[pipbanker]

Ok
I know a lot of you are using the most popular indicator in the Market (Moving Average). What you do not realize is that is that MA is the #1 loser in the market. Don't get me wrong, all indicators are losers, but MA is the leader.

Here is the bottom line.
Indicators are not really the problem. It is the instruction that comes with them and people that use them is the problem.

Let's take for example MA.
This is by far the most abused indicator in the world. It has lost so much money it should have been illegal to use it. Incidentally, no one seems to realize that.
Most trading system in the market follows the wisdom of the MA crossing strategy. 90% of trading system has some type of MA crossing scheme in it. Most indicators (MACD, Stoch, ADX, CCI) are build around that concept. That is why all indicators or EA (automated trading system) in general are garbage. Yes, I said it. They are all garbage.

What is the reason for MA cross failure? When looking at MA or any indicators based on MA one needs to understand that price does not care where your moving average is in relation to current price. Market does not care where moving average is pointing or if your indicator is overbought or oversold. MA cross happens too late for an entry and usually when you see the cross and ready to put on a trade the price will go the opposite direction. Tadah! Not again. And you will wander why? You did follow your trading plan as you were taught but there was another loss...Frustration? No, it is more than that...

Having said all that, where do a wanna forex trader should turn for help? The truth is there no one that can help you because the answer would be too simple for you to accept and follow. No one can help you except for yourself.

For example:
I trade against everything that I have learned in forex trading classes. I trade against everything the books, the technical gurus, the TV, the market analysis, the news, even the TREND. Yes, I trade against the trend. So when I talk about trading most traders will stay away from what I am saying because it makes no sense to them. Others will hate me for making money trading against all the rules that market "gurus" preach.

I am going to share what I do and get some stones and mud thrown at me in the process.
It should be fun to watch and read the comments I will be getting. So sit back and relax as I am going to unleash my sac of garbage.

Here is how I trade.
I only Buy Low and Sell High using my naked eye and simple support and resistance levels. I DO NOT USE MA CROSSING. IT IS DUMB TO USE MA CROSSING.

Bellow is a summary of what I do to prepare for a trade:
(and yes, I do trade without indicators )

1. I don't do any analysis on weekends or days before. When I open my chart I look at a Daily Time Frame. I am not too concern about all these technical analysis. They are too confusing and too boring for me to be wasting my time on. As you may already know, most of your trades are always ending up in the wrong side. So the forex market itself does not follow technical analysis when it comes to taking my money so why should I?
2. I determine the intermediate term trend with the H4 and H1 to see where the price is in relation to past price action. This is easy to do with your naked eye. No need for expensive indicator. If you are addicted to indicators then do like the others are doing. Drop a 200 EMA on your charts and say to yourself if the price is above the 200 EMA, the trend is up and if the price is below it the trend is down.
3. I look at where the price is located in relation the highest point in the chart and the lowest point. Or for new guy, this means the highest the price has been before returning back down and the lowest the price has been before returning back up. You can do all this with your naked eye.
4. I am waiting for the price to reach my levels to take the trade.
5. I do use 5M to spot and trade true support and true resistance.
6. I only risk less than 2% of my account on any trade.
7. I follow my stop loss rules and let life goes on.

And yes, sometimes I do trade even without all this stuff described above. Just be there in the right time and with right order. Sometimes I am lucky to reach my day target in first 5-10 minutes of session opening. This does not happen everyday, but this happens pretty often to mention it. With no indicators at all.

So if you want to learn trading you have to get rid off anything that clutters your chart.

Now go ahead and crucify me. I might enjoy some of your comments.

[ValueAreaTrader]

Yep you're right, you'll be crucified for just being another vendor trying to get people and their credit cards excited. If you made money trading, you wouldn't be offering a trading room.

Here are the ONLY three ways to consistently make money in the markets:

1) Be at the top of a company during an IPO and be granted thousands of shares
2) Privileged inside information that catches a company or general market(of your choosing) off guard
3) Have enough money to continually double down forever at increasing quantities until the market turns in your direction and then stagger your exits. Oh wait, that's our good friend Golden Slacks receiving infinite money at .25%

Kurtosis and statistics don't even work anymore. HFT robots battling each other day after day has made all the markets truly random.

Edit: I forgot a fourth method that works in the markets. Sell a trading room or something of the like for $200-$500 per month and hook people for 2-3 months before they move on. You can probably make a comfortable living of $50k-$100k per year doing this.

[gianno]

MAs work fine for me and several people I know. All have made a killing using MAs. Most robust trend indicator. Not good for scalpers and penny chasers.

[pipbanker]

Originally Posted by ValueAreaTrader »

Yep you're right, you'll be crucified for just being another vendor trying to get people and their credit cards excited. If you made money trading, you wouldn't be offering a trading room.

Here are the ONLY three ways to consistently make money in the markets:

1) Be at the top of a company during an IPO and be granted thousands of shares
2) Privileged inside information that catches a company or general market(of your choosing) off guard
3) Have enough money to continually double down forever at increasing quantities until the market turns in your direction and then stagger your exits. Oh wait, that's our good friend Golden Slacks receiving infinite money at .25%

Kurtosis and statistics don't even work anymore. HFT robots battling each other day after day has made all the markets truly random.

Edit: I forgot a fourth method that works in the markets. Sell a trading room or something of the like for $200-$500 per month and hook people for 2-3 months before they move on. You can probably make a comfortable living of $50k-$100k per year doing this.

Ok, I see you are a little upset with people who are able to make money trading, but this is not your fault. Let me comment on few things you said.
1.There is no IPO in forex and futures, probably you know that, but I need to say that for any newbies who could be reading this post.
2. Yes, you can make money without having insiders in forex and futures. It would be hard to imagine that many people have access let's say to numbers prior to NFP.
3. Not all traders are willing to join the market without proper education. It might sound unbelievable to you but there are traders who want to be educated properly. I am not talking about education quality here, cause that would take us in to long debate.People can make their choice if they want to learn or not. We only give the opportunity to learn profitable trading, please don't get so angry about it. I don't think you get angry at people who teach English or other stuff.
4. Turning a struggling trader into a profitable one is not about watching videos and reading manuals. If you give me a valid reason why I should spend my personal time educating a trader for free then I will enroll you at no cost. You will like to be on the other side.
There are many things to be discussed on this matter, but I will stop here.
Yes, people can join our trading room for free.

[pipbanker]

Since we have people happy with MAs, I think it would be interesting to know how many people are trading with MAs and if they are happy about performance.
Would you agree that having a poll would be the right thing here?

I've created a poll here
Take a look at this screen to see where exactly the poll is. http://screencast.com/t/HWzDs4dLlon


2 weeks to vote should be enough to get some valid info. I will post results in 2 weeks here.

[joshdance]

What a waste of server space this thread is.

[malocclu]

No two traders that I know trade exactly alike. Whatever works for you is the best way to trade imho. And I've been trading for over 20 yrs. The markets change their MO almost daily so there is no one best method or indicator. Price is the only indicator of value. If you are new to trading you need to do some reading and take some courses from the recognized leaders in trading education. Then you can truly learn to trade by piecing together a strategy and methodology that works for you. Since we all learn at different speeds and trading is so psychologically influenced by our individual personalities, some will learn quickly. Some will take years to learn (I did) and some will never learn and eventually give up when they run out of expendable funds.

[Tams]

trading with MA is like flying an airplane...

those who can fly looks like god to those who can't.

those who can't fly but fly anyway will have a predictable future

there are those who can't fly, believes nobody should either

there are those who can't fly, have other means of transportation, therefore not flying is not a big deal