Support and resistance are one of the most effective and reliable analysis tools in Forex. They often correspond to prices ending with several zeros, called round prices. For their automated placement, it is advisable to use round levels indicator for MT4, which ensures the display of the corresponding horizontal lines in the quotes chart window.

Why do round levels appear?

Any trader who has traded long enough and closely monitored price movements can easily notice that prices often slow down, accelerate, or make reversals on numerical values ​​ending with 2, 3, or more zeros. The general name for such numbers is round, since it is to them that all values ​​located between them are rounded. It is precisely because of a person’s desire to round everything possible that the described phenomenon of the special behavior of quotes near round levels arises.

In some cases, levels ending in 20, 25, 75 and 80 are also considered round.

For example, it is much easier for a trader to enter in an order the values ​​of the opening, Stop Loss and Take Profit levels not, say, 1.56587, but 1.566 or 1.57, etc. Moreover, the longer-term the trading strategy used, the more the trader tries to round. But a scalper who is trying to make a profit from a transaction in the amount of several pips, tries never to round the price levels in placed orders. However, it is also important for him to take into account round levels in trading, since they allow him to correctly predict price dynamics.

As the price approaches round levels, its volatility increases significantly. This is explained by the accumulation of pending orders on them, which begin to be executed en masse (new positions are opened and closed by Stop Loss and Take Profit already open positions). Therefore, finding a quote near the round level allows short-term traders to make a profit by trading strategies designed for a highly volatile market.

Using round levels in trading

All round levels can be divided into two categories - not tested and tested.

If the price did not touch the round level for quite a long time, but was close to it for a certain period, then we can assume that quite a lot of pending orders have accumulated on it. However, the price behavior will depend on which orders were placed by traders at the round level. For example, the vast majority of limit pending orders at a level will result in the price quickly crossing it. But the overwhelming number at the level of stop orders (including Take Profits and Stop Loss) will lead to a price reversal from it.

And the already tested levels demonstrate which specific pending orders are located at them. At the same time, if there are more limit orders, then they are executed immediately and after that this level is of no interest. But stop orders can reverse the price (if the volumes of these orders are significant, then the reversal occurs impulsively) and more than once. In this case, almost all traders saw this level, so its influence is significantly enhanced (it can be used as support or resistance). To more accurately predict further market dynamics (whether the price will return to this level, whether he will fight him off again, whether he will break through) can be given by other means of technical or fundamental analysis.

Forex indicators “Round levels”

Since the number of round levels can be quite significant, manually placing them on a quote chart is a tedious and time-consuming task (you either need to zoom in on the chart to accurately position the contour lines, or enter the numerical values ​​of their levels in the settings window for each horizontal line). Therefore, special indicators were created that perform such markings automatically.

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One of these indicators is called RoundLevels (download ), and the result of his work is shown in Fig. 1. In the settings you can set the quantity (more or less), type (all, only whole, whole and half), style (solid, dotted, etc.), thickness, color and signature of the displayed levels, as well as the need for sound notification when the price crosses the marked level.

The next indicator of round levels is Key Levels (download ). It draws levels (Fig. 2) ending not only in 00 and 50, but also in 20 and 80 (in the settings you can enable the display of both groups or one of them). The trader can also set the color of the levels (they are drawn as dotted horizontal lines).

And in conclusion, the simplest indicator of round levels is Grid Builder (download ). It has only one input parameter, Grid Space, which specifies the interval at which level contours will be displayed on the chart. They are drawn in green (Fig. 3), and their values ​​are displayed in the vertical markup field.

It is best to install round level indicators on charts with the grid layout disabled (to disable it, use the Ctrl+Y key combination).

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The overwhelming mistake of beginners, and even experienced traders, is too much enthusiasm for the technical side of trading, when all the emphasis is on trading strategy, its indicators. However, behind the technical side, the essence of which is not completely clear to many, because they use lines without understanding what they measure, there is market psychology!

To begin with, everyone coming to the market must clearly understand that the market is ruled by supply and demand, and since Forex is decentralized and has no single center management, there can be no talk of any price manipulation. The real price change occurs under pressure from buyers or sellers, who are people first and foremost! That is why every collapse is accompanied by kickbacks, because traders are simply triggered by the fear of losing their earned money!

