More Japanese indicators

Japanese are very innovative people, and you can see this from the progress of the nation. Step into Tokyo and you will discover that they are so willing to use IT and electronics in their everyday processes. It is not a "should I" but instead you will find IT/electronics quite embedded. Take for example the $10 haircut idea copied from Japan which is commonplace in Sinagpore now. Using a machine to collect the $10 notes in exchange for a token card before having your haircut solves the money collection issue by the bosses. No fraud, no miscounting and best of all the money is safe in a machine and no robber can come to clear the till.

OK, I digress. I just wanted to express my admiration of the Japanese and share their innovativeness even in trading. I talked about the Ichimoku cloud chart just a while back. Take a look at other Japanese invented indicators like Kagi charts, or Renko charts. Yet another way of looking at the prices without having to worry about the time factor. Renko candles are just bricks and boxes with no regard to time - just price action reactions. Apparently you can spot more trading opportunities using Renko than candlesticks, afterall the inclusion of open times, closing times, high and low are arbitrary formulated based on time frames. Change the time frame, and information from candlesticks change. Oh by the way, the often used candlesticks is also a Japanese invention.

Kagi charts are similar to Renko charts, paying no regard to time. Kagi charts are joining lines that look like steps depiciting highs and lows and changing of higher highs and lower lows.

Not that these indicators are important to me. I use EAs and hence don't even look at charts. So if we can have charts with no time factor, there must something to all these that is worth investigating more,

Clouds watching

Since I am now in Tokyo, Japan, basking in the beauty of the Land of the Rising Sun, it is only appropriate to write about a Japanese indicator called the Ichimoku Kinko Hyo developed in 1969.

When I first came across this indicator, I was not only fascinated to find out what the name means, but the colourful lines and meshes that seem to make this indicator mysterious.So what does Ichimoku Kinko Hyo means? Translated literally it means "one-glance balanced bars/chart" or non-literally, "chart equilibrium at a glance". It comprises of moving averages over a determined period and shifted moving averages. In short, it is really a trend indicator with support and resistance lines. Ichimoku Kinko Hyo or Ichimoku in short (or some like to it cloud charts) is commonly recommended for longer time frame trading such as daily or weekly. But some have shared success even at lower time frames. But I still think that one should stick a minimum of daily time frame.

It used to be difficult to find information about this indicator, but do a google now and you will find tons of them including books. So I shan't write much about this.