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Ultimate Guide to Parabolic SAR: Strategies for Winning Trades
" Please find out more about how the Parabolic SAR indicator works, how to incorporate it into trading strategies and how to find trend reversals and entry or exit points."
Wikilix Team
Educational Content Team
Did you ever wish your chart could whisper to you that a trend is about to turn? That subliminal signal - that's the magic of the Parabolic SAR. It doesn't yell at you for a signal; it nudges you towards a trend change.
This article will give you a conceptual understanding of how to use Parabolic SAR for an easier entry and an exit, and, at the end, you'll feel like you are reading price action through the eyes of an experienced trader.
Parabolic SAR (Stop and Reverse) is a technical indicator that plots a dotted line adjacent to the price, the dots switching sides of the cost when the momentum of the market changes. The dots indicate the emergence of a trend and potential reversals - to serve as the visual cue of whether to stay in a trade or to consider reversing your position.
The Parabolic SAR was created by J. Welles Wilder Jr., who developed other indicators, like RSI and ATR, in the late 1970s. Wilder designed the Parabolic SAR to capture dominant price moves, allowing traders to hold onto significant moves using trailing stops—a trend indicator and exit all in one formula.
Thanks to your trading platform performing the math for you, an explanation of the calculations might be beneficial to better understand:
1. To start, the indicator places itself just beyond the price line ( below for an uptrend and above for a downtrend).
2. Acceleration Factor (AF): Starts small (for example, 0.02) and can increase incrementally (most often to 0.20) every time a new high (uptrend) or low (downtrend) is established.
3. SAR Update: For every new bar, the next dot is calculated, which occurs by pushing the previous SAR to the extreme price (scaled by the AF).
4. Flip Rule: If the price zooms past the current SAR dot, the indicator flips once again to the opposite side, and the cycle begins again.
These dynamic behaviours allow the Parabolic SAR to be very sensitive to the strengthening trends.
Here's how this works into trading signals that you can use:
• Dots below price: Indicate an uptrend. Momentum is positive - as the dots rise, they function like a trailing stop below price.
• Dots above price: Indicate a downtrend. The indicator acts as a cap above the price, suggesting caution or a short position.
• Switching sides: When price breaks through the dots and they flip sides, that's your signal that the trend may be in the process of reversing - a signal to tighten up stops or possibly take profit.
Here are some common and innovative ways Traders are using the Parabolic SAR:
Once the dots settle beneath price, in an uptrend, you sit in an extended position and let it run. The dots become your trailing stop - merely move your stop up when each dot is drawn until the indicator flips. It reduces the complexity of trend following.
When the dots flip from below price to price (or the other way) it's likely the start of a trend change. Some traders will use the flip as an entry into the new direction, often putting in tight stops just beyond the recent extreme.
In a sideways market, Parabolic SAR will often flip back and forth, generating too many false signals. The key is patience; either avoid using it during market choppy periods or use it in conjunction with trend confirmation, such as a moving average or ADX, to validate an actual shift.
Using a layer of Parabolic SAR with other indicators will increase the quality of a decision. For example, if the SAR flips in negative alignment with RSI crossing above 50, or the MACD histogram turns positive, the Parabolic flip feels valid and actionable.
• Strongly trending: In this market condition, Parabolic SAR shines. It personifies the trailing stop, which means you can consistently stay in the move while being assured that profits will run as momentum increases.
• Choppy markets: You can expect whipsaws in a choppy market. This is because these market conditions will likely get you many flips from dot to dot as you try to enter and exit a trade. It will be challenging to manage your risk. Traders often sit in these market conditions or compile filters until it becomes evident what the trend is doing.
• Accelerating trends: In accelerating trends, the momentum-driven AF pushes SAR to reclaim the width based on the accelerating prices while the value increases. Therefore, there is a direct correlation between strong move directions and the increasing cost. At some point, a trader will often be caught on abrupt reversals that Saturn can read left.
Pros
• Exit tool clarity: Visual trailing stops that move with price communicate exit strategies in real time and with clarity.
• Simplicity of interpretation: Big dots that switch when actions are needed—easy to assess and little thinking.
• Automated discipline: An Instinctual method of trading trending markets without thinking.
Cons
• Late entry on sleepy starts: As AF starts small, the most significant moves may occur before AF getting going.
• False flips on flat markets: Once AF starts rapidly switching dots, Random losses will add up quickly, especially with flat price action.
• No context of Strength: The SAR informs you of where possible trends may flip, but does not indicate the strength of the momentum. I pair it with other tools to gain a more comprehensive understanding of momentum.
1. Change the speed of acceleration: If using more extended time frames (e.g., a daily chart), then you may want to slow down your AF; conversely, moving to a shorter time frame may require faster acceleration to adapt.
2. Check Higher Timeframes for Context: If your SAR dot flips on your 5-minute chart, check where the hourly situation is at: if hourly aligns, you have a stronger signal.
3. Pair with Price Patterns: If you enter on a SAR flip because it also broke a trendline or your candle formed a confirmation (e.g., pin bar), it will typically add some accuracy.
4. Do not over-optimise: Try to stay near the defaults as you will often get into trouble (i.e. AF setting set to 0.02, max 0.20), do not try to bastardise the method unless you have backtested extremely; otherwise, you will be optimising your trading to fit the noise rather than the real signal patterns.
The Parabolic SAR is a quietly effective tool: it doesn't yell for attention, but it does provide nice nudges that give you the information to identify trend changes and exit strategies, clearly. It is beneficial for riding strong trends while taking smaller profits as the dots continue to change.
However, the best use of SAR will be in conjunction with filtering your trend, or using it with other indicators—if you are unsure, especially in a flat market or choppy market.
Master the balance of utilising the tool with respect to trend context, rate of sensitivity regarding acceleration and confirming setups for added accuracy. You will have a sharp, intuitive edge.
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