An album of satirical songs recorded live by Tim Lehrer in 1965, and originally written for NBC’s TV series ‘That Was the Week that Was’, somehow it sums up the year of the pandemic. But that’s not what I’m thinking […]

On Saturday, the 12th December, I went up into the loft to get down the Christmas decorations. Unsure as to whether I’d get it all sorted in a day, I started with the wreath on the door. Then, if I […]

The year 2020 has been like no other – that I can remember – and the festive season is too. A time when corporate and social entertainment goes into full swing, the pandemic has put paid to all that. Well, […]

Woke up this morning in a bit of a flap; had forgotten to get an advent calendar for my daughter. Brain kicks in and I realise my daughter is a grown up and lives abroad. However, she had remembered to […]

As a very difficult year limps into its last lap, the toll to health, sanity and the economy is probably far higher than many would admit to. Imprisoned in our homes, worried about job prospects, barely able to socialise, exercise […]

Rather than chamomile tea and a collection of soothing fairy tales for your night table, I have better ideas as to what you should read this winter. Not horror stories or fantasy gladiators, but cautionary tales; sort of in the […]

Hosted by Steven Goldstein, and timed to coincide with the launch of his latest book, this eagerly awaited event aired yesterday the 10th November 2020 with only the tiniest glitch. Of interest was that this (virtual) STA monthly meeting was […]

No, I’m not going to attempt so-called expert coverage of the ins and outs of Democrats versus Republicans and their leanings. We have seen how very badly the pollsters have done here and, more worryingly, with scientists’ predictions of the […]

This year’s International Federation of Technical Analysts annual conference was due to take place in Philadelphia, hosted by AAPTA. With travel restrictions and limits on the number of participants at meetings due to the Covid-19 virus, it couldn’t go ahead. […]

A fortnight ago I wrote about the STA links between Steve Goldstein’s Alpha R Cubed Ltd and AlphaMind. This was handy as he will be interviewing Jack Schwager at our next STA monthly meeting (via Zoom) on Tuesday 10th November […]

Chief Investment Officer at ByteTree Asset Management, and STA member, Charlie describes himself as ‘’a technician at heart’’ where ‘’portfolios is my real job’’. Pre-pandemonium, when STA members could meet in person, he asked me if I ever covered crypto […]

Steven Goldstein is associated with both, as managing director of the former and as joint host with Mark Randall in the latter. The gents go back a while, as do I, and have a wealth of experience in trading markets. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.