Millionaire Trader Teaches You How To Use The Stochastic Oscillator
The Stochastic oscillator will move between 0 and 100. Low readings mean an oversold market while high readings mean an overbought market. Oversold means the market over reacted on the sell off and is ready to bounce upward. Overbought means the market over reacted on the buying and is ready to turn down.
Buy when the Stochastic oscillator is low. Sell when the Stochastic oscillator is high. The idea is to take advantage of other traders when they are emotional: either fearful or greedy. Selling when the Stochastic is high is difficult because you'll want to hang on longer: greed. Buying when the Stochastic is low is difficult because you'll want to sit on the sidelines longer until the chart looks better.
New traders mess up by trying to over simplify trading. They pick just one indicator and use it because it's all they can conceptually understand. Don't do this. The Stochastic indicator needs to be used with other indicators. Why? Consider this. In a sudden buying frenzy, the Stochastic becomes overbought too quickly and will give a premature sell signal. In sudden panic selling, the Stochastic becomes oversold too quickly and will give a premature buy signal. Always use the Stochastic with other indicators.
What you need to do is to enter a position when the Stochastic indicator is at an extreme. If you try and wait until the Stochastic indicator turns, you'll miss too much of the move. Think of the extremes of the Stochastic as telling you how much emotion is in the market. The more the emotion, the better you can take money away from other traders.
If you see a positive divergence between the Stochastic and the price of a stock, go long. A positive divergence is when the stock price drops to a new low, but the Stochastic indicator makes only a slight low and does not break to a new low. Do the opposite on the downside. If you see a negative divergence between the Stochastic and the price of a stock, go short. A negative divergence is when prices rise to a new high, but the indicator goes down or barely rises at all.
You should not buy a stock when the Stochastic is high. Conversely, you should not sell a stock when the Stochastic is low. This is probably the most accurate way to use the Stochastics. Reverse your thinking and look at it as telling you when NOT to trade a stock. Indeed, moving averages are superior to the Stochastic at picking up on trends, the ADX is better at catching entry and exit points, but the Stochastic is the best at telling you when you should NOT trade a stock. - 23196
Buy when the Stochastic oscillator is low. Sell when the Stochastic oscillator is high. The idea is to take advantage of other traders when they are emotional: either fearful or greedy. Selling when the Stochastic is high is difficult because you'll want to hang on longer: greed. Buying when the Stochastic is low is difficult because you'll want to sit on the sidelines longer until the chart looks better.
New traders mess up by trying to over simplify trading. They pick just one indicator and use it because it's all they can conceptually understand. Don't do this. The Stochastic indicator needs to be used with other indicators. Why? Consider this. In a sudden buying frenzy, the Stochastic becomes overbought too quickly and will give a premature sell signal. In sudden panic selling, the Stochastic becomes oversold too quickly and will give a premature buy signal. Always use the Stochastic with other indicators.
What you need to do is to enter a position when the Stochastic indicator is at an extreme. If you try and wait until the Stochastic indicator turns, you'll miss too much of the move. Think of the extremes of the Stochastic as telling you how much emotion is in the market. The more the emotion, the better you can take money away from other traders.
If you see a positive divergence between the Stochastic and the price of a stock, go long. A positive divergence is when the stock price drops to a new low, but the Stochastic indicator makes only a slight low and does not break to a new low. Do the opposite on the downside. If you see a negative divergence between the Stochastic and the price of a stock, go short. A negative divergence is when prices rise to a new high, but the indicator goes down or barely rises at all.
You should not buy a stock when the Stochastic is high. Conversely, you should not sell a stock when the Stochastic is low. This is probably the most accurate way to use the Stochastics. Reverse your thinking and look at it as telling you when NOT to trade a stock. Indeed, moving averages are superior to the Stochastic at picking up on trends, the ADX is better at catching entry and exit points, but the Stochastic is the best at telling you when you should NOT trade a stock. - 23196
About the Author:
May this article teaches you how to use the Stochastic Oscillator better and make a lot of money. For more expert trading advice on the Stochastic go to stochastic oscillator