Technical Analysis for FTSE 100 shares

[dewbpy]

Hiya

I'm doing some paper trading on FTSE 100 shares - I am buying and shorting over short time periods (1 week - 1 month)

So far I'm not doing too badly, but I think I'm using too many indicators and seem to be getting an information overload.

Does anyone have any views on which TA indicators to use in order to find out the short term movement of FTSE 100 shares (I mention 'FTSE 100 shares' incase it effects the apporach to TA compared to another market)

At the moment my base indicator combination is Bollinger Bands, RSI and fast and slow stochastics.

Thanks

Simon 😀

 

[FTSE Beater]

Hi Simon

My personal view is get rid of all indicators :cheesy:

Failing that, out of those 3, I would get rid of Bollinger Bands. I find them hard to read.

It comes down to personal choice. The way I think of it is, Does this indicator add anything to my trading performance or does it hinder it?

Hope this helps in some small way

 

[adrianallen99]

I have attached an email sent by IG regarding the FTSE, so perhaps just do the opposite.

 

[esiotrot]

Hi dewbpy

I totally agree - lots of indicators can only confuse.

My advice is to get rid of them all as a start and develop your own basic chart. I use Metastock for EOD and my basic set-up is Bars (Blue up/Red down) plus Bollingers plus volume. Thats all. Yours might be different. Trend,support and Resistance are my keys.

I have no particular preference for indicators but MACD would be one i look at more than most. Also CMO and RSI.

Also check out On Balance Volume. Not all indicators work for your style and not all work all the time. CCI is all the rage now but I'm not so sure.

FTSEBeater - In my view you are mistaken about BB. Just a couple of simple rules to keep in mind. They are my "must have" on all charts. Mind you I am talking EOD and they might not be quite so useful intraday.

 

[oatman]

Start with just trendlines to show up support resistance and see how you get on. Then maybe play with a moving average. I found that indicators generally show up the same things anyway so it's a matter of what your'e happy with. Experiment.
And good luck, a bit of that never did anyone any harm :cheesy:

 

[dewbpy]

Thanks for all the replies, I suppose as has frequently been mentioned, it's just down to personal choice.

Simon

 

[oatman]

A lot of indicators will tell you what you are already seeing and feeling from looking at a bar chart.

 

[keith_k2]

You can use the RSI, buying on crossing 30 and selling on crossing back down over 70,theres a bit more to it than this, but im keeping it simple.
I mainly look for a divergence for reversals using RSI or MOMENTUM.

 

[francisfinley]

trendlines & support and resistance are my favourite for technical analysis for the FTSE 100

 

[HaloTrader]

Indicators represent price.

If i put a 50EMA on a graph and its sloping up sharp, then stochastics comes up with oversold, its a good time to buy. However, if i had just looked, i would have seen price in an uptrend and a pullback... I'd prefer just look at the chart - Because ultimately its more adaptable.