I am an evolving swing trader using primarily classical methods (retracements,convergence at support boundaries,etc.). I dont have much experience at using sentiment as a timing device for swing trading. I was wondering if others on this board incorporate sentiment in their analysis.if so,what indicators do you find usefull for the swing trading time frame? The only thing i have ever followed to any degree is the vix.My impressions were,after following it for awhile,was that the vix did not lead price.so i quit following it.i was looking at it for locally overbought and oversold levels,as suggested by Robert Mcmillian,the noted options expert.my sense was, that extemes in vix followed extremes in price,so the information seemed to me,redundant. at the same time i followed mcmillians website for awhile.he was very much into using put-call ratio's and vix in his analysis.it's interesting that he started using more classical TA analysis and less sentiment in his market calls,at least during the time i followed him.but i know many trader's do use sentiment,so i do wonder if i'm missing an opportunity to refine my trading skills by ignoring it. Anyone here use it? if so,what works? thanks for the input.....
there's definitely an edge in sentiment analaysis. for short term trades, you may wish to look into tick (day) , trin (swing), and mark cook's cumulative tick index (swing). vix is better for longer term trading.