General Comments
[dc]I[/dc] distinctly remember my first trades: the months of fevered study and preparation, the excitement of filling out those first brokerage forms, getting the first statements in the mail, and then the overwhelming rush of picking up the phone to put on those first trades. Though I had
Chart of the Day
[dc]R[/dc]elative strength is an important trading concept, and there are a lot of ways to define, monitor, and trade these relationships. Looking at the sector relative strength within the US stock market gives a deeper understanding of money flows and psychological support for a bigger rally. One
General Comments
[dc]I[/dc] have written a lot this week, much of what I wrote calling for critical attention to traditional technical analysis. I thought it might make sense to end the week by stepping back, putting things together, and showing some tools and ideas on charts that do work. So,
General Comments
[dc]M[/dc]y blogging this week turned into a bit more of a stream of consciousness exercise than I'd expected; I needed more words to make fewer points than I'd hoped, and I thank you, faithful reader, for sticking with me for the journey. If
Chart of the Day
Here are a few trading ideas. Some may be immediately executable; some may need to go on a watchlist. In most cases, these are consolidation plays and could be entered on short term breakouts (e.g., breakout of previous day's high, if looking to buy). There's
General Comments
So, after laying out the early steps and missteps of my trading journey (here and here), I left you yesterday when I was a technical analysis junky. Let's begin there, and I'll explain how I came to some very hard conclusions about technical analysis. (Apologies in
General Comments
Yesterday I wrote a bit about my path to becoming a trader, focusing heavily on my background. That post might have been pretty light on application and concrete market tie ins, so I want to focus today on a few of the things that I think helped me find my
Breakout
I have written before about volatility compression, which is the tendency for markets to make cleaner, more directional moves after the volatility has contracted on the same timeframe. Triangles and/or inside bars often mark areas of volatility compression; this is one way that a simple chart pattern can point
Individual Traders
[dc]I[/dc]'ve seen a lot of charts floating around talking about the "big reversal" in grains, and specifically corn. I think there are a few important lessons here, so allow me to share a few thoughts. First, the reversal argument typically looks something like this:
General Comments
[dc]I[/dc]'ve been thinking a lot lately about why I do and believe the things I do as a trader. I would like to write a post here that might be a bit more narrative than much of what I write (and I promise "narrative"
Readers Questions
Reader Dan asks, in response to this post: Good article. A few questions/comments. Define "cut losses quickly?" If you are trading pullbacks and you set a stop loss that would signify the pattern has failed, would that not be "cutting losses quickly"? I can see
General Comments
Trader-Socrates asks, in response to this post of relative strength leaders: What kind of RS do you use? What timeframe you mean by "short-term" RS? I am sure, that you know, that research shows, that short-term (up to several month) is mean reverting. Would love to hear your