newbie question.....re stock indicators

Discussion in 'Stocks' started by Steve1964abc, Sep 25, 2019.

  1. Hi Guys, i'm relatively new to trading and am using Questrade IQ Edge platform.
    I notice this platform doesn't support Ichimoku indicators (for some reason they only have these available on their FX platform). I'm getting used to the screener functionality and slowly learning the terms and (how to apply them). My question is once i have a list of stocks i'm going to look at for the days trading what indicator "system" should i use? Meaning I understand Ichomoku but it's not available - so what indicator(s) should i use to make my first trade?

    if you can point me in a direction that will help - would be much appreciated. Currently I'm looking at a lot of youtube vids but they are all using different platforms and assuming i have more background in this then i have = hard to follow sometimes.....

    anyway if you can point me in the right direction i would appreciate it greatly.

    cheers
     
    murray t turtle likes this.
  2. %%
    Best indicators include;
    200 day moving average,
    7.77+/ years experience
    2001 Stock Traders Almanac,
    2018 0r 2019 stock Traders Almanac,
    private library or public library card , or best=both.:cool::cool:, :cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool:
     
    Nobert likes this.
  3. tommcginnis

    tommcginnis

    • You should not be in any rush.
    • You should take the next 30 days, and research the calculation and implications of every "indicator" made available to you. Do 2-a-day if they're similar, but the result should be that you can explain the results to your Mom or any passing 12-year-old, in meaningful terms.
    • Do NOT think that the default parameter settings on ANY indicator are anything more than what-was-handy at the time. If you like what the indicator is [supposed to be] doing, but find its results unhelpful, then pull the parameters back (or push them out) and see if the performance doesn't change.
    • Your use of indicators MUST ALWAYS beat a fair coin flip [50|50] -- elsewise, get it the hell off your screen and use a coin.
    • Some markets favor certain indicators; other markets favor others.
    • Some indicators work well with 1-day candles; others work better with 1-hour or 1-minute.
    • Test, retest, modify, test again, and then do it again in 6-8 weeks.
     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2019
    ps0013, Nobert and murray t turtle like this.
  4. thanks Tom, good points to consider !
     
  5. terr

    terr

    [​IMG]
     
  6. easymon1

    easymon1

  7. Those are really important tips. It’s good for those who’s new to trading.
     
  8. tomorton

    tomorton

    Steve - you're relatively new to trading and you're up to speed with Ichimoku?
    Most traders never move to anything so exotic - they either wipe out or become profitable way before getting as far down the list as Ichimoku.

    So I'm thinking you have found that losing traders lose through using common and simple indicators, and therefore using an uncommon and complex indicator will get you through.

    Or maybe you have a genuinely radical view on trading.

    Would you care to comment on these thoughts?
     
  9. humm.... i'm a bit new to Questrade (or any platform for that matter) I"m using their IQ Edge plaftform for stocks and i asked them why the Ichimoku indicator wasn't available and was told by them it's only available on their FX platform?
     
  10. Hi Tom,
    the simple answer is about making as much GP (Gross Profit) per trade as possible. In my business (outside of trading) we are looking at tying up capitol for 30 days and expecting to make approx 30% GP when our customer pays us.

    When i'm running the #'s on my long term trades (30-90 days) I'm not expecting to make a ROI of 30% but i would like to see an Annualized ROI that out performs what my money manager has been doing for me (7-8%). So far with only a small handful of trades under my belt i've been able to do this - except for one stock that is tracking at a loss right now. (i'm not writing this off yet though as i promised myself max 90 days to show a profit and i have about 30 days to go! positive thinking with fingers crossed - ha)

    Ichimoku was interesting because hey it's called Ichimoku! Seriously though i like it for the following reasons:
    1) took someone 30 years to perfect it
    2) it's respected in the investment world
    3) it's compact - everything you need to know on 1 screen
    4) the examples i've studied seem to have a very high success rate

    as a beginner that is all i need to know to devote some time into it. Now back to questrade not having it available on the IQ Edge platform....this is forcing me to find / study other indicators so i can trade stocks with a much shorter duration (1-2 days between buy/sell for instance) and still make some good returns.... Because i'm not expecting to make 30% on my money at this stage i'm looking at "Time spent to make X %" meaning if i can spend 2-3 hours and make $200-300 with a $1000 investment i will consider this a success. My plan at that point will be to fine tune the process i'm using to make this money and increase the investments to increase the GP over the same amount of time spent etc.....

    please feel free to poke holes in my logic as again i'm new to this and am looking for ideas from competent investors.

    tks again.
     
    #10     Sep 26, 2019
    tomorton likes this.