STA Monthly Meeting February 2009
This talk will look at DeMark’s Oscillators – in particular the TD Demarker and Range Expansion Index. Tom is best known for his market exhaustion techniques, TD Sequential and TD Combo, but much of his other work is underappreciated. This talk will look at these excellent and innovative technical indicators and especially at how to use them in practice.
Trevor Neil has been a trader for over 40 years and technical analyst for more than 30. He is a past board member of the STA and runs BETA Group, which gives market timing skill seminars to institutions internationally.
STA Monthly Meeting January 2009
Brian will cover the properties of mathematical sine waves and the effect of various moving averages on these. He will then highlight the difficulties caused by the variations in amplitude, wavelength and phase of the cycles present in market data. However, techniques will be described which will find the small number (10%) of securities (or indices, forex) whose cycles are currently passing through a period of stability. These stable cycles can be isolated and categorised into short, medium and long term wavelengths. The summation of the stable cycles in each category gives a very accurate prediction of trends into the near future.
Following a career as a scientist and university lecturer, Brian set up his own business to produce software for the mathematical analysis of the stock market. He has published many books and articles on the application of channels and cycles to market data. Brian is also a local councillor and was Leader of Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council until recently.
STA Monthly Meeting & Christmas Party December 2008
Several cycles reached critical points in May 2000. These cycles continue to resonate. Christeen’s presentation will look closely at these unfolding cycles and suggest periods of extraordinary activity in 2009. Cycles to be considered include the Saturn-Pluto cycle and recession, the Jupiter- Neptune cycle: inflation and oil prices and Pluto’s recent Capricorn ingress, and what this might mean for the banking industry and mortgage markets in the UK and US. Although these outer planet movements are slow, their effect is triggered by the patterns created with the so-called “inner” planets, Mercury and Venus. Christeen will also cover the effect of these planet cycles on gold and sterling. The conclusion will focus on the opening months of 2010, and the real credit bubble burst, indicated by the extraordinary planet formations of that period.
Christeen has been monitoring solar activity and planetary cycles for 30 years, and in that time has held key positions in the astrological community. She is the author of “The Financial Universe” (2004), and has worked with many entrepreneurs, traders and managers. Her interest is in the correlation between planet and business cycles.
STA Monthly Meeting November 2008
Eugene Sorenson joined Bloomberg in 2006 as a business manager responsible for the development of the charting and technical analysis platform of the BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL® service.
STA Monthly Meeting October 2008
Marc’s book on swing trading is devoted mainly to the use of point & figure charts and swing charts. Marc has introduced a subset of rules which make pioneering alterations to the swing charts proposed by WD Gann. The modifications are intended to improve risk/reward for traders and investors but also to make trend definition more accurate.
In this talk Marc examines how swing charts have stood the test of time since his last talk to the Society in May 2004.
Marc has been the charting columnist for Britain’s leading financial weekly, Investor’s Chronicle for the past 7 years. He is also the author of a book on swing trading. He remains a practising barrister.
STA Monthly Meeting September 2008
Julian will outline some of the methods he uses to trade and how he applies technical analysis across a range of markets and timeframes. He will illustrate how he identifies the “price acceleration” trades which make the easiest positive returns. He will also discuss the more aggressive approach that comes from managing a leveraged trading portfolio and the emphasis that is placed on money management.
Julian, a graduate in Business Finance, has been a proprietary trader for over 15 years. He trades the interest rate, foreign exchange and stock markets. During his career he has spent time working for HSBC, Citibank and Erste Bank.
STA Monthly Meeting & Summer Party July 2008
In his talk Adam will look back at the history of development of technical analysis in the UK. He will also highlight the extent to which technology has changed the industry and reflect on his experience of the use of TA in the hedge fund industry.
Adam Sorab, a Fellow of the STA, was STA Chairman from 1998 to 2008 and was President of IFTA from 2010 to 2013. He has been working in financial markets since 1984 and is currently Head of Technical Research at CQS, a hedge fund management company.
STA Monthly Meeting June 2008
Jeremy will give a quick refresher on Point and Figure charts and then discuss how they can be used objectively and effectively. He will also discuss how computers have allowed new and sophisticated techniques to be added to Point and Figure analysis.
Jeremy is head of technical analysis at Updata and founded Indexia Research in 1983. Jeremy is an expert on Point and Figure charts. He lectures the Point and Figure module for the STA, and sets the Point and Figure module for the International Federation of Technical Analysts.
