IG Client Sentiment : are shorts really this many ?

Discussion in 'Trading' started by smcoder, Jan 5, 2020.

  1. padutrader

    padutrader

    no in the first year failure rate is 90%
    this is government release but I am not bothered enough to find the link.....
    I prefer having one more scotch on my sunday evening and go to bed
     
    #11     Jan 5, 2020
  2. smcoder

    smcoder

    Yes, but notice that the signal they are giving already takes this into account considering that is always the opposite of what the majority of their retail traders are doing.


    Thanks
    sm
     
    #12     Jan 5, 2020
  3. tomorton

    tomorton


    Not sure what you're saying - whose signal? what signal?

    The IG sentiment report just shows the % of clients long v's the % of clients short.
     
    #13     Jan 5, 2020
  4. smcoder

    smcoder


    They call it "trading bias" now

    upload_2020-1-5_19-40-46.png

    But they once called it signal

    upload_2020-1-5_19-46-22.png

    And this is how the signal (or trading bias) is obtained. They in other words suggest to do the opposite of what the majority of their retail traders are doing especially if traders are fighting the trend.

    upload_2020-1-5_19-57-2.png

    where

    -2 means shorts >= 2 x longs
    +2
    means longs >= 2 x shorts


    Thanks
    sm
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2020
    #14     Jan 5, 2020
    tomorton likes this.

  5. That figure is an "understatement"....
     
    #15     Jan 5, 2020
  6. smcoder

    smcoder

    How should the AAII weekly sentiment be treated, as a contrarian signal?


    Thanks
    sm
     
    #16     Jan 6, 2020
  7. dozu888

    dozu888

    it's not as simple as 'buy if bullish is below 35%'.... although usually it does work.

    it's just another piece of the puzzle in figuring out the public sentiment. you can download the historicals, and AAII actually graphs it for you so you can see in the past couple of decades how the public feel about the market along with the rise and fall of the SP500.

    by the way you will see recent years, including today, is a period on the low end of public participation and optimism.
     
    #17     Jan 6, 2020