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Old 11-15-2007, 09:08 PM   #1

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Trading Markets Without Indicators?

Is it possible to day trade the markets without the use of any indicators ? What I'm referring to just a chart with bars or candles and nothing else. Do you know of anyone that can personally trade effectively this way?
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Old 11-15-2007, 10:04 PM   #2

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Re: Trading Markets Without Indicators?

candles and volume. That's all one really needs. You can draw your own S/R lines from market generated price action (which is the best anyways).
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Old 11-15-2007, 10:09 PM   #3

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Re: Trading Markets Without Indicators?

If you are a very smart fellow you can.... I am left brained... lol...
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Old 11-17-2007, 03:20 AM   #4

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Re: Trading Markets Without Indicators?

I do it everyday along with lots of other people. When you stuff too many things onto the charts, you later realize you lose the most important piece of information: price. One or two is good, but I only use trendlines and sometimes 1 max. Try it and it'll set you free.
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Old 11-17-2007, 10:07 AM   #5

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Re: Trading Markets Without Indicators?

If you're using candlesticks and "reading" them ala Nisson with all those names for every possible configuration, than they are defacto indicators. I use candles simply because they are easier on my eyes than barcharts, but you should be able to understand price action even without looking at volume per bar. Just zero in on the time & sales or the "print" in real time.

And remember, it's not about support and resistance, trendlines, or pivots. It's all about supply and demand, period. That's what moves markets. It couldn't any simpler. Why people make it complicated is perplexing. Probably has to do with tweaking and modifying this that and the other thing to find the Grail. My experience with traders is they pay great lip service to acknowledge there is no Grail and then proceed to tweak all knid of systems, methods, and indicators to find it. And that's why forums like this exist.

The input on this forum should be 80% on psychology and 20% on setups, not the other way around, imho.
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Old 11-17-2007, 11:58 AM   #6

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Re: Trading Markets Without Indicators?

True but the first step is understanding the market and price action before taking the second step (psychology). This in itself takes a while to figure out. I think this is the majority of people are interested in because most don´t have enough patience (ie money) make it to the second part.
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Old 11-19-2007, 12:24 AM   #7

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Re: Trading Markets Without Indicators?

In the end, we are all using some sort of 'indicator' - whether that is the tape, candlesticks, trend lines, etc. The real question is HOW MANY indicators do you want/need on your charts?

There's no good answer really.

Here's a good example of what I am talking about - http://charts.dacharts.com/

Click through some of those and you'll see what I mean - some charts with so many indicators you can't even see the current price and some basic ones.

I think it's finding what fits for you. It's true that many new to trading rely to heavily on the indicators initially, but you still have to find your groove. For example, I love candlestick formations but I also know (b/c I've proven it to myself) that the lower the timeframe, the less reliable a candlestick formation is in and out itself. So, there needs to be something else, whatever that something else is to help filter those trades. There's no right answer here, but hopefully you get my point.

I know many books and sites out there would say indicators are useless but I think you could find something that works for you. In other words, if your goal is to make $100/day in the markets, I would bet you could eventually find an indicator(s) that could do that for you over time. Now whether you can stick with it during a drawdown is a different story.
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Old 11-19-2007, 11:29 AM   #8

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Re: Trading Markets Without Indicators?

Quote:
Originally Posted by nycdweller »
Is it possible to day trade the markets without the use of any indicators ? What I'm referring to just a chart with bars or candles and nothing else. Do you know of anyone that can personally trade effectively this way?
Check out the following links:

1. http://www.trade2win.com/boards/show...t=27069&page=3

Sebastian Manby trades only by VSA , no other indicators.

2. www.futures-day-trader.com , Malcolm also trades the US markerts again by reading volume and price (not VSA method though).
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