This explanation may already have been offered but I haven't come across it yet so thought I'd share. If it's been covered and this is nothing new then I apologise, just ignore it. I was going to say if you think I'm wrong please feel free to criticise but I know you need no encouragement for that! ![Wink ;) ;)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
I haven't read anything to confirm this but my opinion is that technical indicators don't always work because they are TIME DEPENDENT. This is the only reason that makes logical sense to me. Here's why:
The charts you see in front of you are 'stretched' over a certain time frame of choice and graphically represented on an x and y axis to clarify the price action and trading sessions you choose to view. But in reality the price action only exists on a vertical axis. Price does not move forward, only up and down (like repeatedly drawing up and down with a pen on a peice of paper in the same place - eventually you will wear a hole in the paper and won't be able to distinguish one level from the other). It's stretched out simply so you can see the price levels independent from each other over time.
However, most indicators rely on this forward 'movement' (time) of prices (it's an integral part of their calculation) but it's essentially an illusion! Price does not move forward - and this is why they are not always reliable. Every indicator that has adjustable periods (which you choose to leave in default) has this weakness. An example:
Suppose that yesterdays price chart is exactly repeated today (a holy grail if ever there was one! - which of course will never happen) but just suppose - with the one exception that today it is compressed into half a day and therefore repeated twice. Did I explain that right?
Your technical indicators (if on the same settings as yesterday) will not give you the same signals today simply because of TIME - whereas all your entry/exit/target levels would be exactly the same. In fact today should be a fantastically profitable day because not only are all these levels exactly the same, but they are repeated twice! BUT - your indicators will not give you the same signals and could actually produce losses instead of twice the profit of the previous day when they worked so well.
So, in a sense, it's not really the indicators fault but rather the illusion of a correlation between time and price. Another example is when the market looks unusually choppy or volatile - if you could 'stretch' this chart out over a longer time frame, would the market look so choppy? (Then again, isn't that what volatiliy is? i.e. a lot more action over a much shorter space of time?) Anyway, I'm going off on one...
So, should you adjust (optimise) you indicators according to the price:time 'volatility' on a daily basis? If so, what is your benchmark? Or should you perhaps rely more on time-independent indicators like support/resistance and price action?
Personally, I don't use mathematical indicators for this very reason (except Williams% and perhaps RSI - but I don't rely on either).
I haven't read anything to confirm this but my opinion is that technical indicators don't always work because they are TIME DEPENDENT. This is the only reason that makes logical sense to me. Here's why:
The charts you see in front of you are 'stretched' over a certain time frame of choice and graphically represented on an x and y axis to clarify the price action and trading sessions you choose to view. But in reality the price action only exists on a vertical axis. Price does not move forward, only up and down (like repeatedly drawing up and down with a pen on a peice of paper in the same place - eventually you will wear a hole in the paper and won't be able to distinguish one level from the other). It's stretched out simply so you can see the price levels independent from each other over time.
However, most indicators rely on this forward 'movement' (time) of prices (it's an integral part of their calculation) but it's essentially an illusion! Price does not move forward - and this is why they are not always reliable. Every indicator that has adjustable periods (which you choose to leave in default) has this weakness. An example:
Suppose that yesterdays price chart is exactly repeated today (a holy grail if ever there was one! - which of course will never happen) but just suppose - with the one exception that today it is compressed into half a day and therefore repeated twice. Did I explain that right?
Your technical indicators (if on the same settings as yesterday) will not give you the same signals today simply because of TIME - whereas all your entry/exit/target levels would be exactly the same. In fact today should be a fantastically profitable day because not only are all these levels exactly the same, but they are repeated twice! BUT - your indicators will not give you the same signals and could actually produce losses instead of twice the profit of the previous day when they worked so well.
So, in a sense, it's not really the indicators fault but rather the illusion of a correlation between time and price. Another example is when the market looks unusually choppy or volatile - if you could 'stretch' this chart out over a longer time frame, would the market look so choppy? (Then again, isn't that what volatiliy is? i.e. a lot more action over a much shorter space of time?) Anyway, I'm going off on one...
So, should you adjust (optimise) you indicators according to the price:time 'volatility' on a daily basis? If so, what is your benchmark? Or should you perhaps rely more on time-independent indicators like support/resistance and price action?
Personally, I don't use mathematical indicators for this very reason (except Williams% and perhaps RSI - but I don't rely on either).
Last edited: