Do Indicators Really Work?

1271779490 60 Do Indicators Really Work?

No matter what instrument is traded, be it stocks, futures or Forex, chances are most people trading it are obsessed with finding the perfect indicator, and the perfect entry point. As a professional trader, I’ll let you in on a little secret about your favorite indicator: it probably does great, 50% of the time – before factoring in commissions and slippage.

Most indicators out there, including the most popular ones like moving averages, stochastics, relative strength, etc. all work about 50% of the time. Just as good as tossing a coin. This truism probably applies to 95% of the indicators out there.

The 5% of indicators that do work are usually closely guarded secrets, not available for sale to the public anywhere. After all, if you had a golden goose, would you sell it?

Browse the Internet for a while, and you’ll see fabulous indicators for sale. You can even find them on auction sites! Of course, you will only see the excellent examples of how the indicator works, not when it breaks down. Don’t be fooled. They all break down under some conditions. There is no “Holy Grail” indicator.

So, let’s say you buy an indicator or indicator package. Can buying it really be that bad? In a word, yes. In fact, the more money you spend, the worse it is, and not just because you spent a lot on it.

Any indicator you pay for is dangerous, because once you “invest” in an idea, you will spend a lot of time to make it work in your systems, even if that means unintentionally curve fitting or over-optimizing. Spending money on an indicator gets you emotionally involved, and that can spell trouble. Typically, you consciously or subconsciously have the need to be right in your purchase, and that will eventually hurt you.

What is the solution? Spend time studying and observing the markets, and then create your own indicator that numerically describes what you see. Or, develop a trading strategy that doesn’t use any indicators at all. Chances are, with some hard work, you can find something that is better than flipping a coin.

Do Indicators Really Work?

Tags: professional trader, holy grail, golden goose, spending money, moving averages

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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

markhur courdo July 13, 2010

oooooooooooooooookaaaa///

drassiongi July 13, 2010

Wow, you’re lucky you have your wife with you all the way. Well my wife was with me at first thAn when i lost $300 on forex after just a few weeks start, since then she against me all the way, so i have to find way and time to learn while supporting the family, my mom, dad, sister, brother, and my wife think i am crazy..so far she start to realized, i am working on business plan, learn to understand myself, working on set ups, follow rules..etc..hopefuly start trade live next year

win July 16, 2010

Like 300ish + spending money. Please come, I need someone to go to bars with! ;D

kaetz July 20, 2010

RT RT Genetic algorithms in Python, a tutorial

mcgillenne July 23, 2010

In January Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asked users Q&A site Quora, “What startups would be good talent acquisitions for Facebook?”

User Nils Johnson suggested Nextstop in January.

Apparently Zuckerberg was listening, because last week, Facebook went and acquired the startup last week.

So who else did the Silicon Valley insiders that hang on Quora suggest?
Click here to see 10 companies Facebook should acquire (according to Quora) >
Join the conversation about this story »
See Also:
Suddenly, Facebook Is Full Of GooglersWatch Out Apple, Facebook Wants To Cook Your Golden Goose (Yours Too, Google)Facebook: We Will ALWAYS Be Free

meckin beser July 24, 2010

You can ask many fresh traders about swing trading strategies and they will inform you about the chart patterns, combination of indicators, moving averages and so on that they actually use.

engrayle July 25, 2010

Is that some strain of avian flu?

younarup July 26, 2010

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schibott August 7, 2010

RT quick Q- what's holy grail of #localgovachievement at the mo? savings/efficiencies? satisfaction? too broad to answer neatly?

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