What indicators do you use in your trading system?

Which of the many indicators do you use/implement or just prefer in your trading system?
I know that different strategies require different indicators,but let’s just see which indicators are more popular than others.I`ve listed some popular ones from Metatrader 4,please answer the poll,if you have many ones then you are free to select more than 1.

Ok let me start.I am using a trend following/trend reversal system when strong trend is in the market,when the trend is weak then mainly focus on scalping the ranging movements.Taking profit and stop loss levels i determine with fibos and from chart patterns if there is any.The main indicators I use to identify trend,bouces,strength or volatility are:

  • Stochastic (14,3,3)
  • ADX (14,CLOSE)
  • Volume
  • MACD (5,14,3,CLOSE)

Now your turn :53:

I trade Price Action. I use a 10, 21, and 200 EMA just to determine trend direction and relative strength since I trade with the trend. The bread and butter of Price Action is S/R levels and clean candlestick formations though- which are indicators as well.

Interesting approach.Walter Peters is also in the favor of “naked trading”,he is a professional full time trader,you can learn much from him,just google it.As for the 200 EMA why u use such a long term average,like in a 15 min chart thats almost 3 days going back.I go back mostly 20 and maximum 50 positions since further going back may not be that accurate,this is my view of course,what do you think?

I’ll check out Walter Peters.

The 200 EMA isn’t really use for any major decisions- just general insight. It’s just a very popular indicator for people to determine general direction and strength of the long-term trend.

A couple of examples:

  • If the 200 EMA is bending down, price is moving down, and a bullish rejection forms; that’s a good indication that price wants to continue down.

or

  • If the 200 EMA has a wavy pattern to it; you can assume that any favorable signals that form do not have a great amount of long-term strength behind them as if the 200 had a distinct curve to it.

So yeah- it’s not really used in great specifics by most people. But it is a popular indicator of relative market direction over a more significant length of time. Since it is aggregated from a larger body of information; you can put more weight on what it is telling you. A downtrend present on a 200 EMA is going to be more significant than one on a 10 or 50; although 50 and 100’s are fairly commonly used too.

Even if you’re a short-term trader; you wouldn’t want to put a lot of weight on a 10 EMA anyways because what’s to say price didn’t just hit a short consolidation or just had an abnormal spike of activity. You’d have no real frame of reference. The EMAs are just one piece of the larger decision making process.

I do not like to use much indicators, if pivot points were considered as indicator that’s why given my vote to that, as they are very good indicators to know the possible market direction.

I have voted for stochastics but I use it just to confirm my entry.

You forgot to put options for “eyes” or “nothing”!

I don’t trade with any indicators, I trade pure price action - with the help of my eyes :slight_smile:

Allright I understand you.It is really nice to see a broad view of the price.You can also use it as a moving support/resistance zone and a strong one.One thing I dont get is why not use 200 SMA, it would give you a smoother view? Also do you use FIB levels,pivot points for target/stop loss or just trade basic chart patterns?

Not even ADX? I mean not for the basis of your tehnique but just for an extra confirmation if you trade on a trending bounce/breakouts or whatever.

And what’s with ICHIMOKU? C’mon nobody really uses it,it works like magic on JPY pairs with like 60-70% winning rate by daytrading on daily timeframed trending markets…

Yeah. Pure price action doesn’t use indicators past S/R lines and formations in general. That’s essentially what I do; I just use EMAs as a visual indicator to see the smoothness of a given trend.

I usually look at Stochastic and Average Directional Index, but I also believe that Pivot Points is a good indicator…

I also use not any of these indicators, so I couldn’t choose any thing. Ok, the only thing above there that I may use some time is (tick)volume, as it gives new information to you you can’t extract from the prices. But for now, Price Action only, with some open prices as S/R as horizontal lines.

For most of my trading I don’t use any indicators at all, and don’t really believe in them.

Fortunately, there are countless technical analysis techniques available which don’t require any indicators at all.

I also sometimes do a little fast-moving scalping of the Euro and/or Cable, along Bob Vollman lines, and I do put a 20-period exponential moving average on my charts, then, as he suggests … and it can occasionally be helpful for that kind of trading, I think. (I’ve often wondered, though, whether I might actually get the same overall results without it as with it.)

I scalp/day trade, main indicators are: Heiken Ashi candles, 2 SMA’s, Stochastic, CCI, MACD, Fibonacci, Support & Resistance and 3 time frames

I don’t get it why MACD is so popular.I can tell that every 5th trader uses it.It is ok for daytrading since it is smoothened out in a such long period ,but i know people who use them in a 15 or 30 min chart for scalping.It may be a safer lagging indicator but in 15 min you won’t get a huge spike to ride with.Also for spotting a new trend a normal chart pattern analysis and a stochastic/adx pair would be enough.Can you explain what role does it have in your trade sir?

I stopped using adx, I found it to be useless . I can’t tell you why every 5th trader uses it, I would assume because it’s simple and effective. I use a modified version of MACD - Unlike the standard MACD, the bars in mine are color coded, so as soon as the bars show change in direction, there is a color change. When all my indicators line up, I enter or exit. I know that some traders who use MACD change periods. I don’t, mine is default.

Most price action, OBV , S/R , with MA-5 Inside OBV window, Stoch 2,2,2

Yes, I do, too - and I agree that it isn’t immediately obvious why it’s quite so popular.

I suspect, though, that people trying to use it for this kind of purpose are mostly doing so with a shorter “lookback” period than the one used in its standard settings?

Undeniably, a shorter lookback period is going to result in the indicator showing its momentum reversals closer to the highs and lows of the price-swings, but the cost of that is that it will also have far more false signals. I suspect that its enthusiasts’ answer to that objection is that they use it only as part of their trading techniques, and try to “confirm” the signals with various other indicators, all of which are in fact effectively measuring more or less the same things in more or less the same ways, which is why I remain skeptical. The reality is that oscillating momentum indicators don’t actually represent price trends at all: they represent only momentum trends, and of course price and momentum don’t always trend together. This always seems to me to be a fundamental, factual and pretty much incontrovertible point. :slight_smile:

I actually tryed ICHIMOKU on one of my demo. At first it was actually working well but then something happend and the magic has gone. I was probably out of mana:5:

i use true volume not tick volume (not available for spot forex). How i slice and dice the price and volume is basically my entire system. Its the only real things the market is telling you at any one time, price, volume, bids and offers. those are the communications coming form the market, everything is derivative.