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Trading Range
Trading ranges can play an important role in determining support and resistance as turning points or as continuation patterns. A trading range is a period of time when prices move within a relatively tight range. This signals that the forces of supply and demand are evenly balanced. When the price breaks out of the trading range, above or below, it signals that a winner has emerged. A break above is a victory for the bulls (demand) and a break below is a victory for the bears (supply).
After an extended advance from 27 to 64, WorldCom (WCOM) entered into a trading range between 55 and 63 for about 5 months. There was a false breakout in mid-June when the stock briefly poked its head above 62 (red oval). This did not last long and a gap down a few days later nullified the breakout (black arrow). The stock then proceeded to break support at 55 in Aug-99 and trade as low as 50. Here is another example of support turned resistance as the stock bounced off 55 two more times before heading lower. While this does not always happen, a return to the new resistance level offers a second chance for longs to get out and shorts to enter the fray.
Central Bank: Central banks play a key role in the currency markets because of their power over monetary policy. They have a direct influence over money supply, which in turn affects demand and price of the currency. Through the use of different policies, central banks can try to manipulate the markets so that they can keep their currency at specific levels. Some countries and their central banks try to peg their currency to that of another currency or basket of currencies (for example, China to the U.S.).
The central bank can participate in the forex market by buying and selling their currency at the spot market in order to keep it from changing too much. Another motivation for central banks is to keep the local currency at a specific price in order to make their local economy more attractive for international trade. If a country’s currency appreciates too quickly, it could actually make it less appealing to importers.
Remember that many transactions have to use the local currency. Thus, if currency that is needed rises too quickly, it effectively makes goods more expensive to foreigners, which in turn, hurts trade. To counter this, the central bank may intervene in the market by selling its currency and buying up other major currencies. This in effect, weakens the local currency so as to make it more appealing to foreign importers.
While the exact value of what percentage such central bank transactions take up isn’t known, take note that because these are the banks of national governments, such interventions can have a much larger impact on the market than any single commercial bank.
What is short selling?
Short selling is the act of selling stock that you don't own at a high price by borrowing it from a brokerage and then buying it back at a lower price in the future. The hope is that the stock price will drop in value and a profit can be made. This is an advanced technique that has strict requirements and higher risks.
From the PeopleSoft (PSFT) example, we can see that support can turn into resistance and then back into support. PeopleSoft found support at 18 from Oct-98 to Jan-99 (green oval), but broke below support in Mar-99 as the bears overpowered the bulls. When the stock rebounded (red oval), there was still overhead supply at 18 and resistance was met from Jun-99 to Oct-99.
Runaway Gaps
Runaway gaps are also called measuring gaps, and are best described as gaps that are caused by increased interest in the stock. For runaway gaps to the upside, it usually represents traders who did not get in during the initial move of the up trend and while waiting for a retracement in price, decided it was not going to happen. Increased buying interest happens all of a sudden, and the price gaps above the previous day's close. This type of runaway gap represents an almost panic state in traders. Also, a good uptrend can have runaway gaps caused by significant news events that cause new interest in the stock. In the chart below, note the significant increase in volume during and after the runaway gap.
Ford Motor Co. (F) Runaway Gap example chart from StockCharts.com
Runaway gaps can also happen in downtrends. This usually represents increased liquidation of that stock by traders and buyers who are standing on the sidelines. These can become very serious as those who are holding onto the stock will eventually panic and sell – but sell to whom? The price has to continue to drop and gap down to find buyers. Not a good situation.
The term measuring gap is also used for runaway gaps. This is an interpretation that is hard to find examples for, but it is a way of helping one decide how much longer a trend will last. The theory is that the measuring gap will occur in the middle of, or half way through, the move.
Sometimes, the futures market will have runaway gaps that are caused by trading limits imposed by the exchanges. Getting caught on the wrong side of the trend when you have these limit moves in futures can be horrifying. The good news is that you can also be on the right side of them. These are not common occurrences in the futures market despite all the wrong information being touted by those who do not understand it, and are only repeating something they read from an uninformed reporter.
Analyst: When analyzing the market, analysts can generally be divided into two camps - fundamentals and technicals.
Fundamental analysts are those who mainly look at the fundamental aspects of an economy in forming their opinions. They stay on top of the markets by reading and analyzing what the current economic data say about current market conditions, what is fundamentally driving the market, and where it's headed.
