I do use just one single anticipatory indicator signal in my hold/reversal trading to take the full offer of the market intraday. It is three columns labelled 30, 5 and sentiment (left to right). Arrows fill the columns, up for long and down for short. three of a kind is a reversal. A reversal for me is an exit then immediately an entry. I hold thru a signal if the two leftmost arrows are the same but different than the sentiment. This is what is known in CW as the beginning of a retrace and NOT the beginning of a reversal. Thus, I hold thru non-dominant legs of trends. I take an early reversal when the 5 and sentiment are the same and also opposite the 30. I leave the market briefly on the remaining combinations (2) that is possible whereby adjacent arrows are opposite. The annual ROI of 12 streams of stocks @ 100K shares each and three commodities futures markets @ 100 contracts each, approximates 575% to the nearest 25%. The daily net is @ 1m and swept daily. The three columns are determined by MSFT 360 Access running on an SQL arrangement.
Redneck's point was that indicators aren't necessary. No indicators required - inevitably it was going to be someone's answer. An indicator that I believe adds value: a momentum indicator for spotting divergence.
JT Many subtleties occur within PA..., the mkt..., traders have the ability to perceive them..., where other can't -> RN
Sadly inevitably. In a thread about technical indicators, inevitably some member of the anti-indicator crowd shows up. This doesn't happen inevitably with PA threads I've noticed. Yes indicators aren't necessary. So what? No particular trading technique is necessary because there's more than one way to trade successfully and some of them are mutually exclusive. Talk about being off-topic.
The problem is the 'there's only one way to do it' brigade. If it didn't work for me, it doesn't work. In reality, whatever works for you is good. If you read tea leaves and can match my MACD or my no indicator chart, how can you possibly be any worse than me? Why do we trade? To get to the point we have no indicators, or to have the best indicator, or to make money? People get too hung up on the process, but they all hope for the desired result.
Indicators are just a louder or lazier way of using price, if you are watching price, and have used same indicator many years, the indicator should make pattern it has done so in the past, but when it doesn't do what is expected, can give early warning of possible change. One indicator I prefer is Bollinger Bands.