Your favourite TA indicators for identifying an entry into a stock?

skc said:

That's what indicator means... they indicate. So no one can argue MACD histogram is an indication of a rising price. But you don't need the MACD histogram to judge it was a rising price chart. The higher highs and higher lows tell you that straight away.

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Yeah for sure. Take away the indicator and the price still rises.

And as we know it is not a predictive tool. So you don't know what will happen next. The current histogram will keep getting lower until the price turn back up. At that time the histogram will put in a low point to indicate the price change AFTER the event has taken place.

I just don't know of what use is that information.

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Well there you are wrong. If you look closely at the histogram you will see the bars (on the circled histograms) become shorter before the price moves.

A closer view can be obtained by clicking on the chart and then again.

Wysiwyg,
the histogram on an MACD is an indication of the spacing between the two averages using zero as the crossing or neutral reference.
The crossing of the zero line is usually a confirmation of a trend in the opposite direction can be a significant indicator in itself, and yes, the movement away from the extreme on the histogram is a precursor to the zero crossover.
An understanding of divergence and convergence can be a useful when using the MACD and price extremes.

Stocks such as AEC with low volume can swing around very easily or are easily influenced by a few large trades in either direction and consequently the indicators can fluctuate quite a bit.

A well set up group of indicators can provide a good basis for a scan or search function that can reveal a number of potential trades on a fairly regular basis.

Out of interest open a few charts such as BOQ, TOL or even CNX which is relatively cheap but has a stable daily volume and note the price action either way at the crossover (zero) point on just that MACD indicator.

Just my

Boggo said:

Wysiwyg,
A well set up group of indicators can provide a good basis for a scan or search function that can reveal a number of potential trades on a fairly regular basis.

Out of interest open a few charts such as BOQ, TOL or even CNX which is relatively cheap but has a stable daily volume and note the price action either way at the crossover (zero) point on just that MACD indicator.

Just my

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I checked BOQ and still believe my eyes telling me that a below zero low on the histogram is an early entry into a long position. On an up trending stock I wouldn't short sell the tops because they have a tendency to have more than one mound.

The crossovers are way late don't you think? I wonder if a formula can detect stocks that have just begun to rise on the histogram? The next histogram bar after the low.

Take the time, learn to code. That way you can backtest whatever system you dream up. Including evaluating indicators.

Mark