My favorite indicators update [part 2]An update on my use of indicators. Going to throw my thoughts out my thought process if you're interested.
In my last "My favorite indicators" idea I placed the moving averages in the ones I do not use, they were top of the list thought the first ones that come to mind and make most sense. They are no substitute for a complete analysis but you need a starting point and when you are scanning 40 different charts you want to make it simple.
I've been turning the trend indicators on and off (and probably will continue doing that).
Right now using EMAS again. Not too many I don't want the chart to get all nasty, no full GMMA that hide the price. Just 2 fast moving EMAS.
Fast moving but not dumb either. What I get out of those is I see the daily trend because they are daily ones, I don't need to have D1 & H4 side by side.
"My eyes are trained to see the trend" BS I keep doing random stupid things buying too early...
I've not really been trend following for long, I used to with crypto during the bubble because it was too easy but otherwise I had an edge doing something else, I must be 1 in a million doing this xd Most retail fight the trend and lose, professionals follow it I fight vertical moves and idk worked out so far.
Helps filter baddies, helps spot what is going on faster (I have a watchlist of 40 charts I can't every day full analyse them all I need to filter first), they look great I love the blue and red. Goes faster to have the daily trend on the 4 hour chart, don't have to look at 2 charts side by side and zoom in and out and always have to reajust the screen etc.
But honestly the main point is probably I like how they look. The red & blue. Makes a good looking chart I think.
Makes it look all technical and professional and I just love the colors. Isn't that the most important part? Having fun and wanting to look at the charts.
I kept losing this month. A good 17 losses in a row even with 1 potential winner I missed out on.... All those losses really ate up my other strategies profit. Pissed. Had +5 and +7 on a strat /3 and +5 -17 on my trend following strat for a grand total of 0, and then a few breakeven and +1 -1 zzzz Tried to make it with EURUSD had a wide trailing stop but it really bounced and all I got was 1R... Of course. And I have 4 positions now of course it's all slow 2/4 are more long term and this usually doesn't even move far from the entry where I can count it as a winner for a good month. And the other 2... We will see. Not counting the positions > 3 month horizon.
I doubt 90% would survive these situations, well I did have winners that absorbed my losses so it's not that bad actually.
And I choose to machine gun every setup with my new strategy (started as revenge trading at the start of the year and since I kept winning I looked into in again took a few good setups in the summer while backtesting and working on the strategy and then september I apply my rules and go for it for real and keep losing 🙃)
Normally I take, with the other 2 strategies, like 18 setups a year each. So 3/month total. And with this trend following I should probably take another 3/month not over 20...
Constant re-evaluation etc. So... I spent all of July to September backtesting improving and thinking this simple pullback trend following strategy.
I starting using it in the first 3 months of 2020, and had alot of knowledge from the start I did not start from zero.
I did not spend my whole days on it I looked at plenty of other things.
I would vaguely estimate I spent 8 hours a day on it for 3 months that's a total of 720 hours. And it's a rather simple strategy.
Just trying to get a decent strategy with a few setups here and there, that works for me.
Meanwhile complete noobs that aren't especially smart expect getting consistently profitable in 3 months with 1 hour a day on the side.
I tried looking at the oscillators again, see if they filter things I do not want.
This joke:
Versus:
On top of this, using arbitrary numbers, in a month there is 30*16 = 480 hours, and 16 hours a day, say on the average day I:
- Spend 4 hours going out to not go crazy (wups failed my objective here) as well as eating and sometimes playing
- Spend 4 hours reading articles watching videos that I count as grinding my skillz & knowledge and posting on tradingview
- Spend 4 hours backtesting improving estimating probas and doing boring things like taxes
- Spend 4 hours doing research on potential setups AND managing trades (2 hours for the 30/month + 2 hours for the 3-4 I actually end up taking)
That's it. There are no more hours on the day as you see. They get eaten up fast.
If I get overwhelmed with these trash RSI signals... how many hours will that take? Should I spend less time doing my DD on other setups and miss out the good ones or take bad ones? Should I eat up hours in the backtesting (even if I'm happy with my strategies I want to adapt to changing conditions). Then I can spend less time doing loose research (articles & videos) or the "leisure" and burn out and also potentially miss some important info, some piece of news...
Not going to post the whole RSI analysis (I can't even if I wanted it's all over the place I have stats & screenshots spread everywhere it's really disgusting).
But I am 100% on this. It is not for me. Or anyone else. Sucks beyond belief. I don't know maybe there is a microscopic edge in using it oh cool.
How well will that hold up after 20 loss in a row? Continue using it? Consider it doesn't work anymore? Flip it?
So that was an equity curve of some "many setups" strategy, maybe something with the RSI or macd lines firing mediocre signals over and over.
