What is ZigZag indicator, and does it work in Trading?

The Zigzag strategy satisfies all the trading conditions, which mean that we can move forward and outline what the trigger condition for our entry strategy. First, we want to make sure the ZigZag tool will only show the more significant swing high and swing low points in the market. For this, we have to use at least 20 periods for the Depth and 5% deviation to accurately display the market swings. But, if the parameters are set to tight, you can have a zigzagging effect.

As with all indicators, these numbers can be tweaked to suit your trading style. Today we are going to look at a not-so-popular tool called Zig Zag Indicator. It’s important to know that the most recent Zig Zag line – the one showing on the far right-hand side of a chart – is not “set in stone”. Whenever the direction of price changes, the Zig Zag will begin drawing a new line in that direction. This indicator is often employed with Elliott Wave Analysis to help identify the beginning and end of each wave.

Wave C of a flat pattern could be also an ending diagonal as shown on the next chart. However, an ending diagonal in wave (c) finishes below the high of wave (a) that is how running flats ends. As you can see, there’re some variations in each type of flat patterns in the real market. Elliott wave patterns form on all markets, including cryptocurrencies.

You should consider using the educational resources we offer like  CAPEX Academy or a demo trading account. CAPEX Academy has lots of courses for you to choose from, and they all tackle a different financial concept or process – like the basics of analyses – to help you to become a better trader. To get the most out of this guide, it’s recommended to practice putting this ZigZag indicator trading strategy into action. The best risk-free way to test these strategies is with a demo account, which gives you access to our trading platform and $50,000 in virtual funds for you to practice with. Having the zig zag indicator in place, helps you identify when your market structure is invalidated.

The Ultimate Guide To Zig Zag Indicator

When a trend is established, traders can use the Zig Zag indicator to identify pullbacks or retracements within the trend, providing opportunities to enter trades at more favorable prices. But what I’m about to show you is how you can use the zig zag indicator to compliment your method as a price action trader. Whether you’re learning how to be a price action trader or an Elliot Wave trader, the zig zag indicator is an essential tool.

Additionally, the Zig Zag indicator can assist in recognizing chart patterns such as double tops or bottoms, head and shoulders, or triangles, which often precede significant price movements. The Zig Zag indicator excels at identifying and following prevailing trends in the market. Connecting significant highs and lows, helps traders recognize the direction of the trend and determine its strength.

Zig Zag Indicator – Technical Analysis

After a little trial and error, 6% was deemed the threshold of importance. An advance or decline greater than 6% was deemed significant enough to warrant a wave for an Elliott count. The threshold and the wave count are subjective and dependent on individual preferences.

Let’s say a trader wanted to focus on a 20% price movement to determine if it’s a good price to buy or sell. The trader could set the value on the Zig Zag indicator to 20% and they would see when there is a 20% move on the chart. If they want to see smaller price movements such as 5%, they can adjust the indicator accordingly.

• Throughout our backtesting software, we have found out that the third wave of the zigzag pattern ends between 0.618 – 0.786 or 1.0 – 1.272.
• The ZigZag is based on the chart “type.” Line and dot charts, which are based on the close, will show the ZigZag based on closing prices.
• We can use the zigzag pattern to try to find high percentage areas to ride those waves.

And that different types of zig zag indicators use “points” instead of percentages. The Zig Zag indicator plot points on a chart whenever prices reverse by a percentage greater than a pre-chosen variable. The Elliott Wave theory states zig zag pattern trading that the market forms certain psychological sentiment. The sequences are repeated over a certain time period, in different intensities. The Zig Zag indicator can be combined with other indicators to help you plan out your trades.

How to earn an extra 13 – 26% a year without reading financial reports, studying chart patterns, or following the news. Given the lag, many traders use the Zig Zag indicator to confirm the direction of the trend rather than attempting to time a perfect entry or exit. Like other trend-following indicators, buy and sell signals are based on past price history that may not be predictive of future price action. For example, the majority of a trend may have already happened when a Zig Zag line finally appears. The Zig Zag trend line will not be an indicator of future price action. If Bitcoin was on an upward trend before the new line starts, it does not mean that it will continue in an upward trend.

What’s a ZigZag pattern in trading?

The last chart shows a perfect example of an expanded flat pattern. Wave ((B)) is far longer than wave ((A)) and the ending of wave ((C)) breaks the low of wave ((B)). The subsequent bullish impulse in wave ((1)) confirms that a flat pattern is over. The chart shows a simple zigzag in wave (ii) with impulses in waves a and c. Also, pay attention to a leading diagonal, which has formed after wave (ii). As you can see from the chart below, there’re three types of the flat pattern depending on the length of waves B and C.

Conversely, when a trend shows signs of exhaustion or a potential reversal, the Zig Zag indicator can signal potential exit points to lock in profits or minimize losses. When the price movement exceeds this threshold, a new line segment is drawn, connecting the previous significant high or low with the current one. We defined new method to derive zigzag last month – which is called Channel-Based-Zigzag . Basic rule of trend following is Buy High and Sell Low (Yes, you heard it right).

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The Zigzag indicator parameters are very important to cover enough price data so the indicator can display zigzag waves on your chart. We will give you an understanding of how to trade with the Zigzag indicator. The markets don’t just move straight up, and they don’t just move straight down. If you spend any more than a couple of seconds in the markets, you may have noticed this before.

But we want to have a broader view of what the true swing high and swing low are. The Zig-Zag indicator can use both percentages or points in its construction. To construct the Zig-Zag indicator, there must be a certain percentage or number of points between a swing high and a swing low before a line will be drawn. Backtesting the Zig Zag indicator on historical price data can provide valuable insights into its performance and potential profitability. Incorporating the Zig Zag indicator into a trading plan necessitates the establishment of clear trading rules and risk management strategies. Developing a clear set of rules and guidelines for interpreting Zig Zag signals can help mitigate subjectivity and enhance the consistency of analysis.

What is the Zigzag Indicator?

Not financial advise and strategy not guaranteed to make money despite backtest results
Not created or tested for any specific instrument or… This is an open-source Pine script that generates a Supertrend Zone Pivot Point with Zigzag Fib indicator for TradingView. The indicator displays the Supertrend Zone, pivot points, and Fibonacci levels on the chart.

The flexibility of the indicator means traders can adjust it to their trading style. For example, a trader who only places long term trades can adjust the indicator for 15% moves to reassure themselves that their long or short trade is following the trend. Application of ZigZag Indicator, that draws a zigzag pattern in forex, together with other technical tool, like Bollinger bands, for example, is an efficient approach of technical analysis. The Zig Zag is a technical indicator that measures the swing highs and swing lows of a market. This will help you identify with better accuracy the market swing high and low points.

The ZigZag swing trading strategy presented below requires the use of one particular indicator. The Fibonacci extension indicator will be used to additionally confirm the ABCD pattern. The zigzag indicator is one of the default technical indicators that come with your trading platform (MetaTrader4, TradingView, etc.). On the left of the chart, the S&P 500 was forming a triangle consolidation pattern.

The pattern tends to be a retracement of the previous trend and may look like a flag pattern. At other times, it may look like a simple range that spends more time going sideways than making any real progress in price. The Zigzag parameters are very important to cover enough price data so the indicator can display zigzag waves on your chart. So, using the zig zag indicator, helps you objectively define these market structures with ease.