There are a lot of signals in the trading strategy of Bill Williams which help a trader to open successful orders, but the main of them are those which are shown by Fractals and Alligator indicators. They don’t only offer the places to set beneficial orders but also allow to learn fast the wave analysis on which all the author’s concept is based.
Alligator Indicator
Alligator is three lines of the balance, calculated according to the same formula with different variables. The green line is the Alligator’s lips, the blue one is the Alligator’s jaws, and the red line is the Alligator’s teeth. When they are intertwined the Alligator is “asleep” and there is a flat on the market. Otherwise, there is a trend on the market. It is not complicated to determine its direction when the price is higher then jaws this means that the trend is upwards (bullish) if the price is lower then the trend is down (bearish).
It is very important to watch the location of the price on several time-frames which you can choose depending on the way you trade. For example, if you open the orders according to the 5-minute chart, then you should also assess the situation on the 1-minute and 10-minute charts, i.e. you should always evaluate the neighbour time-frames. There is a possibility that the trend is upwards according to the hour chart and it is down according to the daily chart, most likely this means that there is the pullback of the price which we can watch inside the day, and it is not worth to expect a long movement in this direction.
Fractal Indicator
Let’s consider the fractal signal now. It looks like five serial candlesticks the middle of which has the highest maximum and the lowest minimum. If the fractal appears above the Alligator, then you have a signal to buy; if it appears under the Alligator, you have a signal to sell. The best signal is when the lips, teeth and jaws are intertwined at this moment i.e. we expect the movement. Alligator is “asleep”, it is “hungry”, and the price will “run away” from it. To enter the market, you should place the pending order: Buy Stop or Sell Stop. For example, the buy fractal has been formed above the jaws so the long position order should be placed one point above the maximum of the middle candlestick. As soon the order opens it means that the signal has triggered.
Learn to wait and soberly assess the situation, use Stop Loss.
Very often, there is a situation when the price hovers around the intertwined levels of the balance creating fractal signals which trigger but the price doesn’t go higher than several points. Bill Williams calls it the trading in the “low rent district” zone. You lose some money, but your losses are acceptable in comparison to the profit that you will earn when the real movement starts, and you are in it. Sooner or later, the Alligator will open its jaws.
It is almost impossible to escape such losses; this is the part of any trading system. But you can reduce them if you analyse bigger time-frames than the one on which you place your pending orders. It will allow you not to “feed” the Alligator. Learn to wait and soberly assess the situation, use Stop Loss.
For example, the trader enters a short position. Your triggered buy fractal is the fractal start and the price, which is one point higher the second buy fractal if to analyse the market from right to left, will be the fractal stop (level for placing Stop Loss). This means that the trader has opened the buy order, after that he has looked “backwards” and has found the buy fractal and after it – the second one which will be the stop. As you see the concept of Bill Williams is easy as all genius things, but it requires practice, fast analysis of the market and some experience at the same time. It is better to develop it using one currency pair and after getting some necessarily successful experience to consider other investments as well.
