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Strategies & Market Trends : DAYTRADING Fundamentals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Clarence Dodge who wrote (3567)	9/4/1999 10:03:00 AM
From: marketbrief.com	Respond to of 18137

hi clarence, i'm not too big on the idea of "fine tuning" mov averages... it strikes me that it's the kind of thing folks do cuz they want to "perfect" things... I use a 20 period EMA on all my charts and will throw the 50 period up as well to get a slightly longer look. The important thing is to get used to watching how price reacts around whatever period ma you choose to watch. Above all keep it simple (or exponential if you wish, lol.) ~Smart$

To: Clarence Dodge who wrote (3567)	9/4/1999 11:28:00 AM
From: Ken Adams	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

Clarence, Several years ago I came across a program that would "optimize" a moving average to a stock's price. It would really give you some weird results, depending on your long term or short term instructions. These days, for position trading, I like the Fib 34 period and I also use a 55. For shorter term, I like the 5 and 8 period (also fib #s). Ken

To: Clarence Dodge who wrote (3567)	9/4/1999 1:01:00 PM
From: Richard Estes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

I stick with fib numbers because they can't hurt and might help. A MA is an attempt to capture a cycle, if you see a three day cycle exist in a stock to capture that cycle you would want a 1.5 day MA or a 585 min MA. On a 5 min chart this would be a 117 MA, on a 60 min chart it would be a 10 MA. Now I would use an 89 or 144 and a 8 or 13 for luck or myth. Trying to perfect it, yes. But you are really trying to find measures you trust. That you have seen as the best means of measuring exits and entries for you. It is a matter of testing, testing and testing. Once you have the combination that fits your style stick with it. The last thing I would consider is what someone in the business uses.