I want to master Technical Analysis - I know it is not easy. Should I learn Elliot Wave Theory? Is this the best way to day trade? Is it hard to learn Elliot Wave Theory? Or what about Bollinger Bands? What do you recommend the best indicators for support and resistance and the best technical analysis in general for day trading? Any advice would be most appreciated...
No one is replying, I used to get that when I first started nearly 10 years ago and I still do unless my questions feed their vanity. Technicals take time and as you will learn Elliott Wave counts will just be a small part of your analysis..you will need to learn and learn..its a journey that won't stop..you'll gain and lose..gain again and so on. I think Elliott wave would be better learned after you learn basic charting..like candle sticks , patterns, quantitative indicators then wave counting. The above are very basic in regards to technicals ..get some books and start
There is an elliott oscillator on medved quote tracker. You might take a look at that. Don't use it myself
Hard? Not exactly. DAMNED NEAR IMPOSSIBLE! Even the consensus "experts" have widely differing counts at nearly all times.
Technical Analysis - classic patterns and indicators are pretty much useless Elliot Wave, Fib and Bolinger Bands are mostly useless Almost every advisory, book, website, "hostel seminar" nad similar thing are pretty much useless. "Mentors" is basically a wild goose chase. Support and Resistance has some followers. The only advisory I ever saw made no money trying to trade with them. Note: opinions to the contrary are going to be based pretty much on opinion, belief, scoffing, paper traders and "I know someone who..." logic. To move out of the 95+% who are believed to lose their money, and beyond most of the rest of that "5%" who mostly break even, make small amounts, or have been profit, you are going to have to learn how to trade. And you need to be prepared to lose $10,000s and a LOT of hours. And still be prepared to never become profitable. Price action is one avanue people suggest, but there are a few others. But all of them are very very very very very very hard to find and master. Newbies usually wander after the easy stuff like indicators. Few are ever willing to put in the required essentials. This is a profession and not a hobby. Most people here are paper traders or not much better off. There are a few traders here who seem to know what they are doing. I would suggest you spend a lot of time reading, learning and studying. Don't be in a hurry to open an account and lose your money. Seriously? The best thing is to never start this path. But since you wil anyway, be prepared for a huge effort and expense.
Like so many of the contributors on this forum, you take a pessimistic viewpoint on the various main stream paths to trading, Most everything is bull to you, whether it's indicators, support and resistance, trading advisory services and gurus, and even paper trading. You go on to offer the classic refrain about how beginners are obligated to lose tons of money and that trading is really for the birds, and one is better off not even trying to do it. The odds of success are overwhelming stacked against one. You, like so many other people on this forum, write as though you are coming from some place of authority. If you really are, you should know what does in fact work. Spare me the psycho-babble that it just takes lots of hard work and losing lots of money. That's bull and you know it (if you actually do know anything about trading). Bestow upon us the benefit of your infinite wisdom, oh enlightened trader-god. What does work at trading? You sit there and debunk everything, so how exactly do you manage? I can tell you indicators do work, as do support and resistance levels, chart patterns, seasonality, advisory services, and even the gurus (as long as you get a good one). Money management is huge. Paper trading is also an indispensable part of any new trader's preparation. Yes, it's different from real money, but it is very useful and instructive, nonetheless. Hey, don't write off these methods just because they haven't worked for you. And if they haven't, maybe you just never learned how to use them. Instead of losing $10,000s, put your head down, read a book or two on indicators, and learn how to beat those markets. Again, if you know better, please share concretely and specifically. No more vague admonishments about how it's just really hard.
Whereas you seem to prefer coming from a place of ignorance. If you are dazzled by popular things that have been debunked numerous times, then hurrah for you. I had to read what you said with incredulity - you at first seemed tongue in cheek. But I then realized how much of a beginner you are. Try reading a few thousand psots from newbies on ET, and see if they have any agreement with you, after trying to make it for couple of years. Newbies and papertraders are optimistic. Serious traders after a number of years realize this is a tough profession, and things like Fib and Bollinger Bands and 1-2-3 tops sell books, but do not make money. I will give you an example - go to Collective2.com, and see the 9,700 plus claimed systems for sale from various traders. Try and do a thorough analysis and see how many of these are actually seriously outperforming systems with long histories and solid stats. When you give up trying to find even a half dozen, and you learn the reality, you may be ready to advance to paper trading stage... Go to futurestruth, timertrac, theta research, hulbert, timerdigest and the other "tracking sites" and see just how "easy" this is. By all means, post your last 3 years verifiable broker statements to show how overwhelmingly profitable you are, since you seem to think it is so easy. You may disprove (please refrain from confusing your opinion with proof) any of the things that you quote above. Please insert below:
Hi again, I'm just against the pessimism of some folks here. Hell no, it's not easy to make money trading. As someone who's been at it seriously over 12 years now, I've certainly lost my fair share and have only somewhat recently achieved enough consistent success doing this to be able to quit my job and support myself, my family, and my parents. I am by no means dazzled by the many self-appointed gurus and wannabe authorities trying to make money off traders rather than trading. If I communicated that I believe success can be bought, I didn't make myself understood. I only meant that not all trading resources are useless and destructive. I do think there are some gurus who offer good ideas, albeit that should be taken with a few teaspoons of salt. I like listening to the Youtube talks by Oscar Carboni, for example, although he's wrong in his predictions plenty often. The trader himself has to be wise in his discretion of what and who he listens to. Learning to do that is, of course, part of the learning curve. Having said all that, I truly don't believe that trading is any harder than other businesses. It's actually probably harder, I would think, to found and run a successful restaurant. Yet, if there were a "restauranteuring" board, I don't think it would abound with such discouraging feedback as what one finds here. I believe optimism without naiveté is a key ingredient to success. Can we agree on that?