Profunds index and sector trading

[was Steve]

HI Tom,
Welcome to the thread. You asked:
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Aren't the sector funds based on the DJ US Sector/Industry Group indices? Do you use the relevant DJ sector indices as the basis of your TA or the Fund's NAV? Does it matter? Was thinking leverage/volatility might impact the effectiveness of the indicators. Maybe not.

Yes, that is the beauty of profunds over rydex. You can track the dj sectors during the day via the link on thread header to determine if they meet your buy criteria. The settings i have are ones that have worked for me in the past. I welcome any and all variations or suggestions on indicators and settings that are reasonably reliable in determining a buy signal. The leverage (1.5X) has no effect that i am aware on the indicators of the actual sector fund charts. i make trade decisions based on the dow jones sector charts not the fund charts.
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Also, wondering how you go about ranking, or determining in-favor sectors? You don't have to be specific, just wondering if you use a pure momentum stategy (blended ROC?), or an indicator screener, etc.? What is your typical holding period on the long side? Days? Weeks? Months?

I scan thru the sector charts. a good rule of thumb is the 13 ma. if above that they are potentially starting a new uptrend. i use that as a sign of future strength. Hold times vary depending on where we are in relation to a reversal in direction of the overall markets. Currently i think we are approaching a low so i am not keen on short funds in here. longs are still a one day trade until i feel more comfortable about a move up. we are not there yet so i am playing hit and run for one day trades when we get a buy signal on an individual sector or index. thursday it was the basic materials. yesterday i chose the spx. plan for that was to get about 6 spx pts or 1.5% gain in the 2x fund and get back to cash.
when it seems a bottom is in i will hold the longs or at least a 50% position for weeks. i dont see any months long uptrend any time soon.
steve