rossored
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This should start an interesting thread...
Personally, I'd have to say forget the indicators, and concentrate on learning about price instead. All indicators are price-driven anyway, so if you read the price accurately, then you won't need indicators. I tend to find that they offer very little anyway - occasionally useful for confirmation, but thats about it.
This question gets asked quite a lot, so run a search for "favourite indicators" or something.
Alternatively, if you fancy the "no indicators" route, this ought to be a few days' worth of reading.
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/showthread.php?t=7751
Personally, I'd have to say forget the indicators, and concentrate on learning about price instead. All indicators are price-driven anyway, so if you read the price accurately, then you won't need indicators. I tend to find that they offer very little anyway - occasionally useful for confirmation, but thats about it.
This question gets asked quite a lot, so run a search for "favourite indicators" or something.
Alternatively, if you fancy the "no indicators" route, this ought to be a few days' worth of reading.
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/showthread.php?t=7751
Indicators are quite a good tool when trying to form a mechanical trading system, where you want all trading decisions to be free of emotion.
I would say look at,
Moving Averages
RSI
Stochastics (Williams %R is actually the fast stochastic line so this could be 2 indicators in 1!)
These should get you started!
I would say look at,
Moving Averages
RSI
Stochastics (Williams %R is actually the fast stochastic line so this could be 2 indicators in 1!)
These should get you started!
roguetrader
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I would leave indicators until much later in your study, they are seen by many as a shortcut to profitable trading, there are no short cuts imho, they will simply serve to distract you from mastering the basics. If you are unable to make consistant profits without indicators, they are unlikely to provide what you seek.
How about this for a non-answer to your question?
There is stacks of info on this site and elsewhere. The problem with this site is that everybody has their own opinion which is absolutely valid, including those that say, "Don't use indicators at all!" What they say fits for them.
Sorry, but there is no short cut, you have to do your own research and form your own way of working, putting together the pieces of the puzzle for yourself. However, as a starting point www.stockcharts.com has a reasonable introduction to indicators.
Just keep it simple.
But remember that's just the technical bit which is the 20% slice, there's still the other 80% psychological chunk, but that's a completely different thread!
There is stacks of info on this site and elsewhere. The problem with this site is that everybody has their own opinion which is absolutely valid, including those that say, "Don't use indicators at all!" What they say fits for them.
Sorry, but there is no short cut, you have to do your own research and form your own way of working, putting together the pieces of the puzzle for yourself. However, as a starting point www.stockcharts.com has a reasonable introduction to indicators.
Just keep it simple.
But remember that's just the technical bit which is the 20% slice, there's still the other 80% psychological chunk, but that's a completely different thread!
-oo0(GoldTrader)
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-oo0(GoldTrader)
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oscillators
Hybrid Thread
Hybrid Thread
MACD
They need to measure the market in different ways. You can use MACD in place of optimized moving averages. Stochastics is a momentum oscillator to detect the changing velocity in trends. Parobolic can be used as a trailing stop until you develop something more elaborate. In all cases these are behind chart patterns. Chart patterns have precedence.karmit said:
-oo0(GoldTrader)
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Bollinger bands
Hybrid Thread
Moving averages and Macd are different variants of the same thing. They are correlated, use one or the other. They follow trends they do not anticipate. The MACD histogram, trade it when it turns, forget the zero line. When you use Parabolic use it only in the direction of trend. Do not use the Switch & reversal (SAR) except for testing. Adjust RSI to the commodity to get the full range. The main thing about Bollinger bands is the squeeze before lift off.
Hybrid Thread
Moving averages and Macd are different variants of the same thing. They are correlated, use one or the other. They follow trends they do not anticipate. The MACD histogram, trade it when it turns, forget the zero line. When you use Parabolic use it only in the direction of trend. Do not use the Switch & reversal (SAR) except for testing. Adjust RSI to the commodity to get the full range. The main thing about Bollinger bands is the squeeze before lift off.
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Which Indicators???
Just thought I would add my little 2 pence worth
There are literally 100s of indicators varying from useless to partially useful, try reading the book "Technical Analysis from A to Z" by Steven Achelis. It is not only about using indicators but about what timescales to use the indicators which leave thousands of combinations.
At the end of the day they often tell you very little except for instance that the price is trending upwards, when looking at the price will tell you that anyway.
The problem is that if you get hung up on indicators you can get "paralysis by analysis" because they give so many conflicting indications that youn end up not knowing what to do and therefore do nothing.
Indicators also tell you different things in trending and sideways markets and should be interpreted differently.
In conclusion I would agree with other postings and that is first learn about price action perhaps using moving averages ( I have never really considered MAs as an indicator) draw trendlines and spot support and resistance lines and breakouts. Above all try and keep it simple !!!!
Just thought I would add my little 2 pence worth
There are literally 100s of indicators varying from useless to partially useful, try reading the book "Technical Analysis from A to Z" by Steven Achelis. It is not only about using indicators but about what timescales to use the indicators which leave thousands of combinations.
At the end of the day they often tell you very little except for instance that the price is trending upwards, when looking at the price will tell you that anyway.
The problem is that if you get hung up on indicators you can get "paralysis by analysis" because they give so many conflicting indications that youn end up not knowing what to do and therefore do nothing.
Indicators also tell you different things in trending and sideways markets and should be interpreted differently.
In conclusion I would agree with other postings and that is first learn about price action perhaps using moving averages ( I have never really considered MAs as an indicator) draw trendlines and spot support and resistance lines and breakouts. Above all try and keep it simple !!!!
commanderco
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I could not resist this thread.
