Repainting technical indicators

Repainting technical indicators? When browsing websites and forums devoted to the forex market and technical analysis indicators, you can come across the phrase "repainting" in the context of "this indicator is because it repaints ”. So what do traders understand by this strange concept and where did it come from? The following article will try to explain it to you.

What is repainting technical indicators?

Repainting, or repainting from English, is the easiest way to change the previous appearance of the indicator technical analysis. After it appears on the chart (in theory) it should not change anymore as it relates to a period in the past. The chart of the financial instrument has a bottom timeline and plots the price change based on the time interval in the given ranges. This is done, for example, in the form of candles - which is rather obvious to everyone.

READ NECESSARY: Candlestick patterns - when do they generate reliable signals?

The price always changes only on the last candle, the previous ones remain unchanged. Usually the same is true with indicators. Usually because some indicators tend to change their indications up to several periods back. In other words, the indicator can generate a position open signal, and then as a result of a change in course, the signal simply disappears.

Which determines repainting of indicators?

Indirectly, the change in the appearance of the indicator depends on the change in the price of the instrument on the chart. Only indirectly, because the smaller the price change, the smaller the impact on the indicator's appearance. This is directly influenced by the structure of the indicator, i.e. the formula on which it is based. Unfortunately, it is designed in such a way that it allows you to interfere with the values ​​from previous periods. Therefore, it does not treat the indications in the "closed" category as it does with the price itself. Importantly, it takes into account the constantly changing value of the instrument, despite the fact that it already relates to a different period. This means that the tool is at risk of overpainting its past precepts.

built-in indicators as standard MT4 are free of such anomalies, so the problem concerns only non-standard tools that can be found on the Internet.

Examples repaintingu

In the video below, although the rate is updated on the last candle, the indicator values ​​corresponding to the previous candles also change.

This is particularly evident in the dynamic price change.

SEARCH AND DOWNLOAD INDICATORS FOR METATRADER 4/5

"Attention - repainting! "

It cannot be unequivocally said that the repelling indicator is bad. However, it certainly has clear drawbacks that must be taken into account if we decide to use it. Seeing that the tool tends to be repainted, a warning light should light up in our head. Playing under the signal of such an indicator, you should wait for the appropriate confirmation (given number of consecutive candles), which will cause that any change in the course or change in the real range will no longer affect the appearance of the indicator and, more importantly, the generated signal. Unfortunately, this causes delays in our response, so you have to ask yourself if it's worth it. These indicators should be used with extreme caution, because the refresh of the chart makes them look attractive in relation to the historical period, but differently in the case of real-time applications and live trading! It is worth checking each of them beforehand on a demo account or in testing tools (e.g. in the Meta Trader strategy tester).