Technical analysts are those who primarily rely on chart indicators and patterns to help predict where price will move next. Some tools that technical analysts use are Fibonacci retracement, candlesticks and momentum indicators.
A technician believes that it is possible to identify a trend, invest or trade based on the trend and make money as the trend unfolds. Because technical analysis can be applied to many different time frames, it is possible to spot both short-term and long-term trends. The IBM chart illustrates Schwager's view on the nature of the trend. The broad trend is up, but it is also interspersed with trading ranges. In between the trading ranges are smaller uptrends within the larger uptrend. The uptrend is renewed when the stock breaks above the trading range. A downtrend begins when the stock breaks below the low of the previous trading range.
What is a small-cap stock? Mid-cap? Large-cap?
These terms refer to a company's market capitalization, which is the number of outstanding shares times the stock's price.
Small cap: $250 Million to $2 Billion, approximately
Mid cap: $2 Billion to $10 Billion, approximately
Large cap: $10 Billion and up, approximately
Descending Trendline: Descending trendlines are a variety of trendlines, one of the most fundamental tools for technical analysis. Descending trendlines are simply trendlines with a negative slope, indicating falling prices. There are two types of descending trendlines: descending top trendlines, in which the high prices for an asset are falling, and descending bottom trendlines, in which the low prices for the asset are falling.
The rules for trading using descending trendlines are the same as the rules for trading with trendlines in general. A descending top trendline is a measure of the resistance to an asset's price, and traders consider a break in price through the descending top to be buy signal for the asset. A descending bottom trendline is a measure of the support in an asset's price, and traders consider a break in price through the descending bottom to be a sell signal for the asset. Many traders consider it necessary for additional signals to appear on the chart before a broken descending trendline is confirmed, and before those traders will take the appropriate market action.
Weaknesses of Technical Analysis Analyst Bias
Just as with fundamental analysis, technical analysis is subjective and our personal biases can be reflected in the analysis. It is important to be aware of these biases when analyzing a chart. If the analyst is a perpetual bull, then a bullish bias will overshadow the analysis. On the other hand, if the analyst is a disgruntled eternal bear, then the analysis will probably have a bearish tilt.
Open to Interpretation
Volume will (should) pick up significantly, for not only the increased enthusiasm, but many are holding positions on the wrong side of the breakout and need to cover or sell them. It is better if the volume does not happen until the gap occurs. This means that the new change in market direction has a chance of continuing. The point of breakout now becomes the new support (if an upside breakout) or resistance (if a downside breakout). Don't fall into the trap of thinking this type of gap, if associated with good volume, will be filled soon. It might take a long time. Go with the fact that a new trend in the direction of the stock has taken place, and trade accordingly. Notice in the chart below how prices spent over 2 months without going lower than about 41. When they did, it was with increased volume and a downward breakaway gap.
General Motors Corp. (GM) Breakaway Gap example chart from StockCharts.com
A good confirmation for trading gaps is if they are associated with classic chart patterns. For example, if an ascending triangle suddenly has a breakout gap to the upside, this can be a much better trade than a breakaway gap without a good chart pattern associated with it. The chart below shows the normally bullish ascending triangle (flat top and rising, lower trend line) with a breakaway gap to the upside, as you would expect with an ascending triangle.
Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (ABK) Breakaway Gap example chart from StockCharts.com
Price Scaling
There are two methods for displaying the price scale along the y-axis: arithmetic and logarithmic. An arithmetic scale displays 10 points (or dollars) as the same vertical distance no matter what the price level. Each unit of measure is the same throughout the entire scale. If a stock advances from 10 to 80 over a 6-month period, the move from 10 to 20 will appear to be the same distance as the move from 70 to 80. Even though this move is the same in absolute terms, it is not the same in percentage terms.
A logarithmic scale measures price movements in percentage terms. An advance from 10 to 20 would represent an increase of 100%. An advance from 20 to 40 would also be 100%, as would an advance from 40 to 80. All three of these advances would appear as the same vertical distance on a logarithmic scale. Most charting programs refer to the logarithmic scale as a semi-log scale, because the time axis is still displayed arithmetically.
