Using RSI as an intraday tool

• This article, written by Alan Collins is taken from the FX Trader Magazine (JAN/MARCH 2013 issue).

The Relative Strength Indicator, created by Welles Wilder, has long been used by many market participants in their analysis. For the most part this application has been applied via daily charts, or longer periods, primarily as a means to identify trend. But there are a number of methods that RSI can be used for; 

• As a measure of an overbought/oversold situation. 

• An indicator of the underlying trend & of trend breaks. 

• A buy/sell signal when the 50% line is crossed. 

• An indicator of possible Divergence 

For the investor or proprietary trader these methods are without doubt tools that, taken in context with other technical indicators, will prove useful. But do they work, and can they be successfully employed, in shorter intraday time frames? In this article I will use the same hourly GBPUSD chart, and the same 8 period RSI, and apply the four methods above to illustrate how to use them and assess whether they’re likely to be beneficial. Lastly I’ll add a lesser known but powerful number of other situations were only warnings of what turns out to be minor profit taking rallies inside the more pronounced trend.

•  Download Resource