Great excitement regarding the STA’s speaker at November ‘s monthly meeting (18:30 Tuesday 10th November – via webinar). As STA Treasurer Karen Jones pointed out: ‘’we always line up great speakers but have out-done ourselves this time’’. We’re talking about […]
Author: STA Office
STA Diploma Part 1 goes digital: Because university premises are shuttered
Normally held as evening lectures at the London School of Economics, this autumn term the Society of Technical Analysts has turned to online and virtual reality in order to deliver its course. A pity, and a challenge, as so many […]
Introducing our next speaker: Charlie Morris, a regular at STA monthly meetings
He’s given talks to us before, and no doubt will be doing so in the future, but before that, pencil in this date: Tuesday October 13th at 18:30 – via webinar. This is our next monthly meeting where he’ll assess […]
Colours, clashes and clichés: How and why use colourful charts
Plowden & Smith are an expert art and antiques conservation business in south London who I follow on LinkedIn. Tackling projects great and small, their level of expertise and willingness to share some of it is refreshing. Very recently they published a video piece on colour theory where Hugo Nathan, of art advisory firm Beaumont Nathan, picks a series of works on the subject for a fantasy exhibition he is curating.
What’s all this got to do with technical analysis, you ask. Because colour, and colour combinations, really do matter. How long have many new home owners spent agonising over dabs of paint and swatches of fabric. Yet rarely do we put as much time and thought into our chart’s colours. Too often we just stick with the default setting.
Confidence and the Corona Virus: What are consumers to make of it all?
The word ‘confidence’ has been bandied about a lot of late; more specifically, prefaced by ‘lack of’. Currently centre stage in Britain is the Secretary of State for Education, the Rt Hon Gavin Williamson CBE. He is merely one among many, with ‘The Science’ and its 4 Chief Medical Officers (earning on average £259,000), Public Health England (which has had to be disbanded), and the judiciary too – just for good measure.
How best to present technical analysis: Media formats and delivery systems
My daughter, an international news journalist, has been increasingly asked to do radio work. She does daily, weekly and monthly print offerings for mainstream media, as well as television coverage of breaking news, plus magazine features. She was the one who sent me this link about Britain and the corona virus pandemic.
‘Too Much and Never Enough: My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man’ – A tell-all memoir by Mary Trump
Unsurprisingly this book, published on the 14th July 2020 and which her uncle, the US President tried to ban, sold 1 million copies in its first day! From some of the brief book reviews I’ve read, Fred Trump Senior (Donald’s Dad) comes across as a particularly nasty specimen who moulded and manipulated his five children and disinherited Mary and her brother.
Everyone hates a short seller: Forgetting they’re an important tool of discovery
In any business transaction, be it financial, real estate or retail therapy, for every buyer there must be a seller. One can either sell something one already owns, or sell ahead of delivery to lock in the price. The latter is at the very heart of, and the reason for, the creation of futures contracts; so that farmers can fetch a guaranteed price for their estimated crop or herd.
An economist’s lexicon: Alphabet soup to describe economic recovery
Above, a Tweet last week from Nouriel Roubini, one of the few economists I used to listen to; now he too is jumping on this silly bandwagon. As the Queen famously asked of the 2008 financial crisis (at the London School of Economics), ‘’why did no one see it coming?’’. What hope is there then of this lot spotting not only when the corner has turned, but how much momentum there’ll be in the next move?
Tom DeMark sees the S&P hitting 3,486 before the rally ends
Click here to read ZeroHedge's article about iconic technican, Tom deMark.
Mind over matter: Especially important under lockdown conditions
Anyone involved in the trading community will know of the plethora of classes, coaches, gurus and what not out there willing to turn you into an overnight success. Each has their special angle, be it motivation, risk control, discipline and Zen Buddhism. There are also excellent text books, one of the oldest of its kind is Dale Carnegie’s 1936 ‘How to win Friends and Influence People’. Now available as an audiobook which I think is currently free on Alexa hardware.
