reading the MACD line

[systematictrader]

I use MACD as it should, it indicates and nothing else, does not foretell the future, I have done my homework by testing price when it gives what I am looking and between these stats and I hedge, I am most happy with the results. I use a variety of patterns of price and indicators for entries, but price leads the way and the indicator shows refection. My days of 100% plus are gone, that is fine when you don't mind risking more, but as you get older, you get more conservative. So long as I make more than last year, am content.

Whats ur opinion on whether entry or exit timing is more important? if any, iam still studying the effects of that and whether there is a strong relevance?,,, the reason iam intrigued by this is when we were trading the Aussie, as I was mentioning in the example above, my friends entries were always spot on ultra clean right next to its reversal point but his exits were more random and not very clearly defined, meanwhile my entries were random (MACD CROSS OVER) but my exits were well calculated based on average move percentage, direction, and even timing,,, eventually we both ended with similar results, the question lies can it ever be combined,??? we will see

 

[Handle123]

When I am scalping the ES, entries have to be very good as I am going for ticks, but long term not as important, whereas I want to get out well. But there is the part of where I am getting out, is it a Major turn or retracement in question, there are times the price is showing a turn is way overdue and you are seeing rounding top of price, so you most likely going to get out well, but over time less so. This is where you learn how to hedge open profits, if you are wrong, you lose a little cause you hedged but it you are right that it is a retracement, you come out way ahead of most.

 

[systematictrader]

that makes sense, I forgot to mention that my all trading is swing, thank u

 

[bmwhendrix]

Looking forward to your charts. Going outside now..

 

[bmwhendrix]

Still looking forward to your charts.............

 

[systematictrader]

Rufus, it seems to me that you are just looking for newbies, as you have given your contact information and social media information in your first post. Why not just post some charts showing how and when and on what instruments your methodology works. All indicators are proxies for price, all are crutches, even for people who claim they find them useful as a filter or whatever. Show me I am wrong. I am not a newbie and trade a sizable account also, and am always open to learning. I agree with Handle, it is a beautiful day, let's all enjoy.

I apologize, i totally forgot as i got caught up on other subjects,,, ill upload them today,,,

 

[systematictrader]

Still looking forward to your charts.............

Here are my points that iam arguing with pics, i will keep it overly simplistic and plain because iam not going to write at length here
well go with a simple assumption, long and short on the macd crossover signal as indicated on the chart,

trading the macd on century link with he assumptions above on something like centruylink made money, little or a lot is not what were saying here, were simply saying it was in the positive,,, however, not every signal here made money,,, the signal mid september to nov was disastrous, how ever if u played every hand ,, overall u came out ahead

 

[systematictrader]

Still looking forward to your charts.............

here is another stock, GM, if u traded the MACD here u got killed by a thousand cut,, MACD didnt work,,, this goes back to the point we had on page 2 of this thread that MACD is the screwdriver that works all the time,,, if u know the type of screws u use with it,,, in this scenario the stock and the indicator were not compatible,,, this combination can always change,,, but here is a key thing,,, the losses on this one assuming we traded both GM and CTL blindly didnt outdo the gains on CTL

 

[systematictrader]

Still looking forward to your charts.............

here is a third instrument, it made money here, BUT it made even more money when i integrated exits that were different from simply exiting on the indicator itself, even though the entry was still on the cross over, the exit was NOT,,,, and this is brings us to another point i believe in,, even random entries could be sufficient,, exits is where the money is made,,, this is also a big point of William Ekhardt

 

[systematictrader]

So did any number of other oscillator/ma type indicators. They also gave just as many false signals. Play with the parameters and you can find what you believe to be true....

back to this point, many indicators/oscillators give many false signals yes i agree, so does the macd itself, many signals are losers, u play with parameters and u back test it and it tells u what u want to see,, thats true,, ur entire point is true, but the key difference here is it could still work,, and has done so for me,,,

for one, its not only that u play with the parameters that should be done but also u should play around with the instrument itself,,, and this is my point that the professionals trade what they trade because they know it, or feel it, or simply because it works for them,,, but if ur trading lets say futures and uve been at it long enough its very difficult to switch, specially ur making money,, when ur very same strategy (assuming ur systematic )might be more profitable in other instruments,

just as i demonstrated in the charts, if for example hypothetically speaking our stratagy was siimply follow MACD, its clearly shown that it works better on certain stocks or other instruments than others,,,,,

and before u jump out and say its not forever and ur gonna have false signals as with all indicators and oscillators ,,, yes u will but with adequate standardizing of the position size and diversification across instruments u trade, in the times it doesnt work there will be no losses large enough to take away ur gains from the time it does work,,,


make sure u know what standardizing position size means,,, thats the critical part here