Originally posted by easyrider
I have read this particular observation many times but so far no one has explained how you can define what kind of market your in in time to take advantage of it. A trend is not to difficult to see once it gets going and if it lasts for awhile you can take advantage of it but when it starts going sideways how do you know when to switch to oscillators, etc.
Easyrider,
I rarely trade choppiness, flat, oscillating or tight-trading range markets. Thus, I don't enter positions during such intraday patterns.
Therefore, I don't have the need to "switch" oscillators because I have no intention of trading such oscillations.
I trade trending markets.
The Eminis (NQ and ES) produce at least 3 good intraday trends each trading day...sometimes more.
Simply...I wait for a strong parabolic uptrend or downtrend to occur...then I start looking for Reversal or Exhaustion patterns...
via the indicators I use (Japanese Candlesticks, Bollinger Bands, Price Exponential Moving Averages, Stochasitics and Volume).
Now...as for trying to
define or figure out what type of market your in...
Lets say the ES moves upwards in a nice parabolic trend for 12 points in a 17min time duration...with lots of wide range candlesticks...with lots of volume spikes or increased volume...easy to tell this is a trend.
Many trends...up or down have brief pauses...your trade setups will decide when to enter this trend to capture a few of those points or to look for a reversal sign to capture a few of those points.
Thus, in many ways...
your trade setups and how you apply them is the definition of a trend or oscillations.
Simply, decide which trader you are based on your trade setups...are your trade setups designed for exploiting trends or exploiting oscillation (flat choppy or tight-trading ranges) intraday cycles.
Then when you decide what type of trader you are...you'll know what type of markets to stay away from nor worry about.
Too many traders...trade those oscillations, flat, tight-trading ranges or choppiness patterns in
hopes of catching a trend from the beginning.
In my opinion...that's a losers trading plan.
Thus, if a trade setup got me in nicely in part of a trend or towards the end of a trend (shorting if its an uptrend or long if its a downtrend)...
then the pattern changed after I enter...changing to oscillations, flat, tight-trading range or choppiness...
if I'm at a profit...I exit the position instead of worrying about which oscillators should I be using or need to use.
P.S. Recently, I've been testing a few trade setups for tight-trading ranges...so far...poor results and I'm back to exploiting my strength (trending markets) instead of worrying about my weakness (tight-trading ranges).
NihabaAshi