Fear and greed always accompany the price and are clearly reflected on it. However, we should not forget about typical human habits, for example, rounding numbers. Yes, yes, this everyday habit is the main factor why the price is always abnormal at round levels. And in today's article we will look at the round levels indicator for MT4.

The round levels indicator is an assistant to every trader who, in his trading, focuses on support and resistance levels, and also considers possible areas of turbulence and increased price activity. It allows you to automatically draw levels for your MT4, which makes it possible to visually always keep them under control.

It is necessary to clearly understand that the round levels indicator is based on the latest price numbers, and not on extremes, as traditional indicators of support and resistance do. That is why there are no fundamental differences in using them on certain time frames or currency pairs. After all, the tool actually serves to simplify the analysis, while the trader builds trading based on them independently.

Why do round levels work in Forex?

As we have already noted, round levels are based on psychology, not of an individual trader or major player, but of the broad masses. The fact is that every trader, when it comes to numbers, and especially the calculation of stop orders, profits and the like, is prone to rounding prices. This is especially evident at short intervals, where scalpers conduct their trading and simply do not have time for lengthy calculations.

Just imagine that you need to calculate in the same store in your mind whether your purchases fit into the required budget or not. Agree, you will simply throw pennies aside, and rubles too, in order to simplify the calculation as much as possible.

In trading, everything happens in exactly the same way, because when it comes to calculating the stops of an order, it is much easier to throw it at the round level than to make a heavy miscalculation.

What can a trader expect near round levels?

• The struggle of a major player for his position, which is expressed in a sharp increase in volatility;
• False breakouts, the purpose of which is to collect stop orders in round zones as much as possible, since all traders place stops according to the same pattern;
• False breakouts with the aim of disrupting pending orders, and as a result, strengthening the momentum in one direction;
• A sharp breakout, since the swept stops will not provide resistance to the price path.

Installing the round levels indicator for MT4 and the spread indicator

In fact, marking round levels is done in a matter of seconds manually, because you can even draw horizontal lines yourself at a price that ends with one or two zeros. However, since there are many of these levels and they will constantly have to be completed, it would be advisable to use the round levels indicator for MT4.

Installing it in MT4 is very simple, because after downloading, just drop it into the Indicators folder. By the way, together with it, we recommend that you download the spread indicator for MT4, since both of these tools are very important in trading, and their presence saves a lot of time.

So, the round levels chart, as well as the spread indicator, look like this:

Fig 1. Indicator of round levels and spread

For what purposes can you use the Forex round levels indicator?

The Forex round levels indicator is, first of all, an assistant that paints us a convenient picture, depriving us of unnecessary routine! At the same time, it is necessary to understand that they can be used for completely different purposes, which we list below:

• Determining a potential target (where the price is moving);
• To determine where to install Stop Loss and Take Profit;
• Finding and giving significance to levels or signals that are near or on circular levels;
• To trade a breakout of these levels;
• Trade on release;

It is necessary to clearly understand that not all levels are equally useful to traders. In fact, the more zeros there are, for example the last two or three digits, the more symbolic it will be, and we wish it to be taken by many participants!

As can be easily seen on the chart of any financial instrument, the price often rises or falls to a certain value, after which its movement stops for a while, and then either reverses or continues to move in the original vector. In most cases, such price values ​​end in the following combination of two numbers - 00, 20, 50, 80. And this is not an accident, as will be shown later in this article on round levels indicator for MT4.

What is a round level

The quotation of any financial instrument is expressed as a number consisting of five or six digits. If the last digit is zero, then the number is a multiple of 10 and is called round. It is near such price levels that the behavior of a financial instrument changes - its reduction in price may be replaced by an increase in price or vice versa.

But not every round level should be taken into account. The most pronounced effect is observed at levels that are multiples of 50 (ending in 00 and called major or at 50 and called intermediate). The described effect is somewhat less pronounced at price levels ending in 20 or 80 and called secondary. And at other levels, multiples of 10, such an effect, as a rule, is not observed. The biggest effect is on round levels ending in 3 or 4 zeros.

