Quote from shots fired:
I have read in this forum that a 45 degree angle is the ideal angle to use on a chart. I would like to draw a 45 degree angle in advance, but I am not sure how close the lines I draw are to an actual 45 degree angle. Do you use any type of tool to assist you in drawing the 45 degree angle? Is there a method you could suggest? Thanks.
Let me echo what bootize said and caution you against pursuing any trading based on angles. As he mentioned, angles are an inherently flawed method of technical analysis, since two traders, looking at the exact same data, can have vastly different angles for the same chart.
The reason is that the angle depends on more than just the price action. It is also dramatically affected by the scaling of the chart used (both the x-axis and the y-axis). This scaling will vary based upon the brand of the charting package used (will also be different if manually charted), the amount of data viewed, and a number of other factors.
In short, the magnitude of a trend angle can be whatever you want it to be. Let's say your angle is 20 degrees. Heck, compress the data on the x-axis in half (i.e. display twice the data in the same chart) and the exact trend you were looking at is now at a 40 degree angle. Compress a little more, and viola, it's now 45 degrees. Same can be done on either axis. The point is, the magnitude of trend angles are not unique to any dataset. They are dependent on the scaling you chose for your chart, and therefore is pretty worthless for trading (before any flames head my way, let me say that this is IMO, and that I'm referring to specific ANGLE values and not the use of trendlines in general)
