I want to study indicators in detail

Hi all.

I am a newbie. First post here.

Just some intro to begin with (no need to read this):
<intro>
I am a university student in Australia, studying pharmacy. I am looking into FX as a path to long term financial freedom, that is, I want to be investing in FOREX, at one level or another, for the rest of my life. For this reason, I want a very solid fundamental understanding of this investment type.

Now, I have scoured through the internet starting at investopedia, looking at stocks etc, then found FOREX. Due to its leverage (I know it's not all good), 24 hours a day open time and capability to trade short, I was interested.

I finished the mini-course over at babypips and have been reading many beginner articles mostly on technical analysis.

I am the kind of person who likes to understand what is going on underneath it all, so TA didn't really appeal to me at all, well not as they explained it since they don't explain the "why?" and the "how?" most of the time.

Then I was getting interested in trading on News. But then I thought I would rather swing trade so I don't have put too much effort in. Well, the whole reason I want to get into this is because I want to make as much money as possible with as little effort/time as possible.

I have played A LOT of online poker so I completely understand the emotional side of it (tilt) and also the bankroll management issues.
</intro>

I want to fully understand the derivation of most of these technical indicators. I understand SMA and EMA and a few others, but I want to know them all and fully understand the basis of these.

From this I would like to develop my own strategies then program my own EA's. I have self-taught experience in PHP and Javascript so I think I won't have too much trouble with the EA C style stuff.

If someone could point me in the direction of a source where technical indicators are fully explained and derived, I would very much appreciate it!

Also if there are any good swing trading strategies that I could read and study in the mean time I would also appreciate that.

This is going to be something long-term for me so I want a solid and complete understanding of what I am doing, in order for me to develop a system that is based solely on reason and logic, as opposed to just trial and error.

Thank you very much.

Ok now comes the surprise.
Most trades do better without any technical indicators. Myself included.

Google and wikipedia tend to be good resources.

www.babypips.com
www.investopedia.com
etc.

Try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis
and you'll found more sources from there

yeah too bad they don't explain anything in detail as I made note of if you read my post.

this FF thread could being interest for you: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=98282

Don't waste your time - indicators don't work. Hard truth , but it is a fact . You're a newbie and you're already asking about indicators. I give you 3 months - 3 months before you blow your first account.

Do you know what you should be studying? Of course not. No broker will tell you. They want you to lose your money as fast as possible.

Go to a library and check out books on macroeconomics, the more, the better. Read them thoroughly. After reading them, ask yourself a serious question - " Can I really outwit Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank"? I think you already know the answer , even if you won't admit it to yourself.

Am I trying to discourage you from trading? Absolutely. Forex will cause you nothing but sorrow. Learn from someone who's been there - please, don't trade.

Many people including myself in their early stages of learning FX believe that you can basically trade off indicators. I after found out that to be a complete BS. Surely they can help you plan your trading decisions but think about it this way. 95% of people lose money. Why? Is it because they used RSI and not Stochastic? I don't think so. While it's good to know some indicators I really can not imagine traders at GS saying : Let's wait until the RSI goes above 80 then we'll wait until EMA cross and after that we will open a stop loss of predermined amount of pips. See what I'm trying to say? If you are doing what the majority is advising you you are doomed because the majority loses so please learn what news move the market and when banks and hedgefunds invest and copy them. At least that's how I think about it.

Most likely a futile exercise in the end. If you want to use indicators, research a few ones and choose one or two for a more detailed study and understanding.

KP

I think studying indicators is good way to learn how technical analysis evloved and what are their underlying concepts. I think its a best way to study tehcnical analysis rather than blindly follow it.

I'd say studying indicators is a good idea, but be careful not to think of them as an absolute tool.

just my humble advise and opinion,
1. if you want looks cool, as a professional, expert then yes study all the material on that (TA) etc.
2. if want grow money (account) get profit, just need 2 things: 1. price 2. preservation of capital.

Well, it takes time to make you look professional

The fewer indicators one uses, the better, usually. I would recommend reading up on pure price action.

First of all friend, all the way from South Africa. I can actually associate with you a lot. I am new to Forex trading as well, started this month on a live account.. So far, I have not blown it and even made a little bit of profit, only a few dollars, after almost getting margin called a couple of times. I can tell you that Forex trading takes a lot of diligence, knowledge and skill, something I hope to obtain. Also, you will need to be patient because trading on leverage in a highly volatile market is risky. So quite frankly, you have to make sure that you educate yourself properly. I am reading books, which are handy. I have attached a book that I am working through at the moment, to get you started. There is no ''right'' or ''wrong'' way to trade Forex so you are going to have to do some research and see what best works for you. Look at the book I have attached, I am thoroughly enjoying it myself.

All indicators work...what do you mean they don't work lol
What they show is past price movements which doesn't necessarily equate to future predictions.

This, I turned into a profitable trader when I cleared everything off my chart and switched to daily and traded price action with fundamentals.

You can study indicators from education program, but I recommend studying indicators by using MT4. When you trade with demo account, you can sell/buy and check what indicator is useful and what is not. It will be very helpful to you.

Am also new and reading a lot on the business, mate. There are two books i found eye-opening in this business. The first is Stephen Nison's Japanese Chandlestick Charting Techniques and the second is Jesse Livermore's Reminiscences of a Stock Broker. The first gives you a refreshing perspective on trading from the Japanese tradition and contrast it with the western perspective, and the second, although on stock market, gets to the belly of the beast in terms of how the markets function. I found a chunk of it so relevant to the forex market, more especially on hard-work, TA, fundamentals, media, brokers, trading psychology...these two just blew me away and you can easily download them on internet. Finally, I do have a mentor who has been in this business for over 7 years now and moved from FOREX to futures and he is very very helpful...I have learned that, however, this is not guarantee for consistent profit and am soldiering on...good luck!

Very challenging decision, I am also a student of pharmacy from Ukraine; and yes right now I am working here as a part time Forex trader! Whatever, I must say, don’t rely on trading indicators, spend your time on technical and fundamental analysis of Forex market! Forex trading business is all about fundamental info, be knowledgeable and be successful! Best of luck!