This happens due to the psychological characteristics of most people, who are accustomed to rounding large numbers by replacing the last few digits with zeros. This explains the orientation of traders towards levels ending with 2 or 3 zeros. But the orientation to levels ending in 20, 80 and 50 already depends on the above-defined orientation to levels that are multiples of hundreds and thousands:

• the level of type xxx50 (intermediate) is the middle between two adjacent round levels of type xxx00, so the price when approaching it experiences uncertainty, because its attraction to the upper and lower levels is almost the same;
• finding the price below the level of type xxx20 (minor) is perceived as its fluctuation in the area of ​​the nearest (underlying) level xxx00, and the price crossing the level xxx20 from bottom to top indicates an increase in its ability to reach the next round level;
• the location of the price above the level xxx80 (minor) is perceived by traders as its actual fluctuation around the nearby level xxx00, and the price falling below xxx80 is a clear sign for many that it will follow to the next level xxx00.

It should be taken into account that the influence of round levels on the psychology of traders is well known to market makers who use it to achieve their goals. For example, if one of them has accumulated a large number of stop losses, then with a high degree of probability the price will very quickly reach this level. But if there are a lot of take profits at a level, then on the contrary, the price is unlikely to cross it. At the same time, it can come close to it several times, forcing traders who have unprofitable positions to close them with minimal losses. You can read more about the principles of operation of market makers.

Watch a video review of the round levels indicator

What is the “Round Levels” indicator for forex needed and how does it work?

Manually marking round levels is tedious and time-consuming (especially when trading several financial instruments). Therefore, to perform this operation, a special algorithm was developed in the MQL language, which can be downloaded here (we also offer one that displays the real value of the difference between the Bid and Ask prices at the current moment).

Installing the round levels indicator on the price chart results in the display of horizontal straight lines on it, corresponding to prices of the type xxx00, xxx50, xxx20 and xxx80 (Fig. 1). In this case, each straight line is drawn with a certain color (set in the settings by the parameters Level00Color, Level50Color, Level20Color and Level80Color), which ensures the convenience of analysis. Also in the settings you can set the display of only one group of straight lines (Fig. 2):

• parameter Show00_50Levels – when set to True, levels xxx00 and xxx50 are displayed (when set to False, levels are not displayed);
• parameter Show20_80Levels – when set to True, levels xxx20 and xxx80 are displayed (if set to False, levels are not displayed).

In Fig. Figure 1 shows a situation favorable for opening a short position:

• the price fluctuated for some time around the main round level of 1.0900 (marked as 1) in a channel limited by the minor levels of 1.0920 and 1.0880 (marked as 2);
• as a result, support was formed, designated as 3;
• when the support was broken (the moment is designated as 4), the price moved down and after it closed under the secondary level of 1.0820, you can open a short position.

The stop loss (labeled 5) is placed at the minor round level at 1.0920. The distance of setting the take profit from the market entry is taken to be equal to twice the distance from the market entry to the stop loss.

In Fig. Figure 3 shows a situation in which the purchase of an asset is favorable:

• the price fluctuates around the main round level of 1.0900 (indicated as 1), forming support (indicated as 3);
• then the price broke through the level of 1.0920 (red line marked as 2) and closed above it;
• on the next candle you can enter the market with a long position (the moment is indicated as 4).

The stop loss is set at the auxiliary round level of 1.0880 (blue line labeled 5). The take profit is set 2 times further from the market entry level than the stop loss.

We all know about the existence of support and resistance levels, but we don’t always understand why they are at this level and not at another. Often the answer to this question lies in "Psychology of round numbers".

In this article we will examine the concept in detail round numbers in the Forex market and as a bonus at the end of the article there will be a link for download round levels indicator for MT4 terminal.

If you have been trading using charts for a long time, you have probably noticed how strange the price behaves around round levels such as 1.2700 or 1.3000. The picture below shows how the price reacts to such levels.

In everyday life, we strive to simplify everything, so we often use approximate (rounded) numbers. Simple example:

If someone asked how much your computer cost, you would answer without hesitation by rounding the price to the nearest hundred, or even thousand. (“About 30,000 rubles.” or “I got it for $700”). You, of course, can answer that it costs twenty-nine thousand one hundred and forty-seven rubles and 33 kopecks, but this is unlikely to make any sense. Usually, when people ask such a question, they want to get an approximate (rounded) answer in order to have an idea of ​​how much such a computer might cost.

