MACD

How does one qualify whether a MACD crossover has enough momentum to buy or sell the Emini S&P for one point profit

What you're looking for is a confirmation indicator or signal. In this case you're talking about momentum so I would look at something volume based. You could look at the volume peaks so far for the day and then look at the volume at the crossover. If the volume at the cross over is lower (say 40% to 80%) of the day's peaks then theoretically you have the potential of more volume to carry you to your 1 point target.

The MACD histogram can help, I like to see the histogram making successive higher highs (for a buy signal).

Viewing any single indicator in isolation will usually lead to less than ideal results, which seems to underly your question.

Since indicators like the MACD are derived from price, I like to see price action and volume in sync with or providing a strong confirmation of the indicator signal as it is forming and triggering. So if a stong price pattern is not there to begin with, a single indicator signal is highly suspect standing on it's own merit.

How about the stochastic crossover before the MACD crossover

One of the good things about using a stochastic for confirmation is that it's not based on the same calculation (algorithm/math) as the MACD which is good. A bad confirmation would be to use a Moving Average because that is the basis of the MACD and you're just confirming what the MACD has already told you.

A pattern I learned from the work of Walter Bressert is what he called the MACD Kiss pattern which you may find will work well in combination with the Stochastic.

In an uptrend, what you look for is the first price pullback (flag) after the MACD crossover occurs. This price pullback will cause the MACD line to pull back to but not cross below the signal line, in so doing the MACD line kisses the signal line. Price is then expected to resume the new trend higher pulling the MACD line on up through the zero line. The temporary price retracement represented by the Kiss pattern provides a nice entry point into the new trend.

Combining this with the stochastic indicator, you would look for a buy signal on the stochastic, let's say below the 50 level as the MACD kiss pattern forms. Some folks like to use the 9 bar RSI for this pattern, looking for a V low in the RSI to form at the 30 level on the price pullback. A CCI zero line touch and rejection would provide the same confirmation signal.

Any advice on what period should the CCI be set at. Standard setting is 20.

Personally I have never had much luck using the default 20 setting as it tends to be to slow for my trading style and the price patterns I use. I have found 12 to be pretty reliable across timeframes... I also like the 6 setting in certain situations, 6 works wonders on the daily chart for example.

The CCI(12) and RSI(9) are essentially interchangable in my opinion.

With the CCI set at 6, I simply look for V lows below -100 and /\ highs above +100 as signals.

So for example, the bullish kiss pattern is formed when the MACD is above it's rising signal line and a price retracement causes the CCI to form a V low below -100. The expectation being the trend will continue on to new highs and the CCI will move back above +100 in response.

Any particular time frame for Emini S$P that is good for following CCI(6)

In choosing a time frame, I suggest you start with your MACD indicator and find a time frame your comfortable with in terms of risk and trade duration.

For the MACD indicator, the 5 and 15 minute time frames are the place to start your research because this indicator works well on these specific intra-day time frames.

One technique is to combine two time frames, so you could for example use the MACD on the 15 minute time frame to give you the overall trade direction, then use the 5 minute CCI(6) for specific entry and exit signals. The idea being to trade in the direction of the primary trend of prices as indicated by the 15 minute MACD.

Obviously there are a great many variations on this theme.

Any opinion about a MACD crossover that occures after the market has touched/crossed a fibonacci retracement level

Thanks pt - that makes sense.