TRADING BREAKOUTS USING THE ADX INDICATOR
by Matt Kirk
A popular ADX (Average Directional Index) trading method is the basic breakout strategy whereby a trade is executed either on the long or the short side when prices have moved out of the recent trading range. For the purposes of this article Iâll outline a channel breakout strategy however breakouts can also appear in a market that has been trading in an upward or downward sloping fashion.
There are many different ways to identify when the market has made a channel break and one of the more common is to buy a 20 day high or sell a 20 day low. The general rule is that the price bar must CLOSE on a new high or low - not just penetrate the previous 20 day high or low. Ah, but I hear you say âwhat about all those annoying false breakouts!â
The following method can alleviate the problems and frustrations associated with a high or low tick due to stop loss activity rather than the potential commencement of a trend. If the market travels sideways in a relatively tight range for 20 days then one can expect that volatility is generally low.
My favourite strength of trend tool is of course the Average Directional Index (more commonly known as the ADX). This little beauty will keep you out of many trades that turn out to be false breaks. This is how it works.
To start with the ADX has nothing to do with direction. It simply tells you whether the market is trending or not or, is about to commence a trend. In your charting software the ADX line is found hidden away within the indicator called the DMI or Directional Movement Indicator. The DMI will provide the direction as well as displaying the ADX line however I personally âtoggleâ off the DMI component as I find it visually a bit messy. On a daily chart I suggest using 8 and 18 period Moving Averages (MAV) to provide the directional signal when they cross. A cross of the 8 period MAV from below and up through the 18 period MAV means that prices are now advancing or moving higher at a faster rate than they have been â the opposite is true for a sell signal.
The secret here however, is when to take the trade? I find that you can stack the odds in your favour when the ADX has moved up for two periods between 20 and 30 on the Index. The ADX line can come from below 20 on the first move up but the second period move higher, must be above 20. A falling ADX line or a sideways ADX mean that the market is not trending or perhaps has completed the previous trend. Moves below 20 are generally false moves and should be ignored. OK then, the ADX has moved up two days or bars (if youâre intra-day trading) as per the above guidelines and the MAVâs have crossed to give a buy signal. You must then BUY on the open of the next bar and place your initial stop half way between the range that the market had just broken out from. The size of the previous range will, of course, determine the dollar value of the stop loss so it will be the size of your account that determines whether you should do the trade or not. (You should generally risk only 5% of your capital in any one trade). The opposite is true for a sell signal. As the market moves in your favour, trail the stop up using your own money management techniques to lock in profit. There are plenty of different ways to do this and perhaps should be left to be dealt with in another article. Feel free to email me your address (matt.kirk@tricom.com.au) and Iâll post out a chart showing the perfect setup which can be used on stockmarkets, futures and foreign exchange trading.
This article first appeared in Your Trading Edge Magazine Sept/Oct 2000
Matt Kirk has been writing freelance articles under the pseudonym Phil Dew since 1999. He is represented by Big Picture Management and is an Associate Director of Tricom Futures Services. He can be contacted at
matt.kirk@tricom.com.au
This article is copyright Matt G Kirk, Sydney 1998-2000. No part may be reproduced or distributed without the express permission of Matt G Kirk.
Cheers,
Jeanmichel
