Parabolic SAR — Trailing Stops Made Visual

SAR (stop and reverse) prints dots below price in uptrends and above in downtrends — an automatic trailing stop that accelerates as the trend runs.

Level by level

Beginner

Dots flip side = trend flip signal. The dots' distance is your trailing stop suggestion.

Intermediate

SAR shines in strong trends and gets chopped alive in ranges — gate it with ADX above 25 before trusting the dots.

Advanced

The acceleration factor (default 0.02, max 0.2) controls how aggressively the stop tightens; faster AF = earlier exits and more whipsaws. Wilder built it to solve exit discipline, not entries.

Common mistakes

• Using SAR in a sideways market
• Taking SAR flips as entries without any trend filter

Practise & tools

• Free calculators & trading journal
• Structured lessons in the Learning Hub
• Daily Chart Challenge

_Educational content only — not financial advice. Historical behaviour never guarantees future results._