My Most Important Indicators

If you didn’t get lulled
to a permanent sleep yesterday,
the market provided a few low-risk
entry opportunities in the form of pullbacks after an early 9:50 a.m. EDT
three-minute MA cross. In fact, today’s chart provides a nice response to those
who have asked me why I generally prefer a three-minute time frame over a
five-minute span. While both provide a good intraday trend perspective, I’ve
found that the three-minute chart has proven time after time to provide one of
the best indicators as to the immediate (and very tradable) trend and its
support, which is why this intraday trader ranks the three- and 13-minute 15-MAs
as THE most important indicators of all my time frames and studies.

Tuesday August 7,
2001 11:50 AM EDT

And while MAs are
indeed a very simple concept — in fact, my engineer-turned-trader friends may
even say too simple — my response is if I know my cranky old car starts enough
times when I turn the ignition, I’m frankly not too interested in knowing that I
could do better with gold-plated plugs.

As far as yesterday goes, I’d have to say it was THE worst-paced day I’ve seen
in recent years with respect to intraday trading opportunities. If you had the
discipline to sit back or had a minimal draw, congratulations.
By
the way, for some reason it seems that few among the newer trading breed like to
talk about draws or even admit they have them, which I find about as silly as a
store owner refusing to acknowledge inventory expense.

Aside from a few test-the-water trades, this trader lived to fight another
battle.

Good trading.

Don Miller

P.S. I’m pleased to announce that I’ll
be hosting a two-day
QQQ trading learning forum
immediately following TM2001 at the Venetian
Hotel and Resort on October 7- 8, 2001. It seems like we’ve struck a pleasant
nerve with the Q column, and I look forward to sharing my thoughts and views in
a live forum highly conducive to learning and interaction, as well as simply
meeting many of you in person. So whether you trade the Qs or watermelon
seeds, consider extending your stay just a bit and we’ll combine some very
intensive trading discussions and some fun!

For
a more in-depth look at how Don trades the QQQs, click here.