Market Indicators

For intraday trades, anyone have any suggestions on which indicators to use to lead market direction, specifically Nasdaq? Any special software needed for those indicators?

 

I use TICK, TRIN, p/c ratio and of course watch the futures. For end of day, I look at VIX, VXN, a moving average of p/c ration and a moving average of TRIN daily close. I also keep an eye on the TYX (bond rate).

You might also consider PREM, but I havn't figured out how to use it effectively yet. I chart these indicators and analyze them just as though they were stocks (remember TRIN, VIX, and VXN are inverse). I watch for support and resistance levels as well as the trend of the indicator.

 

Can anyone tell us where we can find a chart for the
put call ratio, say on OEX or SPX ?

 

S&P and nasdaq100 futures are the key!!!!

 

ramut, as far as I know there is only one generally followed pc ratio put out by CBOE. I believe they also have one base on dollars instead of volume. On Qcharts the symbol is PUTCALL. On Realtick I think it is $PCRATIO, but not sure. Just check with your charting provider.

I watch for extremes on the chart to indicate os/ob.

 

bundlemaker, thanks for the information on the p/c ratio and also tick, trin etc.

I think you have certainly elevated the quality of postings here. I
am sure that, like me, many others are thankful for that.

 

ramuk, thanks for the kind comments, just trying to give something back now that I'm on my way.

chicago, couldn't agree more. I don't think most traders realize that if you trade relative strength/weakness based on the futures compared to sectors or individual stocks what you are essentially doing is increasing upside leverage and reducing downside leverage because you are changing the probabilities and the risk/reward ration in your favor.

 

Thanks for the help Bundlemaker! The tick, trin, and futures I have heard of before, the rest were new to me.

My problem is my current platform does not support tracking any of these on an intraday basis. I can track TRIN short term, but not intraday. Any suggestions on software available to track these?

 

not sure I follow this, perhaps you could go into a little more detail? thanks.

 

If you guys go to the lycos website and sign up for the
quotes, you get the S&P and TICK, TRIN, PREM realtime
for free. It even charts it for you.

Pretty good I think, considering that it's free.