ok, Books on technical analysis talks about various technical indicators, trading web sites talks about them. But many on this web site says they are of no use. Wondering some of those indiacators especially if they are derived from price are useful? They may be lagging a bit but cant they tell atleast some direction of price movement? Thanks for any reply.
this is an example of how I use indicators <img src="http://elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=1744371"> You have to read the formula of the indicator, know its components, and understand how they react to market movements. http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=109538&perpage=6&pagenumber=8
Your title was accurate "Technical indicators - confused " They are basically a way to mislead you for a few years, cost you a lot of money, and wash you out of trading. Serious studies find they are of minimal value, especially when factoring in slippage, commissions, and of course, the occasional expensive errors. Ignore everyone who lures and encourages you down that path, and learn how to TRADE instead. Most people use TA and most people lose their money. That is not just a coincidence. And for those who jump in to encourage TA without proof, STFU. New people need to learn how to trade, not be misled.
OK, so I guess you are trading off of 8-K and 10-Q reports? Don't assume that nobody is making money off of T/A just because you can't.
T/A is like a paint brush to a painter or a scalpel to a surgeon Some know how to use them better than others. The T/A bible is Edwards &McGee check it out it is a very good book and will take you some time to get through. You first you need to trade in a way that best fits your personality I.e.: scalping, swing, intraday or fast markets like the index futures or forex then look closer into what would apply to that style I did some videos on you tube on trading you can check them out If you like I also put breakout levels and targets on my blog every day for the index futures. If you need some help send me a private msg. I will try to help http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TradePilotPro http://tradepilotpro.blogspot.com/ Take care, Joe Baker
If you have learned to read and trade on a setup like this, your trades are bound to be profitable making about 500 pips a month with looking at the charts once a day. Easy money every month with about 1 trade per week. Felix
Indicators are not confused. Indicators are mathematical calculations. People are confused. I find feelings of confusion to be some of the most wonderful feelings. Feelings of confusion might communicate that there is a difference between what I expect to experience and what I actually experience. Feelings of confusion draw my attention. Perhaps drawing my attention to something is the intention of confusion. Feelings of confusion motivate me to critically examine my mental models and question elements of those models. Feelings of confusion motivate me to conduct my own experiments. When I see the results for myself then the confusion disappears. Another thing you might consider is when do you NOT feel confused. What is the difference between your confused state and not confused state? I do not feel confused when I use a trading method with simple rules.
================ Most of answers here , are helpful,ganesh7-50; but TA does not work, even a 50 dma doesnt really work -we have to do the work. And 50 dma helps with work. =================================== Watch Mr. O'Neil ,/Investors Business Daily investors.com put up a chart; 50 & 200 dma on all them ET99 has a great chart, for a sideways trend; would not sell that soon, generally ,in good up trending sector.By definition, a good uptrend makes higher highs, higher lows. Big difference, for sure, in [a] uptrend [ b] sideways trend c-7] bear trend. 50 dma good bear trend measure. murray t turtle
Excellent reply! Indicators are INDICATORS. Not buy/sell signals. They can often help get you in the ballpark, and are helpful if you happen to be tracking a large watch list. But entries should be based on price action. As a simple (and rather stupid) analogy, think of indicators as the interstate highway system. They can help get you in the general area of where you need to be. That in itself can be useful, but beyond that they are typically useless.