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Sunil
03-26-2009, 11:57 PM
Hello everyone,
This is with reference to an Email I received, about the correct settings on the stochastic indicator, and we thought it would be a good reference for everyone.
So, I am putting up the entire contents of the mail, for everyone's reference.

Hello Sunil,
I want to take this opportunity to say how great your sessions at OUFX are - very clear and concise, and thoroughly explained.
You knowledge on fibs and divergence is fantastic - I got nuances I had never heard of before. I love the KISS principle, and have settled on using pretty much what you use for trading - price action with candles, support, resistance,, fibs, trendline and channels. I have tried looking at Elliott wave, but it has never really made sense to me, apart from being aware that the peaks of wave 3 and 5 usually shows divergence. I also tried volume analysis, but that is not very useful on any timeframe above 1 hour in FX.

Which brings me to my question - what settings do you use for your stochastics, and any particular reason? They talk of fast and slow stochastics. I have a preference for longer term trading, as I have a regular daytime job, so I am still formulating a proper trading plan, with trades and targets lasting days (so I don't need to monitor charts from moment to moment, but can use 1hr to daily or even weekly charts for targets, in conjunction with alerts), which I intend to test (recently learned how to properly test with Rob Booker) So far, I have not grasped the various #'s Joe uses (may need more time); what I see OUFX doing is presenting us with various methodolgies to become a successful trader.

Many thanks, and feel free to post the answer in the forum if appropriate. I'm sure many others would love the information.
Best,
Tanya M

Hello Tanya,
Firstly, thank you for the kind words.
If you have gained something extra from these classes, then it makes my efforts worthwhile.
As you rightly said, “Keeping It Simple” is often the key to success in trading. Most new traders tend to concentrate on the indicators and complicate things by adding too many indicators…in the hope that they can anticipate price action.
But, as I have always maintained, all indicators are lagging.
It is price which moves first, which causes the indicator to change…so how can one expect the indicator to predict the price movement??
Now, this does not undermine the value of the indicators, but one must understand the function of the indicator, be aware of its advantages & drawbacks, and then use it for the appropriate setup….which is exactly what our earlier course on “Technical Analysis” covered.
Keeping it simple, means that one should not clutter the charts with too many indicators and one should be able to see the price action clearly, since price always leaves behind clues.

Regarding your question on the stochastic, the ‘slow stochastic’ is the one that is used more often, since the ‘fast stochastic’ is often too volatile and would give false information.
I keep my slow stochastic at a standard setting of (9,5,5) for all time frames.
Now, it is the last 2 values of the (5,5) which are more important. Most charts have a standard setting of (9,3,3), but I have found that the setting of (3,3) often gives too many whipsaws.
We are looking at the indicator for a specific purpose and we need the correct information.
A slow stochastic is calculated in such a way, that it identifies divergences more effectively than other indicators. And a setting of (5,5) gives a clearer picture.
It really does not matter if you use the (9,5,5) or the (14,5,5) but the last 2 values should be (5,5)
And if you are planning to be a longer term trader, these values are much more effective.

Coming to the last point, yes, we are providing the traders with various methodologies which are most effective.
Joe’s methods are amazingly effective, but more than that, we have a passion for providing the traders with genuine and effective methods.

I hope this answers your questions and please let me know if you have any other queries.
Regards,
Sunil.

schuon
04-30-2009, 10:57 PM
Hi Sunil,

What exactly do the values 9,5,5 represent? I use ToS for my trading platform. StochSlow shows the following inputs with default values:

d period: 10
k period: 10
over bought: 80
over sold: 20
price c: close
price h: high
price l: low
smoothing type: 1

I'm not sure where to plug in the 9,5,5 at.

Thanks,
Sovanna

Joel A
05-01-2009, 04:38 AM
Sunil,

I just have a few question regarding the slow stochastics:
1. Is the slow stochastic setting on the MT4 platform just the stochastic oscillator with a setting of 9, 5, 5 or do I need to download a slow stochastic indicator or make one?

