Introduction to the i-Sessions Indicator
One of the peculiarities of forex trading compared to trading other forms of tradeable instruments and commodities is that forex trading allows traders to trade 24 hours a day and a little more than five days a week. This is because currencies are exchanged worldwide traded within different markets and regions.
This unique feature of forex trading should present more trading opportunities, right? That is somehow true, but that does not mean that traders should trade 24-hours a day five days a week.
Different regions and markets have different characteristics. This also means that trading strategies that apply on one market session would immediately apply on other market sessions.
The Asian session or the Tokyo session characteristically trades with lower volume and lower volatility, thus markets typically range during these hours. The European session or the London open characteristically has strong volatility and typically trades with larger volume. This means that breakouts typically occur as the London market opens. The US session or New York open also trades with high volume and volatility. The overlap between the European and US session typically has the highest volatility due to the overlap of these two markets.
Different market sessions have different characteristics. It is important for traders to know what market session they are trading in for them to apply the right strategy for that particular market environment, and this is where the i-Sessions indicator can help.
What is the i-Sessions Indicator?
The i-Sessions indicator is a custom technical indicator which marks trading hours. It plots boxes as backgrounds on the price chart which spans the time of a trading session. It also includes the highest high and the lowest low for the session within each box.
How the i-Sessions Indicator Works?
The i-Sessions indicator uses the beginning and end time encoded by the user within its settings. The time it uses is based on the broker’s server time. It then plots a box spanning the beginning and end time. It also uses the highest high and lowest low of the session as the basis for the height of the box.
How to use the i-Sessions Indicator for MT4
The i-Sessions indicator allows traders to identify up to eight different market sessions. It allows traders to modify the beginning and end of each session, as well as the color of the box that identifies each session.
The market session beginning and end times preset on the indicator has not been aligned with actual market session hours. As such, traders would still have to align the market hours with actual market sessions. This can be compared with the market sessions tab of www.forexfactory.com. The colors of the boxes are also preset as grey. Traders should modify it for easier differentiation.
The template attached here has modified settings. However, there could still be variances due to having a different server time as the ones used here.
Conclusion
The i-Sessions indicator can be a useful indicator especially in strategies which require market timing due to volatility, such as London open and breakout strategies. However, it is just a visual modification rather than a technical analysis indication.
Day traders who prefer to have a heads up regarding the markets that are open as of the time they are trading can also make good use of this type of indicator.
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