Continuation:
joblin,
VXF daily: VXF is an index fund at Vanguard that is very close to the S Fund. I have said for many years to always have a ROTH IRA at Vanguard in a trading account. No Taxes, low costs overall, and we now have free trades, with unlimited moves - if your funds have cleared. It looks like we are going to a one day clearing system soon. We went from 3 days to 2 days and now we are headed to 1 day. You can also move your funds anytime during the trading day. So in my opinion, I like Vanguard over the TSP for trading, but the G fund is great for those that don't want to be in the stock market. This is not advice. I'm just telling you what I do since you asked me. Don't get me wrong, the TSP is great, but you should be putting the MAX in a ROTH IRA at Vanguard in my opinion. For couples that's a nice chunk of money every year. The rest goes into the TSP matching. Again, this is what I did and might not be right for you. I'm telling you this because you asked me about my trading system, and I COULD NOT use it all the time if all my funds were in a TSP account. Still, there are some here that do very well using limited moves and control risk/reward and Risk Management very well.
VXF is on a sell signal: It is below the 10, and 20 dma, but did find support at the 50 dma. I could talk about the MACD, RSI, TSI etc, but the bottom line for me is the MA's. I keep my trading system very simple and only use a few indicators. (The KISS system) There are much better systems, but this is what I use. I track insiders, fund flows, sentiment, and some other indicators, but the final trades come down to the ma's and which way the index I'm trading is trending.
For the record: I have tried and looked over MANY trading systems over the years, and what Tom and others do here are as good or better then most in my opinion. The Key to any trading system is following the rules of your system and taking the signals ( buy or sell) when they come. Sure, you will get whipsawed or wrong sometimes, but that is the nature of the markets. It is driven by fear and greed and is no more then a casino these days. My current trading is based on the current type of market we are in ( A trending market) and doesn't always work well in markets that is not trending well.
I'll post this in short comments until I have answered your question. I'm leading up to it.