakout higher.

Once this occurs the stop could be placed below the low of the doji and targets could be set according to your risk reward profile.

Dragonfly Doji’s Don’t Always Work

Because this is a one candlestick pattern and it is signalling indecision it will not always work.

That is also why it is important you don’t trade this signal by itself and that you use it in conjunction with your other technical analysis.

Below is an example of a doji pattern that will often fake out a lot of traders. This candlestick is up at the extreme high and will often signal price is about to move back lower and not higher as most will look to trade the dragonfly doji. 

Dragonfly Doji Scanner MT4

Because these patterns don’t form all that often, one quick way to make sure you don’t miss out on them when they do form is to use a scanner on your MT4 charts.

This scanner linked below is a free indicator you can add to your charts that will alert you when a dragonfly doji has formed.

A nice thing about this indicator is that you can customize it to the exact doji you want to find. 

For example; you can choose the minimum length of upper and lower wick so you are not bombarded with less than perfect doji’s.

Get the MT4 Doji Scanner Here

Lastly

Whilst this can be a very useful chart pattern to use in your trading, make sure you keep in mind where it forms and the other price action context.

It is also important you take note of other important technical analysis factors such as the current trend, the relevant support and resistance levels, trendlines and if price is stuck within a tight ranging market.

The post Dragonfly Doji – How to Find and Trade appeared first on Foreign Exchange Currency and Stock Price Action.

There are however very few good position size calculators if you want to position size your stock market, cryptocurrency or CFD trades like Gold and Oil.

This quick guide goes through the best position size calculators that you can use so that you are not over-risking when trading stocks, crypto or CFD’s.

Stock Market Calculator

This is a simple and handy little calculator that has been around for a very long time.

This calculator does not select the individual stock or market you are trading.

Instead, you enter in the parameters that fit your trade to find the results you need.

For example; you enter in the trade entry, stop loss, risk amount and leverage.

You are then given the amount you need to buy to satisfy your risk requirements.

Use the Stock Market CFD Calculator Here

CFD Position Size Calculator – Gold, Silver and Oil

You will find a lot of Forex and CFD calculators will allow you to work out your position size for endless Forex markets, but don’t offer markets like Gold or Silver.

This is frustrating because they are some of the most widely traded markets.

This calculator from MYFXBook allows you to calculate your position size for Gold, Silver, Oil, Palladium and others.

Use the MYFXBook calculator Here.

Cryptocurrency Position Size Calculator

With cryptocurrency becoming more and more popular it is very important we have a way to be able to position size our trades accurately before entering.

There are still not many accurate Crypto calculators around for markets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, but this calculator from Crypto Journal is easy to use and very detailed.

Not only does it give you the amount required to buy, but it also shows you the potential win and loss amounts.

You can use the Crytpo Journal Position Size Calculator Here

The post Stock Market, Crypto and CFD Position Size Calculator appeared first on Foreign Exchange Currency and Stock Price Action.