Quote from Smurfie:
I was sorta around this question in my first two posts; that charts are lagging indicators of price action as well and as much representations as the hated indicators. .............. As I understand it some drawing tools are okay since they are thought to be synchronous or leading indicators whereas my comfort blanket - the beloved MACD - and its buddies are lagging.
Quote from Smurfie:
Because once you see your bar reacting off some S/R or whatever, the movement - by definition - is already under way. Just as it is already under way when your just as constantly updating indicator says there's a counter-movement.
If you trade before the bar is complete, then you may as well trade before you have the final indicator reading for that bar.
I hope we're talking about the same thing.
Quote from AlpineTrout:
You guys are over complicating this, as usual. Please explain how a bar chart lags. The Close on the bar is constantly updated. Sure, if you make the assumption that you can only make a trade AFTER the bar is compete, then you can claim there's lag.
For the purpose of conversation though, I think it's reasonable to consider an indicator as a mathematical derivation
of C,H,L,O or V that utilizes AT LEAST two bars, which by definition, must lag. Any other trading structure such as price, volume, or other data on a chart, DOM, DOM Bars, spreadsheets, etc, are all updated in real time, hence no lag.
Quote from AlpineTrout:
Also, I don't know why some of you guys don't utilize volume. It's right there in real time too, why not use it? It does take more homework to understand, but its worth your time.
Quote from Jahajee:
I must have backtested dozens of systems with VOLUME and I confess there has hardly been any improvement when taking into account VOLUME.
Quote from AlpineTrout:
I played around with backtesting awhile ago, simply to learn something about trading that I didn't know about.
Backtesting vs. learning PA (&V) is sort of like having girlfriends vs. having a great wife. You can keep several girfriends going at the same time and work to change them around continuously OR just keep keep the same great wife and be happy. Different strokes....