Question regarding an indicator for swing/position trend trading my IRA

[roy123]

I am looking for an indicator that can give me buy/sell signals for the S&P/Nasdaq markets for my longer term investments i.e.. 401k, IRA etc... More like position/swing trading them. Would the VIP indicators help me or are there some other indicators you would recommend?
Thanks

 

[MerryDay]

I am looking for an indicator that can give me buy/sell signals for the S&P/Nasdaq markets for my longer term investments i.e.. 401k, IRA etc... More like position/swing trading them. Would the VIP indicators help me or are there some other indicators you would recommend?
Thanks

As long as we remain in a bear market. The established advice for pensions, 401ks, and IRAs. Is to close your eyes and hang on.
If the accounts were in good positions before the downturn, they will eventually return.

If you have cash that you want to position, the prevailing opinion is looking at last month's gains as a "bear market rally".
IE: a short-lived rise within a broader downturn. In other words, we have not hit bottom, yet. So it would not be a good time to look for longer term investments.

 

[roy123]

Yes, I agree but still looking for your advice on the best trend/swing indicators in the arsenal here?

 

[scott69]

Any trading system/strategy involves defining the time period for holding, i.e. days, weeks, months, years, etc. I personally would not be day or even swing trading retirement funds. But that would depend on your age, knowledge and abilities. I am also in my 60s, so I went to all cash from very long term (10 to 20 years) stock and bond funds about a year ago. I also “trade” nq futures on a daily basis. Anyway, look at your time frame, let’s say months, and play with different length moving averages and their interaction with each other. The longer the time frame, the less usefulness of macd s, adx , rsi, etc, although if you can find a setting for those that backtest well, you may have a good system. I always used moving averages and held retirement funds for years to decades.

 

[roy123]

Scott - thanks for the response. What made you decide to go to cash a year ago?

 

[scott69]

Markets were getting WAYYYY too giddy. I thought I would be early,and have been in the past (2000, 2007) but it turned out all my funds are well below where I cashed out, so it worked out well. I am focusing on scaling my daughter (18) into funds now.

 

[AriD]

Sometimes I hate my IRA since I can never short anything. I have no choice but to sit on hands as MerryDay said.

 

[padawan]

Roy: Welcome to the site. What I'd tell you is that no one in their right mind is going to hand you the keys to financial freedom/security from an anonymous post on a website. The answers are all out there. You will have to find them and work to uncover them. This is a job like anything else.

 

[zee2881]

I personally use MACD on my daily chart to help me determine when to get in or out of my swing trades. It's very simple and it works very well.