What generates your trading signals?

[Visaria]

To expand further....you use your left hand side brain to make analytic decisions e.g. your setups, chart reading, position sizing but you then need your right hand side brain to give u more of an intuitive feel e.g.do I take this trade or not, do I exit here for a profit, should I exit here to take a small loss before it hits the stop loss point, should I increase the position and so on.

Without doing the latter, you may have only a tiny edge or more likely a negative one.

 

[Howard]

To expand further....you use your left hand side brain to make analytic decisions e.g. your setups, chart reading, position sizing but you then need your right hand side brain to give u more of an intuitive feel e.g.do I take this trade or not, do I exit here for a profit, should I exit here to take a small loss before it hits the stop loss point, should I increase the position and so on.

Without doing the latter, you may have only a tiny edge or more likely a negative one.

Now you're being less cheeky and more interesting. I say cheeky because it goes without saying that one should use one's brain in order to identify/establish signals. Some might disagree, but it's my opinion that signals should be established/tested outside market hours.

Are you saying that your approach is more intuitive and that you're basically interpreting the market in real time without using tested strategies/patterns, etc.?

Or are you saying that your intuition decides when or when not to use a technical signal?

EDIT: By the way, @Visaria : Did you find any value in the course by Al Brooks? Did you end up implementing any of it in your trading? Would be interesting to hear either way.

 

[Howard]

Back on topic - I would have loved to use a system consisting of MA's or MA-crosses, but haven't yet found anything which is satisfactory over a wide period of time/conditions. Such a system would have to somehow adapt to market conditions, either user-defined or inbuilt. I'm sure something can be done...

I've looked into adaptive MA's a bit and find them interesting, but even they can be slow (and not adaptive)...

Probably anything that's really worthwhile wouldn't be shared here, but I was hoping to get maybe some discussion and insight on the subject.

 

[wwatson1]

Which is what exactly?

It's the same story over and over again and he seem to have you all fooled, but not me.

Backtesting for 60 years. Sore eyes. Charting by hand. 20 people working for him. In the end his method seems to be about averaging down contract after contract in order to hopefully get 1 tick out of a trade.

I don't mind people posting drivel as long as it's harmless, but since he labeled my questions immature and implied I'm not putting in the hours or doing my own research, I couldn't resist myself.

Averaging down is the only way to win

 

[Specterx]

Back on topic - I would have loved to use a system consisting of MA's or MA-crosses, but haven't yet found anything which is satisfactory over a wide period of time/conditions. Such a system would have to somehow adapt to market conditions, either user-defined or inbuilt. I'm sure something can be done...

I've looked into adaptive MA's a bit and find them interesting, but even they can be slow (and not adaptive)...

Probably anything that's really worthwhile wouldn't be shared here, but I was hoping to get maybe some discussion and insight on the subject.

Fact is that any tool(s) which give you insight into 1st and 2nd derivatives of price with respect to time will work adequately well. You can use plain bars and levels, or visual aids in the form of MAs, TLs, oscillators, or some combination. They all show the same info and for trading retraces the basic task is always the same, price pulls back to the TL or MA or oscillator OB/OS and you have to decide if it's going to reverse (resume the trend) or not. Only way to do that is long experience watching PA in general and in context with the particular tools you've chosen.

 

[Howard]

...and you have to decide if it's going to reverse (resume the trend) or not. Only way to do that is long experience watching PA in general and in context with the particular tools you've chosen.

Well, after 3 pages you're finally recognizing the question I made in the OP.

One would assume that after 'long experience' there would be some observations which could be helpful in order to discern whether it's a reversal or a pullback, then. Or are you suggesting it's intuition?

But like I said - I don't expect people to be sharing any secrets...

For me, I strengthen the validity of my signals supported by other parts of my system, i.e., statistics, broader outlook for the day, etc. But I'm sure there's things for me to learn still.

 

[Overnight]

Averaging down is the only way to win

I can only imaging that working with outright stocks, where you have infinite time.

Because I can tell you, if anyone tried to average down from October in equity futures they would have been in a world of pain through December, unless they had a VERY HEFTY account balance to start with.

 

[wwatson1]

I can only imaging that working with outright stocks, where you have infinite time.

Because I can tell you, if anyone tried to average down from October in equity futures they would have been in a world of pain through December, unless they had a VERY HEFTY account balance to start with.

Depends on your order distance and lot size and size multiplying you use.
Also when you reach you limit you can hedge lock the trade with an equal opposite order and wait for a move in either direction. When one of the legs has profit you can use this to partially close a big chunk of the unprofitable position, then you have to partial hedge it again. But it can get really messy

 

[themickey]

Back on topic - I would have loved to use a system consisting of MA's or MA-crosses, but haven't yet found anything which is satisfactory over a wide period of time/conditions......

You never will, so give up trying, take this advice from someone who has spent years experimenting with every indicator under the sun.
MA's are blunt instruments. They are a tool to give general indication, to use as a timing tool is to court disaster. Got it? A BLUNT TOOL.
For finesse you need to learn price action and of additional great assistance is to learn to code yourself.
A side benefit of Coding is it will teach you WHY the markets swing around like they do.

 

[Mnewton]

Pivots