They really look like this. Well they would if anyone sticked to it.
Now an equity curve with less setups but being more picky with alot of research time spent on studying the currencies or other instrument (enough to avoid really bad setups and to be more precise and to manage it better at least).
And then of course when you reach the scholarly peak and go for diversified strategies (it isn't possible in my experience to have that much diversification but a little is possible. Basically if you tried diversifying too much you'd end up repeating the same strategies but with different conditions or taking positions too large by trying to diversify via assets because assets are correlated you can't have 10 different strategies but you can have a couple by having different timeframes different markets and some reversal if that's possible careful most fail and some trend following if quant then also arbitrage and so on holding fixed income too can be added but not only the markets aren't offering infinite uncorrelated possibilities but also each strat that you add is hundreds or thousands of hours to design and then alot of time and attention to manage and execute)
But with 2-3 strat that equity curve would look something like this...
Can strategies be completely uncorrelated thought? They're likely to all use some support and resistance analysis. It's sort of the same for forex stocks etc. Liquidity area. There aren't 30 ways to do this. What if S&R changes, what if they don't matter for whatever reason? Then it all falls down.
Just trying to use a simple example to show it can't all be uncorrelated. Even if you held bonds as an additional profit stream, their yield will change and it will impact the trends etc...
Oh and let's be real, the market does not provide an endless number of setups. I never heard of anyone that made money in choppy markets (if they do they are on a higher TF where it is not choppy). Even my reversal strategy is for trending markets. Some people say they trade inside ranges well even if they do and aren't just lucky lying or delusional there are very few clean ranges so here.
I do not remember ever hearing Goldman Sachs or Bank Of America or JP Morgan Chase going "ok we think the kiwie is going to stay in a range so we will buy it at the lows because it is oversold".
It's either "Based on the research presented, the trend, the fundamentals, the market conditions/past data, here are our 3/6/12 months targets" or "we think the euro will continue going lower" or "we think the usd rally is not over so we are still long" or "we see a ranging market we have no position".
You really got to bring the retail swing traders to come up with this kind of stupid crap 😂
Here is a quote from an investment banker active on social networks:
"Its 80% fundamental, 20% Technical. Professional Traders don't day trade often so day trading is a small part of a much larger overall approach. There's no such thing as swing trading in professional trading circles. That was something made up by brokers for the retail market. To be honest I had never heard of it until I started teaching retail traders and someone told me what it was. I laughed out loud when they told me! No Joke."
I don't know all the kinds of weird messed up strategies the various funds have but as far as I know bankers look for momentum.
How many opportunities there are day trading if there are some is irrelevant just look at the daily chart and how many are there matter for this thought process, because if day trading did better than real trading I think we'd f**ing know by now and every hedge & mutual fund would be looking for day traders. So ye, not that many opportunities realistically per strategy (day trading can be an additional strategy but there are only 16 hours in a day at some point I really don't think more than a couple is possible and 2-3 max probably with day trading), even over a good dozen instruments (like a dozen fx pairs).
Even Jérôme Kerviel that lost 5 billion looks for big movers, big volatility :D
Last thought: Howie Hubler made a successful short bet against the trend (or bubble rather) in subprime mortgages in the U.S (the big short) except he got the money from selling insurance on AAA morgages (the rating companies are basiclaly trolls) and he lost 9 billion 1 shot aaaaand it's gone. Rekt.
I've heard of plenty of trend followers (systematic or discretionary) Bitcoin bagholders from 2012 George Soros on the yen/Nikkei early buy/sell Warren Buffett..., I've heard of plenty of countertrend success (Enron shorts, 2007 CDS, Soros against the pound and SEA countries and so on), never heard of the "great flat market range trader". Well with the exception of the great signal providers and educators of course. Even Livermore didn't make money in ranging market but Livermore has alot to learn from 20 years old Ricky & Forex Lambo lifestyle & some random dudes in comments with 6 month old accounts and that have been offline for 2 years since then and whoever promotes this.
Indicators
Indicator that confuses you on purposeThe algo that I’m working on creates super messy charts to discourage people from buying. The goal is to time the market, and the way this chart works is to buy only when the background is completely white. If there are lines and bars all over the place— you don’t want it.
This indicator will be for investors whose strategy is to buy and hold for max gain and with minimal exposure to erratic price swings. If you only had a hundred dollars, what stock should you buy? Let's take a confused look at some charts.
Tradingview Color Themes and Indicator TemplatesIn this tutorial, I show you the basics of changing your chart's color theme, including how to save and recall it. I also show you how to change the color theme of your indicators as well as how to save your indicators as a template for easy recall any time you open a new chart. This two tips will save you endless hours and help you personalize your charting experience.