STA Monthly Meeting May 2008
Financial market cycles need to be seen in the context of the long-term economic cycles of which they are a part. However, the relationships are not deterministic: all markets have their own individual patterns and rhythms, and multi-dimensional feedback processes are involved. So, although the current credit crunch has arrived ‘on time’, it is unlikely to have the results that many now fear. Indeed, the emergent patterns are more consistent with a new wave of secular inflation than with an imminent deflation.
Tony has worked in financial markets for more than 40 years, and currently researches group behaviour in financial markets and economic activity. He is also on the investment advisory committee of the Osiris Property Fund, and is a trustee of two pension funds.
STA Monthly Meeting April 2008
The Elliott Wave theory can be described as an empirically derived, entirely technical, list of rules and guidelines, to interpret, qualify, and project activity in financial markets. The theory, defining a complete bull and bear cycle as five waves up and three waves down, is highly indicative of mass psychology and human progression, and allows therefore exciting insights of what the market might do next. But as the theory can be quite complex and confusing, it requires the engagement of Fibonacci applications and what Thomas calls “plausibility analysis” to make it a powerful and highly effective analysis tool. The insights that Thomas will give will hopefully dissolve most difficulties that people encounter using this technique and will unveil the logical clarity behind it.
Thomas joined JPMorgan in September 2009, taking over the role of FX Technical Strategist. His main focus is on G10 and European currencies where he develops trading and investment strategies, mainly on the basis of Elliott and Fibonacci-applications.
STA Monthly Meeting March 2008
Ian and Chris will between them cover the relative prospects of gilt edged and other fixed interest markets, and will explain the main methods of analysis, principally on trends and cycles. With the continuing travails of credit markets, and the spill-over into corporate bonds, this is all too topical, even to those whose focus is elsewhere! Coverage of the wider picture will even include gold.
Ian has spent the last 25 years as a specialist in G7 Government Bond Markets, covering sales, research, market making and proprietary trading.
Chris has spent his City career in the bond markets, market making and proprietary trading. He has been a member of the STA for over 20 years.
STA Monthly Meeting February 2008
Living in a fast paced world filled with a myriad of investment opportunities buried beneath a sea of market noise, news, data and other perilous distractions, getting to the pearls can be a real challenge. Relying on your brain to digest and process large amounts of information in a limited amount of time comes at its own perils, owing to cognitive impediments that make us vulnerable to information overload.
Revealing some of the biases exhibited by investors, Rashpal will explain the benefits of simple quantitative techniques in arriving at the answer, and go as far as revealing one simple, backtested system that is born out of the concept of trends.
Rashpal graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science with a first class degree in Actuarial Science. He has been working as an asset allocation analyst at Rathbone Brothers, formerly assistant to Robin Griffiths (before his retirement in December 2007) and specialises in the use of quantitative techniques in the analysis of global markets with particular emphasis on building models for system trading and investment purposes.
STA Monthly Meeting January 2008
Kevin Edgeley has worked in the city since 1982. He spent 15 years as a floor trader on LIFFE for Bache, HSBC and Goldman Sachs before moving to a technical strategy role within economic research.
Tom Hobson has a wide remit at Merrill Lynch, including overseeing and coordinating EMEA rates publications and strategy recommendations, as well as the team responsible for the daily “Technical Watch” circulars.
Tom has 24 years’ experience of financial markets, starting as a technical analyst/strategist with Standard and Poors. After Merrill Lynch, he comanaged Othon Investment, a $2 Billion Hedge Fund, before becoming Head of Technical Strategy at RBS for 10 years.
Phil has worked as a Technical Strategist on the dealing floor of four major investment banks during a 28 year career in the City. The rigour of trading greatly influenced his philosophy towards Technical Analysis and his focus on the dynamics of supply and demand in particular. Foreign Exchange is his primary trading interest although he generally monitors markets across asset class.
STA Monthly Meeting & Christmas Party December 2007
After graduating from the London School of Economics Nicole Elliott started her banking career in the City of London in 1982. Whether in trading, sales or an advisory capacity Technical Analysis has been the bedrock of her methodology.
STA Monthly Meeting November 2007
Most technical analysts and technical traders spend a lot of time observing and trying to recognise chart patterns in order to make market forecasts. But who knows how a pattern is recognised by our minds? The purpose of the presentation is to deal with this recognition process. How do our minds analyse different shapes? The understanding of pattern recognition mechanisms will be based on the main principles of a psychological methodology called “Gestalt Theorie.” Thanks to this we will understand why chart interpretation is definitely subjective and we will discover ways to benefit from this knowledge.
Thierry is the former president and co-founder of AFATE, the French equivalent of the STA. He is the co-author of a widely read French technical analysis book. Mr Bechu worked as a technical analyst for several years before being a proprietary trader for Dresdner Bank and Commerzbank.