2. Which stochastic line is the red dashed line: Is it K or D?

3. How did you make the yellow overbought 80 lines and the yellow oversold 20 lines on your stochastic indicators?

Thank you.

Joel

Sunil
05-01-2009, 08:46 AM
Hi Sovanna,
Different charts have different notations for the stochastic settings.
I am not too familiar with ToS, but the following parameters would be common for most charts.
You will have to change only the following parameters -
d period: 5
k period: 9
smoothing type: 5

Leave the rest of the settings as they are.
I suppose this should work. Let me know either way and we will try and sort it further.
Sunil.

Hi Sunil,

What exactly do the values 9,5,5 represent? I use ToS for my trading platform. StochSlow shows the following inputs with default values:

d period: 10
k period: 10
over bought: 80
over sold: 20
price c: close
price h: high
price l: low
smoothing type: 1

I'm not sure where to plug in the 9,5,5 at.

Thanks,
Sovanna

Sunil
05-01-2009, 09:20 AM
Sunil,

I just have a few question regarding the slow stochastics:
1. Is the slow stochastic setting on the MT4 platform just the stochastic oscillator with a setting of 9, 5, 5 or do I need to download a slow stochastic indicator or make one?

2. Which stochastic line is the red dashed line: Is it K or D?

3. How did you make the yellow overbought 80 lines and the yellow oversold 20 lines on your stochastic indicators?

Thank you.

Joel

Hi Joel,
1. On the MT4 platform, one has the 'Stochastic oscillator' (under indicators) and also the 'stochastic' (under custom indicators).
So you dont need to download or make a new one.
I prefer the "stochastic oscillator" as I find it more effective, but you may chose to use the "stochastic" indicator.
2. The red dashed line in the stochastic oscillator is the % D.
3. For the overbought and oversold lines, i am enclosing the procedure for the indicator settings -
Indicator settings:
1. Once you have put the stochastic oscillator on the charts, right click anywhere on the charts and you will get a pop up window.
2. Select “Indicator list” from that and you will see the stochastic oscillator listed in the new window.
3. Double click on “stochastic oscillator” and you will get a new pop up window with 4 tabs –
(a) Parameters – where you can change the %K; %D and slowing settings. In our case we keep them at %K (9); %D (5) and slowing (5)
(b) Colors – you may choose your own.
(c) Levels – Within this, click on the “Add” button and add the values of 20 and 80 in the Level & Description columns. In the lower window of “Style” you can choose the color and the type of line you want.
(d) Visualization – check the box “show on all time frames” and the indicator will be visible whenever you change time frames. (If you desire, you can uncheck this box, and select the particular time frame you want the indicator to be visible on…but it’s not recommended.) Also keep the “show in the data window” box checked.

I hope this helps.
Sunil.

Dale Switzer/gbp
05-01-2009, 11:29 PM
I was wondering, if in the interest of simplification, it would be alright to make the signal line a solid color, say red. I would then make the other line not visible, white on my chart. This give me only one line and shows divergence more clearly for me. Does this cause any problem in interpreting the divergence? Thank you!

Dale Switzer/gbp

Sunil
05-02-2009, 12:38 AM
I was wondering, if in the interest of simplification, it would be alright to make the signal line a solid color, say red. I would then make the other line not visible, white on my chart. This give me only one line and shows divergence more clearly for me. Does this cause any problem in interpreting the divergence? Thank you!

Dale Switzer/gbp

Hi Dale,
That would be a good way to look for divergences and no, it would not cause any problem in the interpretation.
In fact, it would make it easier, since we do not look at the stochastic lines crossover at all. A single stochastic line would enable you to look at the price movement for your entry, exit & stop.
Sunil.

schuon
05-02-2009, 09:30 AM
Sunil,

Your suggestion works nicely. Now, I just have to watch Joe's Bias and Key numbers. I only get about 25%. Will post some questions for clarification once I'm done watching him again.

BTW, I think that I set my TP2 too high. My AUD/JPY and USD/JPY trades went from positive to negative. I either have to tighten up my stop lost or lower TP2.

Sovanna (E, U, A, J)