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Studies (Paul Slovic / Bernard Corrigan) have been done to check if more information leads to better decision making. The outcome of the study: the more information, no worse/better decisions/forecasts. But a boosted confidence by decision makers when more info available. This study was done in the field of horseracing.
If you apply these insights to trading then you could argue that the more cluttered the screens the more insecure the trader. I use 5 indicators, probably 2 entry, 2 exit and 1 for SR. My goal is to have 3 indicators as I trade on a very short timeframe. But to simplify is not that simple. When I drop a indicator I have the feeling that it would negatively influence my performance. Although I rationally know you can do without a couple.
Just the 1hr and 5min charts side by side (no indicators or volume) and the Level II.
No visibility of the P&L either.
Once I did that, I started to make money.
LMAO... The poll is very poorly worded in what one thinks an indicator should be and makes absolutely no sense at all.... one section of the poll shows " None, using price and volume" others are how many " indicators" one uses(1-4, ext) ....well... I have 5 indicators for just showing "volume" and nothing else, and based on this poll, is that an "indicator" or just "volume and price.
.Most posts are here are the same way....indicators that just use volume. Based on that poll that can go into several poll categories and not sure people here know which one to use.
In fact 90%+ indicators only use three things... Price, Volume and Time..... and a majority only use "price and volume" in different ways making this poll pointless....
As with trading, if those with political and religious predilections would consistently embrace THIS, I believe the world would be a much better place.
Works for you individually? Great.
Or, in the poetry of John Lennon, "Whatever gets you through the night is all right. It's all right."
To which I'll add, John, "Yeah, just leave me out of it if it's going to hurt me or the people I love." (Correctamundo! I am NOT a poet.)
Ironic, isn't it, that those predisposed toward a live-and-let-live POV are also among the ones least likely to seek the power necessary to implement it, at least until the pendulum swings way out of band with concomitant disasters. Like Clemenza, then folks like me will resign ourselves to the tasks of having "to get rid of the bad blood."
That said, I also appreciate the other posters who have given insights about things to try, and thus judge personally, particularly the ones coming from members still here after many years (with their implied success). Thank you so much.
Most interesting to me was the meme that learning is a spiral, hopefully UP when Reason--facts and logic--are used as the rubric for ruthlessly discarding flotsam, whether intellectual or emotional. I've seen this in my career when I've come full circle to what seemed obvious to me as a newcomer decades ago, but then got distracted when everyone else convinced me that I was, after all, only a newcomer. Of course, it's not applicable in all cases, but it's often true.
So yeah, Mr. Corleone, you were right: It is personal. Master that aspect of yourself, and the business-side will follow effortlessly like night into day. One doesn't master trading first. One masters oneself. First.
DISCLAIMER (which seem to be all the rage on trading websites and YouTube videos): As this is my first post on futures.io, I assure you it is wholly non-partisan.
I guess, technically speaking, anyone using a Japanese candle stick is using an indicator. Without them, you would have a line chart. So with that, I use two indicators, Japanese candle sticks and a tick counter. Every other indicator to me is a distractor and negatively affect my P&L.
Lagging is always seen as a bad thing. But come on, discretionary traders or retail algo traders can't front run nothing, nada, no chance what so ever.
If you think a little longer about this topic you can even argue that lagging has it advantages. It keeps you longer in trend trades and you can profit from the energy of traders in a higher timeframes.
The reason you make a fortune has probably more to do with your trade skills and the fact your not distracted by a screen packed with all correlated indicators measuring the same thing: time, price or volume
I get what you're saying and I respect that you are profitable trading this way. Let's not forget, however, that "3 simple bars" implies a chart. A chart is an "indicator." It is a two-dimensional representation of price by price, or by time, or by volume, or by delta, or by a combination of those, and like most "indicators" it's meant to rearrange the output of the tape (also lagging, by my understanding of your definition) so that we humans process the data more efficiently (less lag).
I tip my hat to those old-timers who can trade just by the tape. That means price action only, i.e. the last printed trades flowing past WITHOUT colors as to whether they went on the ask or bid, or filters for slowing down the rate to only block trades or trades above a certain number of contracts, etc. Adding colors, blocking out noise, etc. are also "indicators" applied to the raw tape output, so to a purist they'd be out. I actually tried this for a while. I simply could not stay focused long enough, probably because I'm not Rainman or his equivalent.
It's the rare trader--and again, I'm not mocking, I'm complimenting--who needs "no indicators." I'm certainly not one of them so a tip of the hat to you, too.
BTW, one small nit to pick: Nobody is ever "ahead of the curve." Why? Because humans have yet to develop a capability to predict the future. There is no curve to "be ahead of." And thus, money management is as important as being able to read prices. Given your experience, I'm sure you know that and it was simply poor wording. Again, not a criticism--you were clear in what you wrote, I got what you meant, and an internet blog post is not a doctoral thesis.