People tend to oversimplify things, so in most cases we will round the value to the nearest whole number.

This is what happens in trading.

What are round (psychological) levels in Forex

Most traders do not hesitate to place their orders and stop orders at round price levels. To confirm this, let's look at the order book (picture below).

We see a cluster of traders’ orders at the levels of 1.2800, 1.3000, etc. In addition, many traders also take into account “half” levels, such as 1.2850, 1.3050, etc., and some even “quarter” levels.

Round levels everyone is taken into account - both small traders and large banks. When the price approaches these levels, the number of transactions and volumes immediately increases, and the price behaves more dynamically. Overall, there is no denying the fact that round levels have some influence on the market.

Let's look at another illustration of how price interacts with round levels.

Please note that most of the price reversals in the picture above were at “round” prices. This happens because traders create sufficient volumes for the price to bounce off these levels and go in the opposite direction. For this reason, we can consider them as possible support and resistance levels.

However, it cannot be said that all round prices act as support or resistance levels, but the way the price reacts to them (see the picture above) makes them worthy of the attention of every trader.

Why do round levels work?

The most amazing thing is that psychological levels in Forex work if only for the reason that you are reading this article. This means that you, like other traders, are “excited” about these levels.

We tend to simplify everything, rounding to whole numbers, so we often use round numbers as the price for a stop loss or limit order.

A massive accumulation of such stop losses and limit orders can easily change the order flow and turn the price in the opposite direction. Let's look at another chart with psychological levels.

We see two cases: happens in one of them "lights out", and in the other "breakdown" psychological level. But in both cases the price bounced back from the “round” price several times. There are several reasons why this happens:

• Perhaps traders thought that the price of $1.34 per 1 euro was a very good price to sell euros.
• Or a more likely option is that traders opened a buy position and set the take profit to a round level. This creates a massive accumulation of sell orders (if you bought, you must sell) at a “round price”. Every time the price touches this level, pending sell orders are triggered, thereby creating an oversupply in the market. And this in turn provokes a “rebound”.

Depending on the balance of power, the price, after a number of touches on the psychological level, can either fight back or break through it. So what is the point of analyzing round prices?

In most cases, an untested psychological level can be considered as a fulcrum or a zone in which there is some resistance or support, but, unfortunately, it can only be determined exactly after the fact.

But in the case when the price has already tested the round level several times, this tells us that the masses see it, and then everything depends on the technical picture of the market.

Round levels indicator for MT4

It's very simple round number indicator, which highlights levels such as 1.2600, 1.2650 and even 1.2625, and it looks something like the picture above.

After installing the indicator, it may seem to you that the lines are barely noticeable on the chart, but this is true main advantage of this indicator from other similar ones. Such an indicator should not be colorful or very noticeable. You should pay attention to it only when you really need it.

You can customize it the way you want.

List of indicator settings:

Number of levels on screen: Standard/More/Less. Determines the number of lines that will be displayed simultaneously on the screen.

Draw levels. Select which types of round levels to draw on the chart: All/Round and Half/Round Only.

Level signature: On/Off signature of solid round levels.

Signature type:

• Price label – signatures will be in the form of a price, for example: 1.1234
• Distance to level – captions will indicate the distance to this level from current price, for example 80 p.

Signature font size. 1 – standard, 2 – medium, 3 – large.

Thickness of levels. Depending on the level type, select the line thickness.

Line type. Select the line graphic format for each level type.

Level colors. For each level type, select a line color as well as a color for the level label.

Alerts. Turn on/off sound alerts when round levels are reached.

Many traders, relying primarily on charts in their trading, have long noticed certain peculiarities in the behavior of price quotes near round levels such as 1.2600, 1.3500 and similar.

This is primarily due to the psychological factor - people tend to reduce and simplify everything to the nearest whole number. For example, when someone asks a person how much his car costs, he is unlikely to say something like $99,343, but rather an approximate hundred thousand.

How important are round levels in Forex trading?

In Forex, everything happens exactly the same. Traders, the vast majority of them, do not think much about the prices they set for orders and restrictions, but do it at round levels. If you look at the statistics, you can get additional confirmation of these words - the largest number of open orders accumulate precisely near levels like 1.3000, in slightly smaller numbers near the half and quaternary levels. As a result, approaching the round level, the chart begins to behave in a more dynamic manner.

