Do indicators really work?

What are your trading strategy?

what’s the importance of indicators or price action, risk management and strategy is everything?

what indicators should i opt for?

what should be the psycology according to your trading experience?

And overall what opinion you wanna give to a beginner trader?

Thanks for your kind and genuine answers :slight_smile:

Apart from the mathematical angle, there is a psychological angle to indicators. The self fulfilling prophecy, meaning someone believes something and it happens, they make it happen but they believe that it will happen.

I think 200 MA is one such indicator, a lot people respect this MA, some invest for their long term holdings at this MA. And if it breaks this MA, it will fall more.

Just like taking contra bets in investing, which is opposite to chasing momentum, in trading too, I think if we don’t have any edge, it is better go with the crowd.

Jaha bheed hai, waha milega mauka :grinning:

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Do check out this post:

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Yes! It does. 100% But the crucial decision is, One needs to know and find out in which area and spot it’s working. That comes from experience soon or later.

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Do indicators really work?
It’s like ’ Mano to Mai Ganga Maa Hun, Na Mano to Behta Pani.’

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So it is the matter of believe?

Yes, sometimes they’ll work sometimes they won’t. Now it’s upto you to decide

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Lol? :mask::mask::mask: What a humorous day…

To answer your question. Indicators works when you are making losses. :partying_face::partying_face:

A technical indicator is like a pattern detector. E.g a moving average indicator detects trending patterns. Now if you use this on an instrument likely to trend, it will work. If the instrument stays flat / volatile you will get whipsawed. It stays flat or volatile for a prolonged period of time it will test your temperament. Its not the problem with the indicator. The instrument is not trending and so it cannot give you a clear trending signal.

Quantify the indicator on the instrument for a fair amount of time - generate metrics like accuracy, risk - rewards, trade and max draw downs, winning / loosing streaks, max loss, max win etc and see whether you are comfortable with these metrics.

Execution strategies can modify the above metrics significantly. E.g:- options give a lot of options to profit from - up, down, flat, volatile markets.

In short - See holistically a technical indicator, instrument to trade, execution strategy and decide on what is working for you.

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Is that also true, that all indicators just indicates what market has already told, what candlesticks and market momentum have already told, what price action and chart patterns have already told?

Meaning that, if one is able to read the price-action, market momentum, chart and candlesticks, he can even know the market temperament before any indicator tell him.

If yes, then does not that makes a sense for foolish, who just want to avoid learning the underlying hence opting for indicators. Who doesn’t want to develop skills so opting for indicators.

Or there is anything else, like only indicators can tell us, or something which indicators tell fairly easy and avoid our time to analyse the market while trading?

Thanks for your genuine reply :slight_smile:

Technology does 3 things, it makes things easy, it saves time and it saves money. So even if one is intelligent to understand something easily but if it takes 30 minutes for him to read or calculate something by himself and if there is an indicator available which gives the same result in 1 minute, is it not right to use that indicator, because it is saving time.

I have heard that some 30 years ago in India, there are no computer terminals, no online charts, so people used to draw. Aren’t we glad that we can use technology?

If technology, indicators, automation are helping me save time, I am more than happy to embrace them. But on the other hand, if they are saving time but making things complicated I will not use them.

And BTW, when you say reading price action, market momentum, how are you doing this, you are looking at something, numbers or some quantified things, these are indicators too. An indicator indicates something, a simple buy and sell orders changing every second is also an indicator.

Fundamental knowledge gained from reading and understanding, when combined with technical knowledge can make very good returns, or at the least minimize losses.

I am basic level trader and I know that indicators have a place in my trading and I use them.

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Many successful traders like booming bulls said, the trading terminal should be simple and clean. Assuming that and your answer, it makes sense to use minimum indicator so that things not become complicated.

At the end, what matter is then your strategy, a simple but effective strategy, right? Well thanks for your valuable answer :slight_smile: it gives alot much insight into the place of indicator.

Well it depends, in the sense that, if you are comfortable and don’t feel confused with many indicators, you can use as many as you want. Just like physical strength, mental strength is different too. So if you can manage and not get confused, it does not need to be simple. On the other hand there is mastering the things that we use, a simple setup but great grip on it.

Also, you can even make a complex structure simple by applying your own methods. It is all about how you can manage.

Let me give you a real example. Open any chart and put some moving averages on it, say 9MA, 20MA, 50MA and 200MA. Make sure the stock has history enough to display all 4 MA completely. And see if you are getting confused in knowing if the price is above all the MA, if yes, then change their colors and see. Change the candles to Bars, Heikin Ashi, Line etc and see which suits you, also know their differences.

So there are a few standard things that we have to learn, and the remaining I guess, can be tweaked and modified as per our requirement. It does not necessarily have to simple, this is not pure science. I try to keep it simple, but at the same time try to find if I can do anything to make it better.

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price action

Indicator which risk more that actual risk. Price action is like being in dil maage mor, less risk of capital.
Risk management tells how much you make loss if trade gets against your favor and maintain psychological break down. No strategy is not important over greed and fear.

Indicator: MACD
Oscillator: Awesome oscillator

Earn less with minimal loss than earning big with streak of loss. In end its compoundinh and you can imagine its consequence over long term. But it depend on appetite person to person.

Dont chase price and limit order execution for beginner as market order execution it will increase impact cost on trade. And stop watching pogo🥵 , it will reduce confidence.

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Thanks :slight_smile:

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Do you use any indicator, if yes then which, and the purpose behind it?

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I dont use any indicator but I will recommand macd divergence on key level only. That work fine even its lagging indicator. (80 out of 100 its show clear confirmation.) You can self backtest it.

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I will try to answer all your questions in short. Indicators can be useful but you should not leave all your trading decisions to what the indicator hints. It is important to analyse the market from time to time as indicators can never be 100% reliable. Talking about price action, it is the core concept of technical analysis in my opinion. Managing your risk is essential for profitable trading and moreover it is a must to minimise losses in trading. You must work on devising or adopting a strategy first before anything else. Because you won’t be able to move forward without a well defined trading plan.

The psychology should be to avoid emotional trading at all costs and stick to your plan. Build discipline and trade with a serious and professional approach. I do use some indicators like moving averages and RSI as they are simple yet useful for my strategy. My piece of advice to you as a beginner would be to gain more knowledge so that you will be able to decide upon a strategy and also find the best combination of indicators which fits in perfectly. Hope this helps and good luck for your trading journey ahead.

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Thanks :slight_smile:

Price action

Position sizing is the supreme of all with compounding effect. Price action is key, if you are not able to trade on that, use indicators.

All indicators lag and reflect price action with a delay. Here are some systems :
Squeeze momentum indicator - Use squeeze dots to stay out of consolidation, and enter when trending
Wave trend oscillator- this is leading than macd if you use macd
Pivot supertrend
CM Ultimate MA MTF
CM MACD MTF
Ema- 9,14,48,200. Enter on 48,14 above/below 200 and exit on 9,14
*You can combine these indicators and create a system of your own.

That you look at it as a point system rather than calculating in money, it will play less with your emotions.

Any system you plan to trade, trade with 1 lot for first 21 days, irrespective of your trading capital. You will understand if the strategy makes money or not along with your disciplinary skills.

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