Replies to post #34566 on Profunds index and sector trading (PRO)

[Stock]

my personal bias is simple mas that are dividend adjusted. as far as most people, i don't know. but it is a good question

[IHateSourCream]

Hi Vestor,

>>I know the difference between Simple Moving Averages and Exponential Moving Averages. However, is there a bias in the market toward one or the other from the professional trader's perspective?.....Would appreciate all comments. Thanks in advance to those who respond.<<

I'm still relatively new to TA, so I'm not sure how much value my repsonse will have. ;-) Nonetheless, I thought I'd try to weigh in. I agree that the SMA seems to carry more weight than the EMA. However, I've also noticed that for some of the smaller MA periods, traders do seem to follow the EMA. The 10 EMA and especially the 20 EMA seem to be of interest to traders whereas for the longer MA periods -- the 50 SMA and 200 SMAs seem to be used more. Again, just my own observations (which, admittedly, could very well be flawed! :-))

Look forward to being corrected if necessary! <vbg>

Best regards ---IHSC

[Stock]

re: simple moving averages:

There's been a lot of press recently concerning the fact that the S&P500 has
closed above its 200-day moving average, which sounds a lot more impressive
than it really is. We've done extensive research on moving averages, and as
far as the major stock market averages are concerned, a close above the 200-
day moving average is absolutely meaningless.

http://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=18916460