Why some individuals are better traders than others?

Well the other aspects of trading that indicators fail to address are position size and exit point. An indicator is not a trading system in itself of course.
 
Using maths to predict individual asset paths with any precision is very difficult.

But maths is routinely used in option pricing. The aim is not to predict the future path of either the asset or volatility, but to estimate the expected cost of risk managing the option during its lifetime. In this way 'fair price' is an aggregate statement about expectation over many
possible paths.

I baulk at using maths or an indicator to predict the path of the FTSE today. But I can use maths/stats to make useful aggregate statements about its path behaviour over the next 100 days. There's no talent in that - it's just recognising the limitations of a mathematical tool and using it as it's supposed to be used.
 
meanreversion said:
I spent several months testing many of the more popular indicators, e.g. MACD, RSI, stochastics, even Bollinger bands, and didn't find them to be of much use. That's not to say they can't be used, but I didn't uncover anything mechanical which was consistently profitable in a meaningful way.

I'm sure many people use them quite happily with a discretionary overlay. Or maybe they don't, seeing as how few traders make money.
Click to expand...

There's a huge over-riding reason to use indicators to underpin a strat...cba discussing it though as this forum always descends into this type of polarised (done to death) discussion..
 
Claire209,
Do not trust arabian.
I ordered a live hamster from him and it hasn't arrived yet.
He claims "it's stuck in the post".
Richard
 
I don't really want to know where arabian is sticking hamsters.
 
Black Swan said:
There's a huge over-riding reason to use indicators to underpin a strat...cba discussing it though as this forum always descends into this type of polarised (done to death) discussion..
Click to expand...

Hi BS,

Why not start a thread of your own to set out your opinions in proper detail? I gather that you can have it set up so you can control the posting, and if not I'm sure that one of the mods would be happy to ensure that such a thread were properly policed.

Speaking personally, my charts have nothing on them other than round numbers and a few lines that I draw myself, and I have not found any use for indicators. However, that does not mean that I think they are necessarily useless, as I'm sure you'll understand. Utility, or lack of it, in trading can often be simply be down to attitude and belief, or to put it another way, a self-fulfilling matter. Certainly those that believe something to be useless will almost invariably find it so.

It would be interesting to see a sensible and reasoned case for the use of indicators set out by someone who uses them successfully. I understand your concerns, and there is no point in another "you're sh1t", "no, YOU'RE sh1t", "actually, it is YOU that is sh1t, not me" indicators vs PA slag-fest. But as I say, I'm sure the mods would be willing to ensure that this would not happen in a thread with explicitly and exclusively serious intent, especially if it was started by a long-time and prolific poster such as you.

I at least would be very interested to see it, and the forum badly needs more discussions of that nature.
 
meanreversion said:
It's a former poly, and is affiliated with the Cumberland University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Click to expand...

"Cumberland University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne"

Huh?
I went to the Uni of Newcastle-on-Tyne and there was no such thing.
Mind you there was the Cumberland Arms and some people did spend much of their uni term there :LOL:
 
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