STA Blog

I’m a regular presence at Tuesday’s monthly meetings of the Society of Technical Analysts at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales’ lovely premises at One Moorgate Place, City of London. Partly because I so enjoy catching up with members over drinks after the talk, but also because I’m tasked with doing a write-up and blog for those who didn’t make it. The meeting on the 11th March was cancelled – such a pity.

David Linton, founder and CEO of Updata

Luckily David Linton, founder and CEO of Updata (leaders in technical analysis and trading software), had the presence of mind to capture his talk and PowerPoint presentation that day on YouTube. I felt it fitting that, like other speakers, he too should be credited with a write-up blog, and link to his video, for others to see.

He kicks off, in great behavioural finance format, with long term trends and social climate, warning that markets are currently suffering from the pandemic. Wonderful charts to capture his thinking are the share prices of Apple – on a log-scale (very good) – Boeing’s topping action and Carnival cruises (such an unfortunate name today).

He believes that it takes 21 days to form a habit, and I’m wondering what exactly I’ll take home from the UK lockdown. Certainly my internet access is crucial, both for work and, if you can call it that ‘play’, and the art of the old-fashioned telephone conversation is very much on the up.

David has a strong LinkedIn profile, which he’s happy to share with us, and claims he looks at 1000 charts daily. There seems to be a heavy leaning towards the energy sector, suggesting who his main clients might be – or possibly this might just be because the sector has been trending strongly (tanking!) of late.

His thoughts and comments on back-testing will probably be of interest to many.

This is the link to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd1xb3U6huk