For me they definitely are. Internals tell you if the market is stable, likely to collapse, trending, or non trending... Averages on the Nyse and Nasdaq Tick in combination with Advn-Decn Vol tell you all you need to know about the mood of the market most days. I don't start trading until I get the 10AM read on internals usually.
I find that as a lagging indicator, internals cause more confusion than confirmation. I have also found that the majority of profitable moves happen in the first hour of the cash market (9:30-10:30 EST). Just my personal experience.
I never had any success using internals. I've seen tons of stuff about them on webinars and subscription-based blogs and they make it look really good on hindsight charts, but I never found an edge in any of it.
There is not one indicator that's the holy grail. See Gary Smith's book (how I trade for a living) about "indicatoritis."
Id hardly call my version of internals lagging. UVOL-DVOL doesn't work correctly when the market is gapped at open. Also... It's better to just use higher leverage for the more predictable and reliable trade setups after 10AM. I don't trade the last 30 minutes also.
No, but it's the one indicator that forwarns you of a market collapse 95% of the time ahead of time. If internals are clocking deep negative an hour in just get the hell out of the way and wait for capitulation before you dare buy anything again. If internals are holding high positive everyone is in a good mood and all dips will find support, period...
Chart on 4-17... Internals always keep me out of harms way. They tell you if a move is going to hold, if it's going to collapse. If it's real, or if it's just a fakeout. Been watching internals every day since 2008. During rallies they are perfectly solid. During correction periods... Like last september/october, and in june 2010 I have seen sudden market turns against internals. Besides bear markets... Internals are rock solid at predicting trading conditions. That is my experience.