How to Use the MACD Indicator when Trading

This means that we are taking the average of the last 9 periods of the “faster” MACD Line and plotting it as our “slower” moving average. In our example above, the MACD Line is the difference between the 12 and 26-period moving averages. When the bars are upside down (below zero), the signal is to sell. This indicator means selling pressure (supply) is running out of steam. Technically, you don’t get a buy signal until the bars are actually over the zero line, but it’s up to you whether to act in anticipation that it will cross the line. Our chat rooms will provide you with an opportunity to learn how to trade stocks, options, and futures.

Chart 3 shows Aeropostale (ARO) with a bearish divergence in August-September 2009. MACD moved to a new high in September, but the MACD-Histogram formed a lower high. Notice that there are two definitive peaks (higher) with a dip in between on the MACD-Histogram (red line). The subsequent bearish signal line crossover foreshadowed a sharp decline in the stock.

• This information has been prepared by IG, a trading name of IG US LLC.
• The MACD line moves faster than the signal line because the signal line is an EMA of the MACD line.
• Our live streams are a great way to learn in a real-world environment, without the pressure and noise of trying to do it all yourself or listening to “Talking Heads” on social media or tv.
• When the MACD line crosses from below to above the signal line, it’s called a bullish crossover.
• Signal line or DEA is calculated as the 9-day EMA of the difference of EMA 12 and EMA 26.
• H​owever, I still believe that building a divergence signal into the MACD Indicator Study allows the trader an opportunity to focus on other factors.

We are much more than just a place to learn how to trade stocks. On these types of trading days, it would be good to perhaps avoid trading the stock, use a lower time frame, or anticipate an uncertain market. The MACD may be used to develop a bias in market direction as well as determine the trend. As a result, knowing how to read MACD can help define a trend. One way to do this effectively is to apply the MACD on a higher time frame.

The Strategy

One of the main problems with a moving average divergence is that it can often signal a possible reversal, but then no actual reversal happens—it produces a false positive. The other problem is that divergence doesn’t forecast all reversals. In other words, it predicts too many reversals that don’t occur and not enough real price reversals. MACD measures the relationship between two EMAs, while the RSI measures price change in relation to recent price highs and lows. These two indicators are often used together to give analysts a more complete technical picture of a market. MACD is calculated by subtracting the long-term EMA (26 periods) from the short-term EMA (12 periods).

This indicator also helps traders to know whether the stock is being extensively bought or sold. Its ability to identify and assess short-term price movements makes this indicator quite useful. To be able to establish how to integrate a bullish MACD crossover and a bullish stochastic crossover into a trend-confirmation strategy, the word “bullish” needs to be explained. In the simplest of terms, bullish refers to a strong signal for continuously rising prices. A bullish signal is what happens when a faster-moving average crosses up over a slower moving average, creating market momentum and suggesting further price increases. MACD is often used in mean-reversion systems to signal overbought or oversold conditions.

Who invented the MACD?

Hence why knowing how to read MACD is important to trading the indicator. Look at the picture above, you can see that when the 12EMA and the 26EMA cross, the Value Line crosses the zero line. In the picture above, you can see that when the Value Line converges with the Avg line, the Diff Swabs become shorter. When the Value Line and the Avg Line cross over the Diff Swabs also cross over from one side of the Zero Line to the other side of the Zero Line. An Average of ANYTHING is a great way to visualize where the COMMON ACTION is. Once we can identify “normal” we can begin looking for signals that are not normal.

Crossovers of MACD lines should be noted, but confirmation should be sought from other technical signals, such as the RSI, or perhaps a few candlestick price charts. Further, because it is a lagging indicator, it argues that confirmation in subsequent price action should develop before taking the signal. After all, all the data used in MACD is based on the historical price action of the stock. Because it is based on historical data, it must necessarily lag the price. However, some traders use MACD histograms to predict when a change in trend will occur. For these traders, this aspect of MACD might be viewed as a leading indicator of future trend changes.

MACD: An Overview

You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. This bearish divergence acted as an early warning sign of things to come with the E-mini S&P 500 futures contract. how to read the macd Divergences might signal a trader to get out of a long or short position before profits erode. The MACD histogram is increasing in height (either in the positive or negative direction).

And, if you forgot to follow some of the coding parts, don’t worry! In this step, we are going to plot the calculated MACD components to make more sense out of them. Before moving on, it is necessary to know that leading indicators are plotted below the stock prices separately. MACD being a leading indicator needs to be plotted https://g-markets.net/ the same way. Finally, we combined all the calculated values into one dataframe using the ‘concat’ function by the Pandas package and returned the final dataframe. Using the created function, we stored all the MACD components that are calculated from the stock price of Google and stored it into the ‘googl_macd’ variable.

For more clarity, this indicator can also be used with other technical approaches. Contrary to this, when the MACD makes two falling highs that correspond to two rising highs in the stock price, a negative divergence occurs. When a long-term trend remains negative, it confirms a valid bearish signal. While both are considered momentum indicators, the MACD measures the relationship between two EMAs, while the RSI measures price change in relation to recent price highs and lows. These two indicators are often used together to provide analysts a more complete technical picture of a market.

How accurate is divergence trading?

The next two components are the MACD line and the Signal line. The MACD line is the grey-colored line plot that shows the difference between the slow length EMA and the fast length EMA of Google’s stock prices. Similarly, the blue-colored line plot is the Signal line that represents the EMA of the MACD line itself. Like we discussed before, the Signal line seems to be more of a smooth-cut version of the MACD line because it is calculated by averaging out the values of the MACD line itself. The first and most visible component in the bottom panel is obviously the plot of the calculated Histogram values.

After that, we are calculating the number of Google stocks we can buy using the investment amount. The number of stocks should be an integer but not a decimal number. Remember that the ‘floor’ function is way more complex than the ‘round’ function. Then, we are passing a for-loop to find the investment returns followed by some data manipulations tasks. Inside the function, we are creating three empty lists (buy_price, sell_price, and macd_signal) in which the values will be appended while creating the trading strategy.

How To Read MACD Indicator in 5 Easy-to-Follow Steps

The Value Line shows direction and the Diff Swabs show momentum. An approximated MACD can be calculated by subtracting the value of a 26 period Exponential Moving Average (EMA) from a 12 period EMA. The shorter EMA is constantly converging toward, and diverging away from, the longer EMA. A signal line is created with a 9 period EMA of the MACD line. In yet another bearish sign for the E-mini S&P 500 futures contract, the future made higher lows from Low #1 to Low #2, which again is usually considered positive.

Each day we have several live streamers showing you the ropes, and talking the community though the action. When added to other chart and market analysis, the MACD Indicator Study provides you with the missing pieces of the puzzle. In the picture below, you can clearly see where the Diff Swabs leveled off and swapped above and below the Zero Line as price ranged in a tight pattern.

Simplifying Data Transport in C#

A MACD-Histogram slant towards the zero line reflects a convergence between MACD and its signal line. Momentum shows strength when MACD is moving away from its signal line and the MACD-Histogram expands. Momentum weakens as MACD moves closer to its signal line and the MACD-Histogram contracts.