Technicians use moving averages with support and resistance lines to anticipate the price action of a stock. Upper resistance and lower support lines are first drawn and then extrapolated to form channels within which the trader expects prices to be contained. As long as prices do not move out of this channel, the trader can be reasonably confident that prices are moving as expected. Bollinger Bands are a tool used by traders and investors to understand market volatility. There are two price bands plotted above and below a moving average line graph using standard deviation. The gaps between the bands from moving average lines represent market volatility.

These trendlines can be set positively or negatively and adjusted according to the user preference. The main aim of the Bollinger Bands is to identify when a stock is being oversold or overbought effectively. As both these factors can influence the price by a huge margin, investors can use Bollinger Bands to ensure they enter or exit the market at the right time. Remember, Bollinger Bands are not able to operate independently.

bollinger band calculations

Traders can adjust the SMA and standard deviation assumptions as they see fit which makes it very flexible to use. This user-friendly technical indicator has especially proved to be of significant importance to short-term traders as it determines the extreme short-term prices in the market. Bollinger Bands help the traders to exploit the volatility of the market to their advantage by providing information about the market condition . A strong trend continuation is signaled if the price falls below or breaks above the moving average band with strong volume and continues to move in the same direction.

Most of the time, what investors wish to know before entering or exiting a certain stock is whether the market is overbought or oversold. By plotting the upper Bollinger Band and the lower Bollinger Band, one can exactly tell which band among the two is the current price of the stock closer to. ‘Bollinger’ comes from the last name of John Bollinger – the trader who invented this technique. The term ‘bands’ is added to it because the method calculates the upper and the lower price range in a graphical format, typically using a straight line. This creates a band that helps you make the right trading decision.

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Since the average is moving from point to point depending on the price movement it is called as a moving average. As a trader, the choice between a slow-reacting indicator and a fast-reacting indicator is based on your trading strategy. When the width between bands is low, especially on historical levels, there is always a chance for the price trend to reverse.

bollinger band calculations

Bollinger Bands is widely used to gauge the strength of an ongoing trend and to identify when the price will start to reverse. If a particular uptrend is strong enough, you could see that the price will continuously reach or breach the upper band. The price could go slightly down upon touching the upper band, but it will continue to peck the upper band till the trend continues.

Here, the Bollinger bands use a period and two standard deviations. By default, the value of the period of the middle line is 20, and the two other bands are two deviations away on either side. Bollinger Bands are a technical trading tool created by John Bollinger in the early 1980s. They arose from the need for adaptive trading bands and the observation that volatility was dynamic, not static as was widely believed at the time.

During such conditions following buy sell signals of moving average may be profitable. To understand the two lines in the Bollinger bands, you have to understand standard deviation too. In the case of Bollinger bands, it is a variable that measures the upper and lower price levels within which the stock price moves normally. Now, multiply the standard deviations by 1.5 , 2 (medium-term), or 2.5 .

How They Are Calculated

So, to say that stock A has a higher standard deviation than stock B is to mean that the former is more volatile than the latter. Using only the bands to trade is a risky strategy since the indicator focuses on price and volatility, while ignoring a lot of other relevant information. Now that you understand the concept of Bollinger bands, it’s only logical that we move on to the next big topic -Using moving averages.

bollinger band calculations

Bollinger Bands are envelopes plotted at a standard deviation level above and below a simple moving average of the price. In the 1980s, John Bollinger, a long-time technician of the markets, developed the technique of using a moving average with two trading bands above and below it. Unlike a percentage calculation from a normal moving average, Bollinger Bands simply add and subtract a standard deviation calculation. The bands automatically widen when volatility increases and contract when volatility decreases. Theoretically when price touches upper band / lower band it reverses to average.

For example, after a sharp rise or fall in the trend, the market may consolidate, trading in a narrow fashion and criss-crossing above and below the moving average. To better monitor this behaviour, traders use the price channels, which encompass the trading activity around the trend. First moving average for a period, typically a 20 days simple moving average , is calculated and placed on a line graph.

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  • Like with strategies formed with any other trading indicator, the best ones often have elements of fundamental research and are backed up by another indicator.
  • It is calculated using an adaptation of the formula for Stochastics.
  • For different securities, different variable settings can be chosen.
  • Whereas other Bollinger Bands indicators often just change the…

Bollinger bounce is a condition observed mostly when the price moves in a consolidation within a range bound. Traders usually will create a short position near to the upper Bollinger and a long position when the price is bouncing near the lower Bollinger band. This is one of the profitable strategies in a consolidating market since most of the time prices move within its range.

Here is how to study the patterns

Traders can use the Bollinger Bands to analyze the strength of trends and get a lot of important information this way. Arshad is an Options and Technical Strategy trader and is currently working with Market Pulse as a Product strategist. If you want us to share our insight on trading and investing, feel free to as us. Bollinger band is one such indicator which is used to differentiate the sideways from trending.

The owners of the website and the website hereby waive any liability whatsoever due to the use of the website and/or information. Use of the website, the content and the information is made on the user’s sole liability. The user hereby releases the owners of the website from any liability for damage caused to his computer, in any, through the use of the website and/or its content and/or its various services. If the candles start to break out of the top band, then the move will usually continue to rise. If the candles start to break out below the lower band, then the price will usually continue to fall.

How to Use Bollinger Bands

That means Bollinger Bands are not stand alone indicators in their own right. They are useful as supplementary tools to confirm, ratify or reinforce your view on the stock or the markets. The biggest drawback of Bollinger bands is that they cannot be used as a standalone system to gauge trading signals. It is designed just to show the traders the current price volatility trends and resistance and support trends. Hence, it is highly advisable to use the same with two or more other indicators for best results.

Bollinger Band Formula & Calculation

Like with strategies formed with any other trading indicator, the best ones often have elements of fundamental research and are backed up by another indicator. Hence, make sure you https://1investing.in/ club your Bollinger bands strategies with other elements to get the best out of the indicator. This strategy is for those of us that like to ask for very little from the markets.

Sachin has recently started investing in the stock market but doesn’t know too much about the factors that influence the price movement. Sachin starts to monitor the stock of a company to ensure it is going up and whether At The Money he should buy its shares. In the last 5 days, the stock has shown upwards movement, convincing Sachin that it will go higher. Angel One has created short courses to cover theoretical concepts on investing and trading.