I completely agree that MAs have a place in a trading plan. I may not have written it very coherently (I wrote the article at about 3am during a string of graveyard shifts), but I was shooting for “they absolutely work, but not because they’re mystical, they’re actually a picture of a legitimate phenomenon.”

I’ve seen SO many folks go astray with something as simple as Dave’s Moving Average Bowties. A friend lost his a** because he switched time frames over and over on one stock until the MAs formed a bowtie, then used that as an excuse to load up because he “knew” that “meant” the price “had” to head up (i.e. magic). After the carnage, he cursed Dave to hell because his “system didn’t work.” This turned out to be someone who couldn’t construct a 5-bar MA with a pencil and hand calculator, he just had “faith” because it was “technical analysis” (which to me seems like a contradiction, but didn’t to him).

Anyway, thanks for dropping by. I read your site daily, and I doubt there’s much chance Lindsay will be down here sucking on crawfish and drinking beer anytime soon. Hopefully she’ll dig your wit over that Mike dude she appears to find hunky (hi Mike).

Whatever the reason may be - perhaps just because others are using them - it does happen with enough frequency to incorporate MA’s into a trading plan.

dan - thanks for the compliment, and I like your “Shrek 2 / Pray for Mercy” header!

Tom- interesting site you have there, particularly those classy right sidebar icons. Thanks for visiting.

-dan