Both the Double Bollinger band indicator method and the Ichimoku Cloud indicator purport to show entry and exit points based on zones. Any thoughts on which does a better prediction job?
If you had to convert both indicators to EA’s then I would say the cloud does a better job because it gives less signals, but honestly you really can’t compare them like this. This would be like asking which tool is better at building a house, a saw or a hammer.
I prefer Bollinger Bands by far, Ichimoku never gave me particularly reliable signals.
Very nicely put - good analogy! 
They also tend to be aimed at trading under somewhat different sets of conditions, too (so maybe “building different types of properties”?).
Personally, of the two I have a strong preference for and far greater interest in the [I]Ichimoku[/I] cloud than in Bollinger Bands. I do think that Ichimoku is also far less appreciated and understood, though, in its usage with forex-trading, in particular.
It seems to me that a lot of the information around online about [I]Ichimoku[/I] in forums and even on websites specifically dedicated to it is [I][U]very[/U][/I] inaccurate and misleading: [I][U]many[/U][/I] myths abound about “how best to use it” (much more so than is the case with other indicators, in my opinion). Its standard settings were specifically designed for stock-trading from daily charts back in the days of a 6-day trading week, and are inappropriate for forex trading, though many “experts” and even some textbook authors seem not to have realised this or taken it into account.
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I trade using Ichimoku exclusively.
And I trade 6 days a week Sun-Friday.
So I use std settings
Hello Lexys and forumers,
I am new here and also very interested by the ichimoku indicator.
Lexys, would you mind telling us a bit more on the apropriate settings you would recommend based on your experience in forex trading please?
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Bollinger band coupled with candle groups , are very powerful tools to use.
I prefer Bollinger Bands to Ichimoku. That said, Bollinger Bands shows zones of resistance and support, it doesn’t show entry and exit points. It’s really better to combine Bollinger Bands with candlestick analysis. When I do I get the most reliable signals.
Might on range movement or sideways bolinger band is powerful tool, but not all market condition will same always, there are sometime occur breakout and bolinger band not good work anymore, as trader need also understand with the market behaviour
I’m not using it at the moment.
I can perhaps answer your question more helpfully by telling you the settings that a friend of mine uses. (She’s a very successful independent trader, who was previously employed on the trading-floor of one of the big Japanese investment banks in London).
She trades forex futures from volume-charts which are roughly equivalent to 10-minute bars/candles during the RTH of the underlying instruments. If trying this with spot forex, I would use 10-minute bars and trade only during RTH.
She uses two lots of Ichimoku indicators simultaneously, set as follows …
(i) “5/15/30” (Tenkan-Sen, Kijun-Sen and Kumo, no Chickou Span);
(ii) “5/30/30” (displaying Kumo only, nothing else).
So she uses everything but Chikou Span from a “5/15/30 setting” and an overlaid additional Kumo with settings of “5/30/30”.
She enters a long trade from Tenkan/Kijun crossovers “upwards” when a bar closes above the higher Kumo within 3 periods of the crossover, and enters a short trade from Tenkan/Kijun crossovers “downards” when a bar closes below the lower Kumo within 3 periods of the crossover.
She doesn’t use Chickou Span at all, and doesn’t distinguish between “bullish” and “bearish” Kumo but has all the Kumo in the same colour.
I have not myself backtested it or examined it in any detail, but it’s what she recommended, and it sounds very plausible and reasonable, to me. For what that’s worth! :8:
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I should perhaps have added, for clarity, that sometimes the price is already above the higher Kumo before the crossover occurs, in which case the “alert bar” will be the same bar as the “signal bar”, i.e. the close of the bar that produces the crossover is itself the one that “closes above the higher Kumo”, in which case the trade is opened on the close of that bar.
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Understand there is nothing out there that will work 100 % of the time. One must look at all situations going on in the world market place among your your trading style.
Many thanks Lexys for these detailled informations. Having learned to use ichimoku among big Japanese artists I guess we can indeed trust your friend’s system.
Good ideas to put into practice, very good info and useful.
In my early days of looking for that holy grail of indicators I have spent time with both indicators, while I liked the ichimoku cloud best, but I still ran into the same problem I experience with all indicators, I tend to want to trade the indicator and not price, leading to not so good results. It was only after I got rid of all indicators from my charts and traded on pure price action that I started to see consistent results. Maybe if one were to look for price action setups on a naked chart, and when one is found then add the ichimoku cloud to see if it confirms your trade idea, that might work , just an idea
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@dennis3450 I have found what you say to be exactly what I have only recently dicovered I overlay any ma or indicator template I use only after I have located a trading setup from a clean chart.
I do have a bolinger band setup in my template to quickly help me identify when price is streched too far from the median price in a particular market condtions.
Im really trying to come away from all indicators as I find I see more when less is on my charts.
I like to trade in rangy market, that’s way Bollinger Bands is my most favorite trading indicator! But I see, on trendy market it’s not much effective as like rangy market! So, I work this technical instrument on corrective sessions only! Actually, in Forex industry we traders get lots of technical indicators to use, but which one is workable for you that, you have to know first!
Has any one combined the 2 ?
Till now BB is my favorite; it describes the support/resistant tools so cleanly during the corrective sessions!