Which is your favourite indicator and why ?
- Thread starter Humpy
- Start date
I only use indicators after i enter a position in order to confirm that it`s just rolling in my favour.
I don't really have a favorite indictable per say as I combine them a lot. But one I use frequently is the stochastic oscillator made up of the %K and the % D stochastic. The stochastic oscillator is very good at identifying overbought and oversold situations. This way you can know when to buy or sell.
I now trade without indicators, and am one of the (many?) traders who became steadily profitable only after I'd eventually given them up.
From my earlier experiences when I used indicators, I found some components of the Ichimoku Kinko Hyo indicator-set far more useful and interesting than others.
Saying this, though, I'd also like to mention as a caveat that a lot of the information around online about Ichimoku (especially in forums but also even on websites dedicated to it) is really very inaccurate and misleading, and many myths abound about "how best to use it".
It's too good at identifying them, in a sense: the entire concepts of "overbought" and "oversold" as displayed by stochastic indicators are more or less nonsense, in my opinion.
I don't believe this, either. It's always possible to curve-fit a moving average to support and resistance, but that signifies nothing helpful: support and resistance, in my opinion, are much more meaningfully and helpfully identified by looking at where support and resistance were than by looking at an indicator. Previous support and resistance are obective and factual: they don't need to be "identified" or "predicted" from an indicator. In my opinion.
(And in case anyone imagines - as someone normally does - that I'm "having a go at technical analysis" by saying the above, I'll mention that I'm not, at all: all my trading is TA-based - I just don't like indicators. They're two different things, of course.)
From my earlier experiences when I used indicators, I found some components of the Ichimoku Kinko Hyo indicator-set far more useful and interesting than others.
Saying this, though, I'd also like to mention as a caveat that a lot of the information around online about Ichimoku (especially in forums but also even on websites dedicated to it) is really very inaccurate and misleading, and many myths abound about "how best to use it".
It's too good at identifying them, in a sense: the entire concepts of "overbought" and "oversold" as displayed by stochastic indicators are more or less nonsense, in my opinion.
I don't believe this, either. It's always possible to curve-fit a moving average to support and resistance, but that signifies nothing helpful: support and resistance, in my opinion, are much more meaningfully and helpfully identified by looking at where support and resistance were than by looking at an indicator. Previous support and resistance are obective and factual: they don't need to be "identified" or "predicted" from an indicator. In my opinion.
(And in case anyone imagines - as someone normally does - that I'm "having a go at technical analysis" by saying the above, I'll mention that I'm not, at all: all my trading is TA-based - I just don't like indicators. They're two different things, of course.)
Last edited:
I've used keltner bands so much now I have a hard time looking at a chart without.
It allows me to easily see momentum , is the market over extended, easily contrast size of a move, and to measure pullbacks and view their structure very quickly.
I use a 20 day EMA. Nothing says it has to reverse at that point but if price makes a swing to the top band in a trend and pullbacks to around the EMA. I'm looking for my signal of a potential new trend leg to start.
It allows me to easily see momentum , is the market over extended, easily contrast size of a move, and to measure pullbacks and view their structure very quickly.
I use a 20 day EMA. Nothing says it has to reverse at that point but if price makes a swing to the top band in a trend and pullbacks to around the EMA. I'm looking for my signal of a potential new trend leg to start.
I use MACD. I know many think it sucks and it lags but I have found it very reliable when combined on multiple time frames. Especially when that is only used for direction. Getting direction right is 70% of the battle in my opinion. At least your swimming with the waves. When 2 or 3 time frames all say long or short more often than not it works. I have been using it since I started trading 8.5 years ago. Never made it work to become profitable until 3 years ago so obviously there are many more nuances to it than just matching time frames but that is the core of what I do. Anyone interested in it should read Alexander Elder where he describes it use. The system he describes did NOT work for me but it was a base from which to start developing my own.
I also use BB, EMA, and stochastic but they provide more of where to get out than into a trade for me. Of course PRICE has to agree with indicators. When price disagrees with indicators it shows either indicator is wrong or something else is going on. So indicators can NOT be used without PRICE.
I also use BB, EMA, and stochastic but they provide more of where to get out than into a trade for me. Of course PRICE has to agree with indicators. When price disagrees with indicators it shows either indicator is wrong or something else is going on. So indicators can NOT be used without PRICE.
Nor for me, but I liked his first book and did learn some things from it. I think what he says in that book about MACD divergences is probably objective and based in reality.