When I began my interest in trading a few years ago, a friend set me up with a PC
that in his words had more grunt than all the planners during WW2 and more RAM than an Aussie sheep station.
I then loaded up my MetaStock programme with more indicators than even Equis had heard of.
Added to this, I purchased enough books to open a library and to send the Amazon.com share price to new heights.
Where did all this leave me you ask ... exhausted!!! Until it finally dawned on me that as an apprentice forex trader all I had to play with was HLC ( O being yesterday´s C)
I turned off all my indicators and colours (this was hard) and forced myself to concentrate only on price. I switched from bars to candles and back again and finally settled on candles, my reasoning being that I can see the herd better. The argument against candles as I see it is that the candlebody tends to overwhelm the candleshadows.
Here I would say a word about candleshadows to Newbies.
Once your stops have been clipped by the shadows a couple of times, you will never forget the little buggers.
"What are the best Indicators?" You will know the answer to this once you have studied the price action of your chosen trading instruments.
When I began my interest in trading a few years ago, a friend set me up with a PC
that in his words had more grunt than all the planners during WW2 and more RAM than an Aussie sheep station.
I then loaded up my MetaStock programme with more indicators than even Equis had heard of.
Added to this, I purchased enough books to open a library and to send the Amazon.com share price to new heights.
Where did all this leave me you ask ... exhausted!!! Until it finally dawned on me that as an apprentice forex trader all I had to play with was HLC ( O being yesterday´s C)
I turned off all my indicators and colours (this was hard) and forced myself to concentrate only on price. I switched from bars to candles and back again and finally settled on candles, my reasoning being that I can see the herd better. The argument against candles as I see it is that the candlebody tends to overwhelm the candleshadows.
Here I would say a word about candleshadows to Newbies.
Once your stops have been clipped by the shadows a couple of times, you will never forget the little buggers.
"What are the best Indicators?" You will know the answer to this once you have studied the price action of your chosen trading instruments.
People seem to be against indicators here,
I agree with you guys to an extent, study the price action, and then when you have found something you are after, look for an indicator to back up your thought. (if that makes sense?!)
What I mean is that if you want to short a rally in a downtrend, look at previous examples of this type of pattern, and then use something like stochastics or RSI and then for example tell yourself that if the RSI goes above 80, and then crosses below it again, you want to be short. In my opinion this is the best use of indicators as you can use them to get rid of any doubt when you're pulling the trigger.
NEVER use an indicator on it's own!
I agree with you guys to an extent, study the price action, and then when you have found something you are after, look for an indicator to back up your thought. (if that makes sense?!)
What I mean is that if you want to short a rally in a downtrend, look at previous examples of this type of pattern, and then use something like stochastics or RSI and then for example tell yourself that if the RSI goes above 80, and then crosses below it again, you want to be short. In my opinion this is the best use of indicators as you can use them to get rid of any doubt when you're pulling the trigger.
NEVER use an indicator on it's own!
wobbles
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Some excellent posts here.
On explorations (or scans) I like to use the following indicators
to pick my shares:-
Price / Volume breakout
Big increases in volume
Comparative Relative Strength
Price crossing Long-term Moving average
I then look for breaks of support or resistance lines coupled
with increased volume; similarly trend lines, rectangles
and other patterns.
On explorations (or scans) I like to use the following indicators
to pick my shares:-
Price / Volume breakout
Big increases in volume
Comparative Relative Strength
Price crossing Long-term Moving average
I then look for breaks of support or resistance lines coupled
with increased volume; similarly trend lines, rectangles
and other patterns.
dbphoenix
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Since this thread got picked up again, I'll point out that if one wants to know the truth, he'll have no choice but to test his assumptions before putting any real money on the line. By doing so, he may avoid some unpleasant surprises, such as will likely occur if he enters/exits via the usual suspects: RSI, MACD, %R, CCI, etc, etc, etc.
One also must decide just what it is he wants the indicators for. If they are to be used for scanning, and one wants to know about trend changes, simple MAs are a proxy for trendlines (since they are, after all, just moving trendlines) and are easy to use for scans ("easy" as compared to trendlines).
Demand/Supply
Price/Volume
Support/Resistance
Trend/Oscillation
That's it.
One also must decide just what it is he wants the indicators for. If they are to be used for scanning, and one wants to know about trend changes, simple MAs are a proxy for trendlines (since they are, after all, just moving trendlines) and are easy to use for scans ("easy" as compared to trendlines).
Demand/Supply
Price/Volume
Support/Resistance
Trend/Oscillation
That's it.
I would suggest using the most widely followed.
Simple moving averages 200 and 50 or MACD.
Support and resistance trendlines.
I find using more than two indicators can be conflicting, they are all different variations of the same thing.
Find one you like and learn how it relates to the movement of the underlying.
Karmit is there no perticular indicator you favour?
Simple moving averages 200 and 50 or MACD.
Support and resistance trendlines.
I find using more than two indicators can be conflicting, they are all different variations of the same thing.
Find one you like and learn how it relates to the movement of the underlying.
Karmit is there no perticular indicator you favour?
-oo0(GoldTrader)
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run occulaters on all securities
Hybrid Thread
Hybrid Thread
Why not program to run your occulaters on all securities, then look for chart patterns on what your computer kicks out. There is no reason that you cannot use chart reading as a backup to indicators.when you have found something you are after, look for an indicator to back up your thought.
Depends where you are in the cycle. When a cycle is peaking or a seasonal window is running out of time. Any signal to bail will do.NEVER use an indicator on it's own!
