%% OK; get yourself a traders /investors library+ buy or borrow all of Investors Business Daily books. Good newspaper also. About 80% of it is there. It would not be a good idea for me to be to very specific+ most take years or many years to learn. Markets are not random; but with the exception of market makers/specialists....; most millions are made on longer time frames. One of the best is a 200 day moving average............
I use various MA's as my only technical indicator. They never tell me when to get into a trade but they do indicate which positions I should be in. They are a set-up signal, not an entry signal. Occasionally one tells me I'm still in a trade which at this point I would not normally enter - that isn't an exit signal but its a good time for a critical review.
What's your typical hold period? I just read a multi indicator strategy involving Bollinger Bands, RSI, and On Balance Volume. I would like to use it except that my platform doesn't have OSB.
If its a strong trend,like the Dow, any weakness such as a lower close or a lower high: alternatively, second (or occasionally third) consecutive higher close. If in a trend but not such a strong feature, sometimes the reversal of slope of the 20EMA. Sometimes, in forex, an increased weakness of the trend across the major pairs of the same currency. If the trend is strong I don't mind getting out early because the exit signal is often also a new entry opportunity: I really don't mind getting out this evening and entering on a new entry order tomorrow morning. On the other hand, if the trend is weak, why would I worry about getting out early?
This seems impossible to do without staring at charts all day. Since I have other priorities, I need a stop-loss and take-profit set right away.
I only trade off daily charts, I never never open shorter time-frame charts. I set a SL which is commonly 2ATR20 behind price and almost never gets hit. However, I commonly exit manually as we approach the daily close or just after it on signs of weakness of trend, long before the 2ATR20 price is reached. I almost never set a TP as I only take trades which are trend-following so unless the trend ends there is no point at which I can predict the trade will have gone bad.