CGC 15 min chart and the AlphaBotSystem IndicatorsJust discovered these guys recently. They have built an impressive suite of indicators that cater to both equities and crypto traders. There is also a series of bots for trading crypto. The visual trend change blends in nicely with my charts and gives one confidence to take the trade after the trend change is indicated and then a technical setup presents itself.
FIB, RSI, MACD, AND BREAKOUT PATTERNS ARE TRASH! (MUST WATCH!)I'm aware the title has offended you. Read through this post anyway, I'm sure I touch up on your complaints.
Stop forming your identity around your strategy. Even I am not immune to this. it’s all too common to form a personal relationship with the tools you’re using to trade. Whether that’s the indicators on your chart, your Gann shooting star wave pattern Fibonacci double top, or your boutique breakout patterns. It doesn’t matter how bland, innovative, common it is or if it’s the “golden standard” everyone worships and trusts. I’m happy that you like it and found something you identify with. It should be nice and comfy for you to settle into that confirmation bias, “Mm, yes it is indeed a double top” as you scroll through the fifth page of the Tradingview ideas section, pinpointing the chart that agrees with you.
There’s a better way to do things. I don’t care what you’re using, maybe, just maybe, there’s a way to improve your strategy. I can confirm this idea is seen as wildly offensive. Ask someone why their strategy works and they’ll cringe like you just asked them if their spouse is cheating. “How dare you question their effectiveness! I’ll let you know we have a long history together and I love them very much.” I’m sure you do, but have you noticed some of the warning signs? They’re all right there in front of you. It may not feel good when I ask, but if the signs are there and 3/4ths of marriages fail, it wouldn’t sit well with me if I didn’t speak up just to keep you comfy cozy.
Analogies aside, your “spouse” is your strategy. The warning sign is that you keep on losing trades, blaming your loses on “volatility” without wanting to admit what the real problem is. Perhaps you’re still green for now, just wait for a larger sample size of a trade history. Much like your imaginary marriage, the odds are wildly against you. Why do you think 95 plus percent of traders fail? You can massage data however you like, the problem is at some point you decided to stop improving because you got confident.
If you met a tribe in the wilderness who planted fish in their fields as “an offering to their gods” in order to grow bigger crops, what do you do? Do you keep quiet about their ways? Sure, their crops WILL grow larger because of this tradition, but not for the reasons they believe. Would providing them industrial fertilizer and a crop rotation plan improve their crop output? Absolutely, but that would require that they admit they’re wrong and would be contrary to their identity. You’d get the response “but it’s worked for us so far! What we’re using is a proven standard.” Their blind faith in their dogma would prevent them from seeing that maybe, just maybe their is a better way to do things. If you don’t know why something works, you need to be skeptical regardless of how effective it is. Don’t be satisfied with mediocrity, comfort and undeserved confidence will only get you so far. There will always be someone with more experience, money, knowledge, and connections than you. You’ve brought a knife to a gun fight and have decided not to pick up the gun because you got some lucky stabs in. What’s worse is this even isn’t a gunfight, it’s thermonuclear war between institutional investors.
If you're a middle school basketball star, do you cry when you skin your knees after getting fouled when you chose to play street ball in downtown Detroit? No, because you should have known what you were getting into, and if you do cry, all the street ballers will tear you to shreds. If you don't want to play street ball and learn to play like everyone else does, go back to your middle school basketball court. If you can't understand why you keep getting hurt trading crypto and are unwilling to adopt the winning fighting style, go back to trading securities. Winners don't need to play by the rules of "golden standard" of TA.
What if the "golden standard" is only so because they're tools that make you predictable for people who know better? If you have the masses all trading the same information, that makes for predictable moves.
Predictable traders make for a predictable market. A predictable market makes for a profitable market. The only reason you've been given the "golden standard" is to provide liquidity for those with more buying power, resources, knowledge, experience and connections than you.
Specifically concerning the crypto market, there are additional flaws.
"There’s a general point here to make about standard oscillators like RSI: the numbers used for them basically assume conventional markets and typical oscillating ranges.
They were not designed to describe dramatically trending coins.
In such trends, they tend to go deep into “oversold”/“overbought” territory and persist. You may get several divergences before the one that actually reverses after exhaustion.
I wouldn’t call it useless so much as having far lower predictive power than advertised.
It’s also something so widely used that you can virtually guaranteed not to have an edge from that information." -acatwithcharts
If you ARE interested in a better way to do things, I am inclined to think my findings aren't half bad. Click through the links below and in my signature to learn more about how I do things differently.
US Bonds : Yield curve has reversed, what to do with that ?Hope this idea will inspire some of you !
Don't forget to hit the like/follow button if you feel like this post deserves it ;)
That's the best way to support me and help pushing this content to other users.