The Five Modes of Mindful Investors: A special webinar by David Keller for the STA
Currently Chief Market Strategist at StockCharts.com in Seattle, I’ve known David from his Bloomberg days. He also has a blog called The Mindful Investor, on which this excellent webinar is broadly based. Interestingly, his first chart maps the high and lows of his career progress as a technical analyst. An idea cobbled from interviewee graphic designer Ken, who he subsequently hired. Creativity and thinking outside the box are David’s strengths.
History of the Gartley Pattern: With thanks to Larry Pesavento and Leslie Jouflas
With precious little interesting to do in lockdown London – other than going for walks and enjoying the beautiful sunshine – I decided to attack paperwork at home. Not the utility bills, insurance policies and income tax, but the piles of things generated over many years as a journalist, author and keen technical analyst. You can tell I, like so many others, have not exactly embraced paperless work.
I consider my very long term charts – of markets, economic trends, demographics and whatever – like gold dust. However, I can see that the ink on some is fading and that eventually the paper will probably crumble and turn to dust too. Over the years these have been adequately filed and needed little rearrangement. More recent finds, currently in the pending box, were sorted and added to these.
Twitter tips and other ideas: Etiquette on social media
Years ago disgruntled from Surrey would write a letter to the editor; pedantic fool complain about spelling and punctuation; ‘expert’ in the subject pick on the minutiae in an academic paper. Same old, same old as these issues exist today, transported to electronic means of communication, but remain constant themes. The difference is in the relative speed of action and reaction, and the subsequent issues raised.
When is an island not an island? A: No, the answer isn’t Brexit Britain
With lockdown being de rigueur this season, and all the talk of family bubbles, travel corridors, quarantining and social isolation, I happened to spot a few potential island reversals in the charts. Which then set me thinking about their validity, considering the other idea that gaps should be filled.
‘Critical Cycles’: What you need to know and how to take advantage
The rather dry title of this month’s STA webinar presented by Andrew Pancholi who promised us a ‘’40 minute whistle-stop tour of 30 years of work’’. He lived up to his threat and I urge all and sundry to watch this fascinating presentation – regardless if one’s interested in technical analysis, cycles, or financial history.
‘Pieces of eight’: And the real value of money
You probably remember this expression from the film ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. This makes sense, because in those days Spanish coins were minted with silver mined in Latin America, based on a system of 8 ‘reales’ – as Brazil’s currency is known today (real). In 1537, after some debasement, Spain introduced the escudo (as Portugal’s currency was later called) gold coin, worth 16 reales. After further debasement, the gold doubloon (from the word double) was introduced and worth 32 reales. I remember trading and charting – on appropriate graph paper – gilts in thirty-seconds – as US Treasury bonds are still priced today.
‘Fake News’ in focus: Traders and investors, beware
In a week when even President Trump was called out for spreading dubious facts on social media, you know that the format has a big problem. The obvious scare-mongering is often easy to spot, and we all know that screaming headlines sell newspapers. But when it comes to the coverage of financial markets, the economy, and long term trends, the record is truly terrible.
‘Flash Crash’ in review: Were they looking for just anyone to blame?
Almost exactly 10 years ago – 6 May 2010 at 14:32 US Eastern Time – the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its second worst ever intra-day loss of 998 points – in just 5 minutes; it then took half an hour to get back to where the shambles started. Five years on, in April 2015 at the age of 36, Navinder Singh Sarao was indicted on 22 charges of financial misdemeanours. The authorities realised that market integrity was at stake and so, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Securities Exchange Commission, the FBI and the UK Met’s boys in blue swung into action.
Do you really understand technical analysis? Do you know someone who wants to learn?
Sometimes in today’s ‘’instant knowledge at the touch of a smartphone’’ world, it’s very easy to become overconfident. Or assume that everyone, and anyone, could know what they need with a quick Google search.
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