General Comments
A good reminder that sometimes more information is not the answer. (MartinKronicle) A little out of date (my fault for missing last week's link update), but a point that must be made. Be careful of simple analyses like this, and be very careful when anyone talks to you
General Comments
[dc]M[/dc]uch of my writing here has focused on quantitative tools and ways to look at data. I have called for higher standards and have questioned many of the established tools of technical analysis. I will continue to do that; we're actually going to dive deeper
Market Math
[dc]S[/dc]ometimes, the obvious does need to be said. The S&P 500 cash index touched the big round number 2,000 yesterday. Here we are, in late summer, with very little happening in the world and few economic reports this week, so, of course, the media
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: