Look Ma, no indicators!!

V

VictorS

The more I come to Elite Trader, the more I hear others say they use no indicators- only price (or price and volume, etc.) when trading.
I was wondering if those who trade this way would care to share information or their experiences about trading this way. I don't expect you to reveal your hard-earned specifics. I'd just like to learn more.
By the way, if you don't trade this way, there is no need in posting here saying, "it can't be done."

Let's make it a good thread.
 
It depends on what ''indicators'' you mean. If you mean time-based indicators like RSI, MACD, MovAvg's, etc, well those indicators are usually useless by themselves. You need a way to better time your entries/control your losses. Price accomplishes this in the most direct way.
But that's usually still not enough. I believe you need some sort of 'edge' even if minor, to put you net positive on a regular basis. Whatever that might be is also based on the trader and the method of trading employed, amount of capital etc.

I use indicators to among other things to gauge risk but use price for entry/exit. But that's still only part of the picture. I think that using price alone also leads to losses.
 
Most indicators are based on Price OHLC and Volume.

Indicators just take the same information and make it look pretty. I found indicators useless for me when trading.

I focus on price/volume and patterns.

Good Luck!
 
someone in "market wizards" made a good point that indicators arent important because they're useful in some kind of magical forecasting, but rather because other people think they're important... liquidity
 
Many indicators are derivation of price data or of another indicator over x number of time units in that time frame. So it does make sense to look at price action and pattern itself. But it's better to have something relative to the price actions and that is where indicators comes to play.
So I believe if you couple price actions or patterns in relation with the indicator actions or patterns (or compare and contrast the action of the two), it might make something 'meaningful'. In other words, it's better to read indicators in context from the price data.
 
I don't use indicators. I use the structure of options and weak hedge, I bias somewhat towards the main trend but primarily bank on the market doing more wandering than trending.

Peace and gtty,

Lar
 
Quote from lar:

I don't use indicators. I use the structure of options and weak hedge, I bias somewhat towards the main trend but primarily bank on the market doing more wandering than trending.

Peace and gtty,

Lar
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Lar you bring up an interesting point. Do most of you find yourselves usually trading with a trend?

I definitely want to thank you all for kindly contributing.
 
The more I come to Elite Trader, the more I hear others say they use no indicators- only price (or price and volume, etc.) when trading.
More...
That's because to understand pv you have to get a grasp on supply and demand, the driving forces of the auction market. PV will teach you principles instead of patterns, and will aid you in any style of discretionary trading, since you can incorporate pv analysis into most any technique, indicators or not.

The best source is Richard Wyckoff, who did the bulk of his work 100 yrs ago. Some things never change. Check out this group if you're really interested. There's a lot of info in the Files section:

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Wyckoff-SMI/

H
 
I have a couple of strategies: one uses several indicators, the other none. Both are profitable. In my opinion, indicators are just like price action, but seen from a different perspective. If that perspective makes sense to you, then by all means use it; otherwise, don't bother.
 
Quote from hcour:

That's because to understand pv you have to get a grasp on supply and demand, the driving forces of the auction market. PV will teach you principles instead of patterns, and will aid you in any style of discretionary trading, since you can incorporate pv analysis into most any technique, indicators or not.

The best source is Richard Wyckoff, who did the bulk of his work 100 yrs ago. Some things never change. Check out this group if you're really interested. There's a lot of info in the Files section:

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Wyckoff-SMI/

H
More...

Thanks Hcour. I'll join the group. Something new: I've never joined a Yahoo Group.
 
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