--- title: "Create MACD, Bollinger Bands and Stochastic alerts" slug: "macd-bollinger-and-stochastic-alerts" kind: "HELP_ARTICLE" category: "alerts" locale: "en" canonical: "https://help.forecastcity.com/alerts/macd-bollinger-and-stochastic-alerts" published: "2026-09-08T17:58:35.210Z" updated: "2026-10-27T17:16:40.793Z" description: "Create MACD, Bollinger Bands and Stochastic alerts in 4CM-AI Charts: open Details, pick the line to watch and choose how often it fires." --- # Create MACD, Bollinger Bands and Stochastic alerts MACD, Bollinger Bands and Stochastic each draw more than one line. An alert watches the exact line you choose and checks it at every candle close. ForecastCity makes this simple, fast and accurate. Pick the line and value in seconds. You can also tell or ask AI Trading Assistant in your own voice or in writing to set it up alongside 4CastMachine AI forecasts. The examples use EURUSD. We watch the MACD histogram cross above 0 (1h), the upper Bollinger Band cross above 1.1 (1h), and Stochastic %K cross below 80 (15m). ## Open the indicator settings For these three indicators, the settings and the line the alert reads are in **Details**. 1. Move the mouse over the condition row. A gear appears at the right end of the row. It shows only while the mouse is over the row. 2. Click the gear, named **Details**. A second line opens under the row, with **Compare with**, the settings and, at the end, the plot box. A plot is one of the indicator's lines. Click the gear again to close the second line. Your settings stay as they are. ## Example 1: the MACD histogram crosses above 0 1. Open EURUSD in 4CM-AI Charts. Click the lightning icon (**Alerts**) in the top toolbar and press **+**. 2. In the first box, choose **MACD**. Set the timeframe to **1h**. 3. Choose **crosses above** and type **0** in the value box. 4. Open **Details** with the gear. The three setting boxes show 12, 26 and 9. Keep them, unless your chart's MACD uses other settings. 5. In the plot box at the end of the second line, choose **hist**. It starts on **line**. ![A MACD condition row with Details open: the settings 12, 26 and 9 and the plot hist.](https://m.forecastcity.com/t/tnt_forecastcity/media/2a/2a6b1cee6556386890f9f97e79757592874b635bfb3fa64393ced51866ee5798.png) A MACD condition with Details open: the three MACD settings and the plot hist. 1. **hist**: the plot. The condition reads the MACD histogram. 2. 12, 26 and 9: the MACD settings. They are the fast period, the slow period and the period of the MACD line's own average. The histogram is the gap between the MACD line and its 9-period average. It crosses above 0 when the MACD line rises above that average. To watch the MACD line itself cross 0, choose **line** instead. Now choose how often the alert fires, and save it. 1. Open the **Options** tab. **Trigger** starts on Once only, unless you saved your own defaults. With it, the alert fires once and then stops. 2. To hear about every crossing, set Trigger to **Once per bar close**. A bar is one candle. Set the **Confirmation timeframe** box to 1h, the same as the condition. 3. Press **Create**. ## Example 2: the upper Bollinger Band crosses a price 1. Start a new alert and choose **Bollinger** in the first box. Set the timeframe to **1h**. 2. Choose **crosses above** and type a price, for example **1.1**. 3. Open **Details** with the gear and check the two settings. The period is 20, and 2 is the width of the bands in standard deviations. 4. In the plot box, choose **upper**. It starts on **basis**. 5. On the **Options** tab, set Trigger as in Example 1, then press **Create**. The Bollinger alert watches the upper band itself. It fires at the 1h close where the band's value rises above 1.1. It does not tell you that price crossed the band. The other plots are **basis**, the middle line (the 20-period average of the close), and **lower**, the lower band. To watch price inside a fixed range instead, use a **Price** condition, as shown in [Alerts for price moves and price ranges](). ## Example 3: Stochastic %K crosses below 80 1. Start a new alert and choose **Stoch** in the first box. Set the timeframe to **15m**. 2. Choose **crosses below** and type **80**. 3. Open **Details** with the gear. Check the three settings: 14, 3 and 3. In this order, they are the %K period, the %D period and the smoothing. 4. Check the plot box. It shows **k**, which is the %K line. Choose **d** instead to watch the %D line, the average of %K. 5. On the **Options** tab, set Trigger as in Example 1. With Once per bar close, set **Confirmation timeframe** to 15m. 6. Press **Create**. The alert fires at the 15m close where %K moves from 80 or above to below 80. ## When does it fire? Each alert is checked when a candle of its own timeframe closes. Take the MACD alert, and say the histogram is below 0 when you save it. - At 13:00 a 1h candle closes. The histogram is still below 0, so nothing happens. - At 14:00 a candle closes with the histogram above 0. The alert fires. - At 15:00 the histogram is still above 0. There is no new alert. During the hour, the chart updates MACD with every price change. The histogram can pass 0 and come back before the candle closes. The alert reads the value only at the close. With **Once per bar close**, the next alert comes after the histogram closes at 0 or below, and then above 0 again. ## Good to know - The chart's Stochastic settings list %K Length, %K Smoothing and %D Smoothing. The alert editor uses another order. Your chart's **%K Smoothing** goes into the third box, and its **%D Smoothing** into the second. Move the mouse over a box to see its name. - **Compare with** offers a number (Value) or a second indicator: RSI, EMA, SMA or ATR. It cannot compare two lines of the same indicator. For the MACD line against its average, use **hist** and 0, as in Example 1. - Periods take whole numbers from 1 to 200. The MACD fast period must be smaller than the slow period. The Bollinger period starts at 2, and the band width can be at most 10. Otherwise **Create** stays grey. Move the mouse over it to see why. - In the summary on the right, a long indicator name is cut short. Move the mouse over it to read it in full, for example MACD(12, 26, 9) hist. Bollinger appears there as BB. - Use **is above** or **is below** when the line is a filter for another condition. They stay true for as long as the line stays on that side. ## If it does not fire - Wait for the candle to close. The alert reads the indicator only when a candle of the condition's timeframe closes. - Open the alert with **Edit**. Compare the settings, the plot and the timeframe with the indicator on your chart. - The alert needs enough candle history on its timeframe to calculate the indicator. The first candle close after you save only sets the starting point. - Check that the alert reads Active in the **Alerts** list. Outside the hours set in **Schedule**, the alert does not fire, and nothing is saved for later. ## Related guides - [Create RSI, moving average and ATR alerts]() - [Combine several conditions in one alert]() - [When does an alert fire? Timeframes and repeats]() - [Choose how often an alert fires and when it is active]()