Trading Pattern: the Failure Test
[dc]I[/dc] want to do a small series of posts looking at some of the most important trading patterns I've used over the years. Rather than go in-depth with multiple examples,…
Tracking the Stock Market Intraday
[dc]O[/dc]ne of the main challenges for stock traders is understanding the ebb and flow of the broad market on the shortest timeframes. There is so much noise in price movement…
Chart of the Day: XLY/XLP spread
Traditionally, the spread of Consumer Discretionary stocks over Consumer Staples stocks has been taken to be a gauge of market sentiment—a clear expression of a cyclical sector compared to a…
Reader Question: What Does “Good Risk Management” Mean?
[dc]T[/dc]his, my first reader question, comes from John in Seattle: I often see and hear people talking about good risk management being a good part of trading. What does this…
7/1/12 Stock Relative Strength Scan
[dc]O[/dc]ne of the challenges facing stock traders is knowing where to focus your attention. In a universe of roughly 7,000 names, with maybe 2,000 of those traded actively, how do…
Your questions–My (attempts at) answers
[dc]J[/dc]ust an open invitation here to my readers: If you have topics for discussion, ideas for posts or series of posts, questions on the book, questions on the market or…
Some Important Lessons I’ve Learned
I thought I'd share a few thoughts today, kind of a "what I've learned in the past 10 years" post. This list was refined and crystallized by the process of…
First Principles of Technical Analysis (2/?)
The first principle of price behavior: Markets alternate between trends and trading ranges.
First Principles of Technical Analysis (1/?)
The building blocks of market structure and price action. [dc]T[/dc]echnical analysis is the art and science of predicting the future direction, timing, and/or magnitude of a market’s movements, mainly by…
Intro To Technical Analysis Course (2/2)
The conclusion of the plan for ITAC.
Intro to Technical Analysis Course: The Plan (1/2)
The plan for the Introduction to Technical Analysis Course
A Few Trading Rules
[dc]I[/dc]n doing the preparation and background work for the book, I found a set of rules for a swing trading system I traded for many years. I thought I would…
How Do You Calculate Volatility In Excel?
How to calculate a simple historical volatility using Microsoft Excel.
Current Technical Situation: S&P 500
A failure test that justifies flipping a long position to a short position.
Two Statistical Studies
[dc]I[/dc] want to share two statistical "studies" with you. Both of these were done this weekend, using the cash S&P index from 1/2/1987 - 10/14/2011. Both show a strong and…
Careful With Correlations
A casual understanding of mathematical concepts can often lead to incorrect conclusions. This post shows that the direction of markets on charts does not necessarily reveal anything about the correlation between those two markets.