Newbies pay attention now - this is an excellent thread for observation of the HERD, the herd elders aka oldtimers within it, and of course the uncanniness of the ubiquitous statistic of 95% losers. (Note I was new back then, so I'll stay out) 31 of 33 are against indicators 2 of 33 are for indicators ------------------------------------- ratio of for versus against = 6% There it is again that 95% stat (96% in this case = close enough) showing up almost everywhere on ET I do a thread review within the framework of an important topic. Fckin hell it is sooooo consistent. Thread winner is easy to spot. Top honors go to ET-trollbuster - actually even without doing the calculations it was sooo easy to spot ET-trollbuster's individuality as opposed to the rest of the participants' collective thought = agreement = a sign of stupidity. and dig this, 3 HERD members had the audacity to put this man on Ignore. Thread will be revisited every now and again with examples to show the stupidity of the HERD. For the record I am 100% FOR Indicators, but less is more - I only use 1 indicator - but to find that one, I worked many, many, many and eliminated them all.
Behold ET's #1 top elder, Lucrum, a man with professed (right here at ET) 22+ years trading experience. One of the qualities of HERD members is the high value they assign to proven-HERD-wisdom - this wisdom is the accumulated knowledge not by reaching out and striving, rather by recoiling from painful events and stimuli. Any man who re-asserts such wisdom is usually blown on the spot by members. But as I will show and prove over time with examples, they are losers from day 1 and will never get anywhere in life and most likely as is done so well at ET, attempt to prevent (only if you let 'em) anyone else from getting there. stay tuned ...
So we will take apart Lucrum's masterpiece ..... (from time to time with examples) ...Simplistic indicator analogy, your standing on the street corner and two cars go by from left to right, one faster than the other. Do I need an "indicator" (radar gun) to tell which one is going faster, or in which general direction? Nope, I do need a radar gun or stop watch and a compass ("indicators") to tell HOW much faster one is over the other, the exact speeds of each and the exact direction. The vast majority of readily available "indicators" don't indicate anything an experienced market observer can't already see on a naked chart. They simply put a number or value on it, but that's about it. IOW do I need an indicator to tell me prices are rising, falling or flat? Do I need an indicator to tell me prices are moving steeply,shallow or flat? Do I need an indicator to tell me prices are rapidly gyrating all over the place? I only need an "indicator" if I want to put some sort of a value or number on what really should be obvious otherwise. Almost all indicators only indicate what has already happened, NOT what is going to happen. A simple price chart also tells me what has already happened, without all the clutter
Agree, the experienced trader can look at a "CLEAN" price chart (price only) and say they are not using indicators. In reality, yes they are, intuitively they visualize the trendline, the breakouts and tests of that trendline and support and resist areas. The trader that can do the above realizes that's all they need. Newer, less experienced wannabe traders do place lines etc on the charts as a crutch and or to show someone else what they are intuitively doing inside their head without all the lines,etc. Sometimes i place lines on a chart to have "something" to do,,,,,,hahahaah Even the colors on candycane charts are indicators and badges, lose the red and green.. :eek: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb3d4_Unp0M&feature=related
If it works for you it works. I see so many people act as if the market has rhyme or reason. I have yet to see anyone ot thing which is 100% successful; as a matter of fact 80%. The best you can do is limit your losses.
Indicators are completely unnecessary for consistently profitable trading, and in many cases cause traders to put on trades before price itself signals the move they're looking for. When I used indicators, consistently profitable traders kept telling me to dump the indicators. I thought they were all crazy and I couldn't imagine trading without them. When I finally understood what price action means and got rid of indicators, I became consistently profitable. The reason 94% of the respondents to this thread are against indicators is because this thread attracted responses from entire 5% of consistently profitable day traders here. P.S. Clambill, in his post early in this thread, reveals another of the few holy grails of trading and I don't think he even realized it.