How to Deal with Repainting Indicators

Repainting indicators can cause trouble if you're not aware of their nature. Yet, there are a few good repainting indicators to use in your strategy.

Indicators are a very popular tool used by traders in this day and age. Gone are the days when you'd have to analyze the chart on your own in order to understand what positions to place. There are several indicators in the market now that do exactly that.

However, not all indicators are good at what they do. There are quite a few in the market who have been created by scammers in order to trick people into believing the indicator works well when it really doesn't. There are also quite a few indicators that keep changing their displays in order to match current trends to make people believe that they're more accurate than they really are. As such, we're going to go into more detail on this type of indicator.

What Is a Repainting Indicator?

A repainting indicator is an indicator that changes its past analysis on the arrival of new data. This is a very unreliable type of indicator. Think of it as changing your answers in an exam after finding out what the correct answers are. Your result is no longer reliable as you cheated.

Similarly, if an indicator changes the analysis it showed you previously to match the current data after finding out the current data, it is no longer valid or reliable.

Sellers who promote repainting indicators won't actually tell you that it repaints. This is because they want you to believe that the indicator is showing very accurate results when in fact, the results are not accurate at all because it keeps changing to match the current data. This is why most traders prefer to stick to the regular non-repainting indicators like Moving Averages, RSI, and Bollinger Bands.

How to Know If an Indicator Is Repainting?

If you trade on either MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5, there is a pretty quick and easy way to figure out if an indicator is repainting or not. If you click on "View" which can be found on the top menu, you'll see an option called strategy tester. This lets you watch how the indicator has been acting over a long period of time. Simply enter the details of your indicator in the settings and then click "start". Then, you'll be able to watch how your indicator has been showing its analysis in the past to date.

If the indicator is repainting, you'll notice that every time a new candle opens, it will change its past analysis to match the current candle. It does this to always look accurate in your eyes. If the indicator was not repainting, the analysis wouldn't change no matter what.

Can You Stop an Indicator from Repainting?

The only real way to stop an indicator from repainting is to change its code. Now if you're like me and you know nothing about coding, chances are there's no way you'd be able to figure out how to do this. And to be honest, if you got the indicator from a scammer who didn't even tell you that the indicator was a repainting one, chances are the indicator is a piece of junk that doesn't even work so there's no use even trying to stop it from repainting as it still won't make you good profits.

Your best bet is attaching a new indicator to your trading system that is proven to be one that doesn't repaint. Most popular ones are already pre-existing on the MetaTrader platforms and you can just choose based on any of your likings.

Best Repainting Indicators

Although it seems like all repainting indicators are your worst enemy, that is not the case. Some indicators are purposely built to be repainting in order to draw accurate trend lines and support and resistance levels. As long as you know that the indicator you're using is repainting, there is no harm in using it to sharpen your trend knowledge. Below are two of the most popular repainting indicators that don't even hide their identity, yet people still choose to follow them.

Zig Zag Indicator

The Zig Zag indicator is the most popular repainting indicator. It is readily available on the MetaTrader 4 platform for anyone who wants to use it. In order to successfully trade using the Zig Zag indicator, you have to know about its repainting nature first. This indicator serves to draw trend lines on a chart. This is also why it repaints. It repaints so the trend lines are accurate to the current historical data. This is a great indicator for someone who wants to understand how trend lines work.

Fractals Indicator

The Fractals indicator is another popular repainting indicator that is readily available on the MetaTrader platforms for anyone who wants to use it. This indicator uses its repainting feature to create support and resistance points for more accurate trading. A fractal up arrow, or resistance point, requires two lower highs on either side of the high. On the other hand, a fractal down arrow, or support point, requires two higher lows on either side of the low. In other words, a fractal requires a mountain or triangle shape in order to solidify its support or resistance points.

Conclusion

Repainting indicators are not all bad so long as you're told that the indicator is repainting so you're not left in the dark. If the indicator seller doesn't tell you that the indicator is repainting and you had to find out on your own, chances are it wasn't a good indicator to begin with and the best way to deal with it is to simply discard it. There are plenty of good repainting indicators out there that aren't hiding their true characteristics and they're actually good at what they do. If not, you can always just go back to your regular trustworthy indicator that doesn't repaint!

Utilizing indicators to support your trading strategy requires certain knowledge and experience for there are many types of indicators with different strengths and weaknesses. Hence, there's nothing wrong with learning how to combine indicators like a pro.