John Bolinger's own System using Bolinger Bands, Candles and MACD

This great little system, which I introduced in Newbie Island is given full treatment here.

[B]Settting up[/B]

Choose your favourite candle layout. Choose any currency pair and pick your favourite timeframe.

Now add :

        a) Bolinger bands - default setting.
        b) A MACD with the following.........trigger 9 (or delete - not used)
                                                        short set at [U]21[/U] periods
                                                        long set at [U]100 [/U]periods

Weird settings I know.

[B]Entry[/B]

Enter with a tag of the upper bb when the MACD is [U]BELOW [/U]zero (contra ian) and go [U]short[/U]
Enter with a tag of the lower bb when the MACD is [U]ABOVE [/U]zero and go long.

[B]Exits[/B]

The system gave no exit method so I devised my own after examining the system.

The idea is that you at least catch the middle band (20 period average) and go to the opposite band if you can.

So wait till the trade reaches the middle band, then set a trailing stop. The number of pips trailing depends on your time frame.

If you do get to the opposite band - good for you - more pips! :slight_smile:

[B]Stop loss[/B]

Measure the distance from your outer band to the middle band in pips.
Halve this distance and thus set your stop loss.

John Bolinger says that this is a “reversal system” and that it delivers “good risk-reward ratios”

                                       END

hi tymen

looks interesting, don’t quite get you on the MACD settings, pls elaborate:)

tks, dav

To Dav ;

Well you know that the MACD has 3 settings. They are normally…trigger=9, short average=12, long average=26 (9,12,26)

In this system they are …trigger=9, short average=21, long average=100 (9,21,100).

They are unusual settings.

Does this clear up the problem?

Hello tymen,

       I am using MT4 platform and the settings go as.....fast EMA...slow EMA...MACD SMA.

Righto then - same thing with different names (probably better)

They are unusual setting but they clear up the problem to great extent. Short average=12 could be better not sure of it.

I’ve had a little success with bollinger bands doing something similar on USD/JPY and EUR/JPY, but I wasn’t filtering it with MACD. I just traded the bounce between the bands and it works great for ranging markets.

What time frame are you using?

I use time frames ranging from 20 minutes to 1 hour. Shorter than 20 minutes does not, as a rule, generate enough pips.

Tymen,
Do you have any charts we can reference off of?

I made seven small successful trades this am with no losses, entered the $/Sw 3 times short. I mostly used the 15M TF but the 30M twice. Nice strategy, thank you. d

Good for you Dobro.

Glad you like the system - its a little beauty, simple and straightforward.

I will include then the 15 minute timeframe as well! :slight_smile:

I wonder which timeframe you had the most success at?

You can improve this system by entering when the price spikes thro the Bolinger band instead of just touching it. This nearly always happens when prices reach the Bolinger bands.

By entering on a spike thro the band you gain an extra 2/3 pips which pays nicely for you commission spread if you are trading one of the 4 majors. :slight_smile:

Thus you make extra profit. :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Dear, friend i’ve just want to counter check the setting for bb and macd…

I set the bb as this(default)— period= 20, shift=0, deviation= 2, apply to=close.

and set the macd ---- fast ema=21, slow ema=100, macd sma=14(auto).

and using M30 chart—(please suggest a suitable time frame to meet accuracy)
is my setting is correct?

Thanks…

Your settings are correct.

Re the MACD :

The trigger or signal line which you set at 14 (normally set a 9) is [U]not [/U]a sma but rather another ema. ie [U]all [/U]the moving averages in the MACD are exponential, [U]not [/U]simple.

The trigger line is not used in this method and you can make it invisible or delete it.

Now, be careful upon entry - the system is [B]contrar-ian.[/B]

That is, enter [U]only [/U]when a tag (touch or,… better - spike thro) of the upper band is made with a [U]negative [/U]MACD. ie below zero.

A [U]lower [/U]tag entry is made with a [U]positive [/U]MACD.

Watch out that these opposites do not trick or confuse you - this can happen easily if you are not careful! :eek: :confused:

You timeframe is good - use anything from 15 minutes like Dobro did, thro to 1 hour.

Tymen1 - I did the best using the 15 min TF as I was taking short profits and then reentering the $/CHF. Just a 1 pip spread during the NY am session so I felt I would keep money earned and go at it again. I’m debating using stop losses other than a 125-150 pip emergency, all systems crashed, stop. The mkt does come back and for me it is just a question of seeing margin tied up until a pr does come back. Kind of scary at times though. d

edit: as your brother said, a stop loss is a make loss.

My brother was referring to non-leveraged ordinary shares on the sharemarket.

But I think that with forex, which is leveraged and thus can generate a margin call, some sort of stop loss is needed for safety.

Otherwise, that margin call could become reality! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

It does not have to be an actual setting but at least a mental stop loss so as to prevent you from making an excessive loss should the trade go the wrong way.

hello… i would like to know what you guys use as stop loss for your trades. As i dont have time to follow all the way i taught it would be a good idea to have a stop loss that is reasonably large to accomodate the market short term swings but have a long term trend followup.

i use 30 for now but sometimes i get kicked out but a wild swing.

thnx
naziro

Thanks, tymen1… for clarify the settings!!!

i tested the system in gbpusd today and have gained about 30pips even i exited in the middle tag… but the price hike until the upper tag…i used the 15m and 1h charts… it’s really incredible … Thanks again for introducing this method…

To Sharkie :

Good for you - glad you like the system.

Keep trading and grab as many pips as you can.

You have 2 of the world’s great sharetrading giants on your side here…

John Bolinger - the inventor of Bolinger bands.
Gerald Appel - the inventor of the MACD.

It’s hard to go wrong with these two!! :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Can someone with MT4 post a template, I cant seem to get this set up right as I never see the price outside BBs when MACD is opposite.
I think I have the settings wrong on macd

thanks

Because of the opposites situation, the BB tags are not as common as usual.
Try using several time frames to get a set up.

Check your MACD settings…signal (trigger) usually 9 periods - delete.
long exp…100 periods
short exp…21 periods

A very long wave MACD results.