The Balance of Power indicator developed by Igor Livshen is a typical oscillator that indicates trend continuation and reversal. The Balance of Power indicator can be used on your trading platform charts to help filter potential trading signals as part of an overall trading strategy. The Balance of Power indicator is usually calculated in a very simple way. You first need to take the close price and subtract the open price of the asset. Next, you need to take the highest price of the asset and subtract it from the low.
What is the Balance of Power indicator?
The Balance of Power indicator is a technical analysis tool. It continually measures the balance between the market power of buyers and sellers. It helps traders to determine the dominant sentiment at the moment. Traders can use this indicator to:
- Identify the direction of a trend.
- Find discrepancies between the price and the BOP to identify a potential trend reversal or continuation of the trend.
- Identify the overbought and oversold conditions.
Once applied, it appears at the bottom of your chart.
Principle behind the power Balance of Indicator
The most important principle regarding the Balance of Power indicator is as follows:
- When the signal line is above the zero line, a positive market sentiment prevails. Buyers have the upper hand.
- When the signal line is below the zero line, a negative sentiment prevails. Sellers dominate the market.
The indicator traces the prevailing market conditions in real-time. The Balance of Power indicator may look like any other simple oscillator but it is not. It works differently from other oscillators and indicators. It does not react to the upward and downward price movements, as many indicators and oscillators do. Instead, it has its formula to work.
Let’s take a look at its calculation.
Balance of power = (closing price – opening price) / (high price – low price)
If you want to calculate the hourly Balance of Power, you will subtract the opening price of the 1-hour candle from the closing price. Divide what you get by the value of (the highest price in 1-hour candle minus the lowest).
How to configure the power Balance of Power indicator in mt4?
You can configure the Balance of Power indicator in Metatrader in the following steps:
- Place the indicator file in “indicators” folder of your MT4 platform.
- Go to navigation panel and choose the Balance of Power indicator from the list of custom indicators.
- Click ok to apply the indicator.
How to use the Balance of Power indicator?
The Balance of Power indicator shows the direction and extent of price change during the trading period. Like most oscillators, the Balance of Power indicator can be used to identify trends, divergences from price, and overbought/oversold conditions. Zero-line crossovers provide buying and selling signals.
The Balance of Power indicator can provide signals to help traders to trade online. Let’s see how the indicator is used for trading.
The Balance of Power indicator provides the following signals on the platform:
- Cross over zero line
- Convergence
- Divergence
Cross over zero line
This is the basic trading signal that the Balance of Power indicator gives. Suppose that the signal line of the BOP indicator crosses the zero line from bottom to top and continues to increase. It’s a bullish signal. The signal line of the Balance of Power indicator crosses the zero line from top to bottom and continues to decrease. It’s a bearish signal.
Convergences
This occurs when the Balance of Power is in line with the market price. If the market makes two higher peaks in an uptrend, the BOP indicator also makes high peaks consecutively. It is a signal that the price will go up or at least retest the most recent ones. The reverse is also true with a downtrend.
Divergences
These occur when the Balance of Power indicator is not synchronized with the market price. In an uptrend, the market achieves two consecutive higher peaks. The BOP indicator takes a higher peak and then another higher peak, which is not as high. This means that the trend may soon reverse. The same applies to a downward trend.
Balance of Power trading strategy
The Balance of Power (BOP) indicator measures a price trend by evaluating the strength of buy and sell signals, determining how strongly the price moves extreme high and low levels. The BOP oscillates beween -1 and 1, with positive values indicating stronger buying pressure and negative values indicating strong selling pressure. When the indicator gets closer to zero, it indicates that the strength of the buyers and sellers is equalizing.
Balance of Power buy strategy
- The indicator bar should be green (positive).
- The moving average (blue line) should be above the zero line.
- Stop-loss can be placed below the recent low.
- You can exit the trade once the indicator bar turns red (negative).
Balance of Power sell strategy
- The indicator bar should be green (positive).
- The moving average (blue line) should be above the zero line.
- Stop-loss can be placed below the recent low.
- You can exit the trade once the indicator bar turns red (negative).
Balance of Power conclusion
The Balance of Power (BOP) indicator measures a price trend by evaluating the strength of buy and sell signals, determining how strongly the price moves extreme high and low levels. BOP oscillates around zero line, where positive values indicate Bull market dominance and negative values indicate Bear market dominance.
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