So, most new traders come to this āgameā with the assumption that trading indicators, such as RSI, MACD and Bollinger Bands [similar to Keltner channels], to name the most popular are to be used as a primary function of entering and exiting a trade. Itās no surprise either, indicators tend to provide some comfort with their predefined āover boughtā & āover soldā levels. Traders look at these indicators and wait for these extreme levels to be reached and use this as their reason for entering a trade - regardless of what the actual price chart is showing.
Take this a step further and an experienced trader will tell you to do the opposite. They will base trading decisions off of price charts as a primary function, and then āmaybeā look at an indicator as a secondary level of confirmation.
To put this simply:
New Trader: 90% of focus on indicators - 10% focus on price chart
Experienced Trader: 10% focus on indicators - 90% focus on price chart
See the big difference here, of course the percentages will fluctuate and the above is just an example.
Indicators have a shelf-life because they donāt always work, or rather their signals donāt always provide a high degree of accuracy.Indicators are derived from price charts, this is where all the data comes from that feeds into an indicator. Indicators just manipulate this data to display it in a different format. So when an indicator shows a āsignalā of over bought; there is no reason why price might not continue to move higher, for example in a bull market.
To be honest, the question you have asked is rather ambiguous and really captures a whole area of debate. There really is no discrete answer: iām realising this whilst typing! I suppose it all comes down to experience!
Personally, as guidance, I would tell you to open a price chart up of a certain currency pair - remove all indicators, moving averages, grid lines and anything else. All you want is daily dividers showing you the day of the week. This is the best starting point anyone could have told me. Itās from here that you will learn to focus on price. So take a look at why price reacts at certain levels. What was the high and the low of the previous day, how did price react at these same levels the following day, did it even react at these levels?
These are the basic building blocks - read the charts first, add the indicators second (if you really must). You will be miles ahead of the game if you can stick to this @campione