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Thursday, June 18, 2009

Trading Online Based On The Relative Strength Index

By Chris Blanchet

Investors who want to learn stock market investing often turn to technical analysis for objective and unbiased guidance as to when they should enter or exit a particular position. As discussed in other parts of this Technical Analysis series, some events are simpler to determine than others, especially for people who are just starting to learn stock market investing techniques. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) of a security would be medium-difficult.

What is the Relative Strength Index (RSI) The RSI is an oscillator that measures a security's "relative strength" against its own price history. This technical indicator allows the investor to determine whether the security is currently overbought or oversold and, in fact, provides a better indication of support and resistance levels than the security's price chart would.

How Relative Strength Works As far as getting a reading from the RSI, the signals are a little different than other covered in our technical analysis series. Instead of getting a clear buy or sell signal, the RSI will produce three different results depending on its value. From 0 to 30, the RSI suggests a security is oversold; 30 to 70 is in range, and; 70 to 100 is considered overbought. Depending on other circumstances facing the investor, different trade signals may be produced.

Figuring out the RSI In terms of mathematics, maintaining an ongoing RSI chart is more involved than some other technical analysis calculations. To figure out a security's RSI, we use this formula: 100 - [100/(1 + A)] where A consists of the average "up" days divided by the average "down" days over a predetermined time frame. For example, if a stock closes up 7 days and down 7 days of the past 14 days, then the RSI would be 50.

Trading the RSI Unlike other indicators, the RSI does not simply provide black-and-white buy or sell recommendations. Instead the RSI can provided a number of key pieces of information. First the RSI is often better than the underlying security's price chart at demonstrating key support and resistance levels. Second, the RSI will show whether a security is overbought (level between 70 and 100) or oversold (between 0 and 30). These bearish and bullish signals can help investors determine whether to exit an existing position or open a new one, either on the long end or the short end. Relying on the RSI to confirm a prospective trade is really the entire point of using technical analysis in the first place.

Trading software can alleviate a lot of the time consuming and draining calculations needs to produce a solid buy or sell signal. Although technical analysis involves many aspects and signals, such software can change an individual investor's experience from overwhelmed to simple... or at least make it simpler. - 23162

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