It is also worth noting that many market participants identify round levels with possible levels. And this is true, but only partly.

Since the activity of traders increases when the price quote approaches the round level, a large amount of funds is poured in, this can cause a rebound and price movement in the opposite direction.

This situation does not always occur, and the fact that round levels can become a source of additional information for a market participant is relevant here.

Review of the Key Levels indicator on Forex

Determining the level marks mentioned above visually is quite a tedious task, especially if you prefer to work on . Therefore, so that a trader can concentrate on the things that are really important to him, a special auxiliary tool was developed - the Key Levels round indicator, which is designed for MT4.

A trader just needs to download and configure software, so that additional information is displayed on the chart in the future, namely, round levels highlighted in the specified color.

At first glance at the connected indicator, you may get the impression that the level lines look almost invisible. But later the understanding comes that this is not negative, but positive point. Such indicators should not be colorful or conspicuous. Their goal is to be visible to the user only at the moment when he needs to collect data for technical analysis.

How to install and configure the Key Levels indicator on Forex?

The first step is to find a trusted source from which you can download the necessary files to your computer. You're already there. When the archive is completely downloaded to your system, simply unzip it and copy the contents to the Indicators folder located inside the root directory of your platform. The tool is designed for MT4, which is now one of the most practical and convenient for traders.

There will be no problems with the settings either - in the window with input parameters, which will be displayed immediately after connecting the indicator, there will be a list of options for fine-tuning the tool to suit your needs:

Show_00_50_Levels (option to display or not display price levels with endings 00 and 50); Level_00/50/20/80_Color (select the color of the levels displayed on the chart); Show_20_80_Levels (option to display/not display levels ending with 20 and 80); Enable/disable sound notifications. The tool comes with an alert, which allows the trader to hear characteristic signals when the round levels indicator recognizes that the price is approaching an important mark; Other settings that allow you to manipulate the visual display - line thickness, graphic format, captions, etc.

A little advice. Since there is no option to completely disable any levels on the chart, you can resort to a little trick. If the color identified with them matches the background color, they simply will not be visible.

How to use the round levels indicator in practice?

As we already understood, the indicator of round levels for MT4 performs one single function - it highlights these same round levels, as well as half (ending with 50) and quarter (ending with 25). This psychological marks, a kind of zone of increased interest, forcing both small players and influential market participants to become more active - banks, financial companies, etc. But how the market will react to reaching the level, there is no clear answer to this question. The price can either rebound or break through the round mark.

Let's consider two opposite situations and their interpretation:

• Let's say the Euro is trading at a price of about 1.3 dollars per unit of currency and the chart is preparing to approach the round mark. Many traders may consider that $1.3 would be an excellent price to sell and open orders accordingly.
• The second situation, which occurs with much more frequent probability, is a massive opening of traders to buy with take profit set at round levels. Sell ​​orders begin to accumulate en masse, therefore, as soon as the price collides with the level, it triggers and creates surpluses in the market. And this naturally leads to a price rebound.

Quite maturing logical question– why then is a Forex round levels indicator even needed if the market behaves unpredictably?

This may be partly true - if you use only round levels when analyzing the market and choose a more likely rebound, special income you will not get it (either with manual trading or with an automatic advisor built on this principle). But as a fulcrum, in combination with this and a number of other tools, it is very useful.

Is the round levels indicator effective and is it worth using?

People's opinions about round levels are divided. Some traders consider them to be an extremely useful tool that can be effectively used for market analysis no worse than support/resistance levels.

Others, on the contrary, consider the techniques associated with them to be overly promoted and doubt the advisability of using CG in fast and chaotic Forex. One way or another, no one will dispute the fact that the round level is taken into account major players(market makers), and this is already a prerequisite for possible changes.

Unlike most tools with similar purposes, the round levels indicator will not draw a place where it would be profitable for a trader to open a new position - it will leave the right to the market participant to decide for himself what to do in a particular situation. Accordingly, it is best used in trading as additional confirmation, identifying possible support/resistance zones.

Setting up the Key Levels indicator