Kindly,
Phil
SOURCE : www.marketwatch.com
"Risk Management" (Traders) vs "Right or Wrong" (Analysts)In this video I explain you with a real time trading context, what the major difference is between a trader and an analyst. Because that's how you'll easily make the difference between the one that actually trade and manage its risks, and the one that just talks and do nothing ! Always remember that if you want to learn how to analyse a market, the follow analysts ! If you want to learn how to trade and manage the risks, follow traders... ! Because being right or wrong is nothing but bullshit in a speculative prospective !
Bests,
Phil
Psych Hack #0005 - Learning to play.In this educational screencast I answer some of the issues I've been asked about by new traders. I emphasise in that profitability it is not mainly about methodology or indicators. It is about something pretty nebulous and unseen.
This post is compliant with Tradingview's house rules on text based posts.
Comprehensive Trading ProcessBefore Entering
Start the by writing down predictions for what I expect to happen before the end of the day.
1 day | 1 week | 1 month predictions: Make projections for what is expected to happen during the listed time frames
Previous analysis/position: Review yesterday’s analysis to remember what your thought process was
Patterns: Established patterns outweigh other indications
Horizontal support and resistance: Horizontals are most important when no pattern or trend is present. Remember that prices range 70% - 80% of the time
BTCUSDSHORTS: Analyze the trading view chart with patterns, support/resistance, trendlines and indicators. Do not short when short sellers are at or near ATH’ levels. This is when you are very likely to get squeezed out of the position. Then check the long:short ratio. 60% long:40% short indicates a good balance for a move to the upside. If it gets to 65%+ on either side then a squeeze is expected
Funding Rates: If it gets too expensive to fund a long or short then the price is likely to react accordingly
12 & 26 EMA’s (calculate % difference): Check for crossovers and know how far away the price can get, historically speaking, from the EMA’s. This will help identify oversold/overbought conditions
50 & 128 MA’s: Same as above
FIB’s: Very important for identifying major levels of support and resistance
Candlestick analysis: Learn more here
Ichimoku Cloud: Here is a great resource' if you would like to learn more
TD’ Sequential: Here and here are great resources
Visible Range: Volume = resistance or support. This indicates where the major volume has occurred and is very useful in identifying major s/r
BTC’ Price Spreadsheet: Calculate price change over the following periods: 12h, 24h, 1w, 2w, 1m. This will help to identify being overbought or oversold
Bollinger Bands: Very useful in ranging markets. Super squeezes indicate upcoming volatility
Trendline: Very useful in identifying support and resistance as well as reversal when the trend breaks
Daily Trend: Not necessary, but I like to know what the market is doing right now
Fractals: Very useful in setting stop losses. Up fractals should not be broken in a bear market and down fractals should not be broken in a bull market
On Balance Volume: Helps identify what the ‘big money’ is doing. Pay close attention to divergences
ADX: Helps to identify if there is a trend and how strong it is. If -DI > +DI then bearish. If -DI < + DI then bullish. If ADX < 20 then ranging market. If ADX > 25 then trending market
Chaikin Money Flow: Use it the same as the OBV
RSI (30 setting): Used to identify tops in parabolic markets, according to parabolic burst theory
Stoch: Can provide good signals, although I find it rare. Nevertheless the Stoch on the 3d has predicted price movements very well in the 2018 BTC' bear market
End with reviewing predictions and making a summary.
After entering
Managing stop losses and avoided greed is all that remains.
Stop Losses
Are set slightly under the prior low (if long) and slightly above the prior high (if short). This will usually be illustrated by William's Fractals. For each open position go through the following process on a daily basis.
SPX: New low established with down fractals at $2,800. Just broke up fractal and established new high. Adjust stop to $2,794
BTC: Has not established a new lower high or up fractal. Stop remains above prior high
Best Indicators for Day/Swing Traders and How to Use Them
An Introduction
This is a quick overview of three of the best trading indicators for day and swing traders alike. If you are a new trader then it is very important for you to understand that no indicator or oscillator is going to make you trade profitably immediately, so don’t go on a wild goose chase to find one that will. Learn a select few indicators and the methods and strategies to use them effectively. Master them, and then learn more.
“Your strategy will be more profitable using fewer indicators that you have mastered. Then more indicators that you haven’t.”
Let’s begin.
Today's Lesson (#5) : How trade possible market manipulations.Before playing that video, be aware that I'm a very agressive trader, which means high level of risk into trying to copy my trades. The quality in those videos comes out of their content, not just following blindly. I'll be trading this with low leverage as this is highly speculative. So please don't just follow blindly but just take the educational content out of this to learn how to trade manipulated market more "safely", still being aware that this remain high risky thing !