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davidy
Posted : Wednesday, September 26, 2007 5:06:14 PM
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Anyone have thoughts on the best parameters to use for MACD, in the current market? Have been using5,13,6, but not very helpful. Not sure where I got those figures, either. Dave
Bruce_L
Posted : Wednesday, September 26, 2007 5:11:00 PM


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The trainers cannot give settings, interpretation or investment advice. I will move this topic to the Stock and Market Talk forum where other traders are more likely to see it and comment. You may wish to review the following:

Understanding MACD

-Bruce
Personal Criteria Formulas
TC2000 Support Articles
hohandy
Posted : Wednesday, September 26, 2007 5:19:22 PM
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Dave - what type of time frame do you do your trading in? The typical MACD setting, as oringinally designed by Gerald Appel, is 12, 26,9 - which seems to work well for most short/intermediate swing-trading type time frames. But just as with moving averages, it will work better at different lengths depending upon what time frame you trade in.

I'm a short/medium term trader and I've never found a reason not to use 12,26,9 - although it's possible that i'm missing out by not experimenting and tweaking.
scottnlena
Posted : Wednesday, September 26, 2007 11:28:04 PM

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There are generaly so many oportunities anyway ... I find that any reason to slim down the choices are a help. Tightening indicators too tight may get yo in earlier but the ratio of false signals tends to go up also I find.
davidy
Posted : Friday, September 28, 2007 7:53:24 PM
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Thanks. I'm a swing (1-3), to short term (7-10 days) trader. Guess I'll stick with the original 12,26,9.
Any thought on the stochastics (slow) settings?
hohandy
Posted : Friday, September 28, 2007 9:27:41 PM
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David - if you're so inclined, why not set up a few different tabs or charts with different settings and watch which different signals they give and which ones work best for you and make your decision that way. I don't know why Appel picked that 12,26,9 setting, and I've always wanted to go back to his original writing and see why exactly he settled on that setting. But as you read posts on here, there are a variety of different settings that members on here use. I am always fascinated when someone comes up with something like 6,50,3 or something like that....

I can't give an opinion on the Stochastics settings as I rarely use them. However, I must use this opportunity to give an obligatory plug for the use of the MACD-Histogram, which often gets overlooked as meerely a facet of the MACD, but has very useful applications of measuring trend strength in its own right.

jayrama
Posted : Friday, September 28, 2007 11:12:50 PM
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Posts: 91
Investools, for medium term, in addition to their numerical model screening with phase 1 & 2 scores on Fundamental rankings, uses in their template for technical a 6 month window with price cross over on 30 day ma, stoch 14,5,0 and MACDH 8,17,9 as signals for 3 green arrows entry.

Candlestick forum host uses 3 month window, 8 day ema as - Tline - which cross over with price, and confirmation on 12,3,3 stoch turning from the over sold area, with other candlestick patterns.

-- Jay

scottnlena
Posted : Friday, September 28, 2007 11:27:20 PM

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davidy:
Those are about the same time frame as I tend to be in a trade... often less and I use the 12,26,9. I also use 10,8,6 for stochastics.
davidy
Posted : Saturday, September 29, 2007 8:14:40 PM
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Posts: 30
Thanks to all for their comments. I will definitely try these out, and will post if any seem really better than the original parameters. Dave
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