GRrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....
I must say that in reading this thread I was surprised at the tone expressed by some as they voiced their own personal opinions on how one way is, at least to them, clearly superior to another, especially as though that should mean it would be true for others. It seems that some people feel strongly that they have somehow reached another level in their trading that clearly most traders should aspire to. Well, don't you believe it. If you have been around in Life as long as I have then you have almost certainly been smacked in the face again and again with the fact that one man's meat is another man's poison and that what works for one often doesn't work at all for another.
You can safely assume as fact that some people trade better with indicators and some trade better with watching pure price action, while yet others trade better with a smattering of both. Opinions one way or the other don't change that one iota so don't ever accept other trader's "opinions" to the contrary. Opinions are pretty much like derrieres (your posterior heh, heh) and pretty much everybody has one.
Some traders may think they have "graduated" beyond the need for indicators and that is fine as there is plenty of room in the markets for all types. There is no such thing as a pure best method of trading no matter how much some may wish to protest to the contrary. What is reality? Reality for any particular person is the result of how that particular person experiences Life events. It is based upon their own unique ways of processing information through the filters of their own life experience, opinions and already formed beliefs. The self same events may be processed quite differently by another person of a different background, culture or belief structure and thus one person's view on something external to them is nothing more than their opinion.
Does that make it the right way to go for you and will you receive the same results and experience that others are claiming from following the same methods or practice? The answer is often "absolutely not". Does that mean that their opinions don't hold value, at least to them and possibly even to you? Not at all, but I would first and foremost suggest you never accept any of it as absolute truth and that you simply try it out for yourself (if you wish to do so) and see if it holds up in your own experience. You may be surprised to find that you get very different or even quite opposite results. That is what makes Life interesting, otherwise the whole experience here on Earth would be boring as heck!
So that I don't get wildly criticized here for not taking at least some type of stand, let me just say that my own personal experiences tell me that indicators can be useful to me (not necessarily for others, as they have to experiment for themselves.) However, I tend to use them for easily and quickly determing the tone or trend of the market at a single glance. When I focus on price or especially on tape reading, I can often get so caught up in the nitty gritty moment to moment action and spread of the range that I sometimes forget the overall trend in the period I am trading and in the next confirmation time period I am using), but I personally do not use them as actual trading signals. As I pointed out in another recent post, it is my personal opinion that constantly looking in your rearview mirror is a most challenging and inefficient way of driving down the street without having a major accident. I guess that is my personal way of saying that lagging indicators, even if they are enhanced and smoothed and only lagging minutely, are often good to spot trend and tone of the market and for those that need it, even confirmation of price action, but could prove somewhat hazardous to your trading if used as the actual signals to take trades. To my way of thinking, that last comment is far more accurate for daytraders than for position or swing traders but I had best let those types of traders speak for themselves.
Having said that, I can tell you I have a few trading buddies who say they have removed
all their indicators and say they rely purely on price action. Well, in competition, we are almost dead even on who consistently takes the most points out of the market on a consistent basis. If you haven't figured it out yet, trading is about a great deal more than whether you mostly follow price action, indicators or both.
However, all is not lost! You can still have a good laugh when the price action folks try to persuade you to their side of the fence, especially when you realize that
VAL,
VAH,
POC (point of control), Balance Lines, Dual Purpose Trend Lines, Floor Pivots or Support and Resistance Lines,etc. are
all indicators of sorts and yes, they depend on them as much as you do on your own indicators, whatever those may be. So have a nice little chuckle inside and then go on about your trading.
Again, never accept any trader's pronouncements (or even those of a group of traders who agree) as the final edict on the best way to do something, not even if it is a famous trading guru and certainly not just from traders in some online forum (me included!) Find what works for you personally and then trade it tenaciously, never letting anyone shake your faith in something as long as it continues to perform.
Happy Trading
