Ichimoku vs moving average

What's your opinion? what are the advantages and disadvantages?

Lots of people use ichimoku with the standard settings, so there is an advantage. On the other hand M.A's are used in a million ways, some people adapt it constantly to better describe past market movements hoping it will do the same in the future. Both lag, but ichimoku has a "future" cloud that twists every new cycle. Even if they lag they may catch one or two good trends (don't use them as signals).

The ichimoku indicator is an excellent tool to operate in forex, at first it costs to apply it, but over time it shows you very good income options.

Thanks for your replies guys.
The way I see it, Ichimoku is most suitable for those who would otherwise use several moving averages in one chart which will provide more data/information and confirmation. So whether one uses a simple MA or Ichimoku, both ways are good depending on how one trades.

Exactly each one has its operative of operation so both are very good depending on the operative or strategy that you wish to implement.

Hi, you are right. It depends on the trader and the strategies. Earlier I went as far as trying 2 random EA's as I had the exact same question. I tested an adapted ichimoku ea vs a simple MA ea. Both did terribly over the long run. Long story short, both these systems need human psychology and strategy to be profitable in my opinion.

A good compromise is to use the Ichimoku Moving Average .



P.S. : a good Ichimoku thread :Ichimoku Forever (with some good PDF)

https://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=190646

i dunno why but the ichimoku thing is the most confusing to me from the more "popular" indicators.
I just dont get, what information this thing can give me that PA alone cant.

Guys I started to use Ichimocu recently on 4H graph and for now I have some decent results which makes me feel more comfortable. However, I noticed something with this system which makes me feel a little bit unsure what I am doing.

I trade usually on 4H but in order to confirm trend and its turnaround I use D, W and Monthly. (I trade on long terms). Usually and especially with trend breakouts 4H is giving signals who can be obvious for entering trade, but D and W give signals showing that the price is heading for correction and it might take direction against me. After being trading corrections for some time I don't feel comfortable anymore doing that and would like to execute trade on the right direction instead of waiting the trend to turn back with negative position.

If you need example you can check the attached pictures. One of them clearly shows the signs for turning the trend (4h) graph and the other one (D) shows that the price is very far from the cloud and in this case Ichimocu doesn't recommend entering into trade. As a matter of fact the third one(W) shows breakout from bullish cloud which can result in strong downtrend to lower levels of 79 and below.

Now it is clear that this is looks like retraction on 4H and D and might be downtrend on W but my question is: Do you consider longer terms when you use Ichimocu?

TLDR: Yes it is important to look at, but it is just noise. Trade the chart you have in front of you, but don't forget to think about context / the bigger picture

I also use ichimoku and trade on the H4 chart. Other time frames are very useful in providing colour. For example, H4 might give me a buy signal, but I will often look at the H1 or M30 to fine tune my entry, and in doing so you will see that even when the H4 ichimoku is showing a buy signal, H1 might be showing a sell signal. This would tell me to hold off entering into the trade, because the price might be setting up for a consolidation at the signal H4 point before continuing the trend.

I don't have the chart with me, but if you look at AUDJPY late last week, you will see what I mean. H4 was signalling buy at the same time H1 was signalling sell. This led to a consolidation before a continuance of the trend.

Your question is the other way around. Is the longer term relevant? I say yes. Trends in the longer term charts will ALWAYS show up in the shorter term charts first. That's just the way it works. However, I would definitely use the longer term charts to pick out areas of S/R.
For example, if you are buying at the start of an up trend on H4 and the D1 is in a mature down trend already, expect the H4 trend to either pause at the TK or KJ line on D1, or consolidate to that level, even if you have bought into a true up trend.

EDIT: Another thing to remember, and I have seen people get burnt by this when not looking at longer term charts (myself included). What looks like an up trend on the H4 may just be a rebound back to the TK or KJ on the D1 chart. This doesn't mean your H4 trade was invalid or wrong. If you ride the move back to the TK/KJ, then you will be profitable, and you would have traded a valid trend on the H4 chart, but it would not be a trade that you would make if you were primarily a D1 trader.