Forex Exit Signals

One might regard forex as being somewhat simple: you just need to know which pair to trade, when to get in, and when to get out. (An exception to this is with carry trading, where you also need to pay attention to a few other factors). Here we discuss some of the major signals for knowing when to exit a trade. The basic set of tools, provided for free by most forex brokers, are almost identical to the entry signals. With entry, you look for a trend and jump in just before it starts. With exits, you simply look for the end of a trend or the beginning of a new one, and jump out before it’s too late. The big difference is that you are not usually looking for a new trend. By the time you can identify that a new trend has begun and is measurably significant, it’s already too late—you’re losing money. Instead, you should exit the market as soon as it is clear that the trend you bought on has ended. Trend following is just one of several ways to become successful in the forex market. So you could start with crossovers in the moving average. If you used that to identify an uptrend, now you’re looking for a reversal with crossover from above. But hopefully you won’t get that far. Instead, you should watch the percentage of change in the short term moving average. If the short term average remains unchanged over a period of time, the trend has probably ended. Of course, this means that the average directional index (ADX) or moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) both become more significant for you. Look for stabilization or stagnation in these indicators as a signal for the end of a trend.