Verisign, Inc. (VRSN) price scaling example chart from StockCharts.com
The chart above uses the 4th-Quarter performance of VeriSign to illustrate the difference in scaling. On the semi-log scale, the distance between 50 and 100 is the same as the distance between 100 and 200. However, on the arithmetic scale, the distance between 100 and 200 is significantly greater than the distance between 50 and 100.
Banking Institutions: Banking institutions cater to both the majority of commercial turnover and large amounts of speculative trading every day. The set of forex products offered by various banking institutions vary depending on their size. Some banks offer only spot exchange and currency forwards while the larger institutions offer currency options, currency swaps, currency futures, and option-dated currency forwards.
A large bank could trade billions of dollars daily, much of which is undertaken on behalf of customers, but some is conducted by proprietary desks, in other words: trading for the bank's own account.
A study by Greenwich Associates reveals that the top foreign exchange dealers are dominated by banking institutions such as Deutsche Bank, UBS, Citigroup, Barclays, and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The exact percentage of the daily global forex turnover accountable to banking institutions is not known but Deutsche Bank and UBS each comprise more than 10% of the market share. What’s for certain is that a sizeable part of daily forex trading is concentrated among the world’s top 10 foreign exchange banks. Around 90% of all foreign currency transactions are done by banks, companies, and individual traders.
In Nov/Dec-99, Lucent Technologies (LU) formed a trading range that resembled a head and shoulders pattern (red oval). When the stock broke support at 60, there was little or no time to exit. Even though there is a long black candlestick indicating an open at 59, the stock fell so fast that it was impossible to exit above 44. In hindsight, the support line could have been drawn as an upward sloping neckline (blue line), and the support break would have come at 61. This is only 1 point higher and a trader would have had to take action immediately to avoid a sharp fall. However, the lows match up rather nicely on the neckline, and it is something to consider when drawing support lines.
Where Is Support Established?
Support levels are usually below the current price, but it is not uncommon for a security to trade at or near support. Technical analysis is not an exact science and it is sometimes difficult to set exact support levels. In addition, price movements can be volatile and dip below support briefly. Sometimes it does not seem logical to consider a support level broken if the price closes 1/8 below the established support level. For this reason, some traders and investors establish support zones.
Baltic Dry Index: The Baltic Dry Index covers dry bulk shipping rates, or the costs of moving raw materials by sea.
Shipping costs vary according to the type of commodity being shipped, the amount (supply and demand).
This index is managed by the Baltic Exchange in London and the data can be directly subscribed to by major financial news services as well as the Baltic Exchange.
Where does this overhead supply come from? Demand was obviously increasing around 18 from Oct-98 to Mar-99 (green oval). Therefore, there were a lot of bullish buyers of the stock around 18. When the price declined below 18 and fell to around 14, many of these (now unhappy) bulls were probably still holding the stock. This left a supply overhang (commonly known as resistance) around 18. When the stock rebounded to 18, many of the green-oval-bulls probably took the opportunity to sell and "escape" with little to no loss. When this supply was exhausted, the demand was able to overpower supply and advance above resistance at 18.
Industrial metals and bonds rise for different reasons. Metals move when the economy is growing and/or when inflationary pressures are building. Bonds decline under these circumstances and rise when the economy is weak and/or deflationary pressures are building. A ratio of the two can provide further insights into economic strength/weakness or inflation/deflation. The ratio of industrial metal prices to bond prices will rise when economic strength and inflation are prevalent. This ratio will decline when the economic weakness and deflation are dominant.
What is the Nasdaq?
The NASDAQ refers to two different things. First is the largest electronic stock market in the U.S. - the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System. Second is the popular stock index called the NASDAQ Composite Index. It measures all domestic and international stocks listed on The NASDAQ, which number over 3,000. It was started in 1971 and is now one of the most important stock indexes.
Drawdown: Drawdown is a measure of peak-to-trough decline, usually given in percentage form. In trading, drawdown refers to the reduction in your trading account from a trade or a series of trades.
For instance, your trading account is initially at $10,000 then you lost $2,500 today and $2,500 the next day. Your account would then be at $5,000 and you would’ve had a 50% drawdown. In other words, a drawdown measures how much you’ve lost before you get your account back to par. But with a $5,000 remaining balance, you’d need to win another $5,000 to bring your account back to breakeven … That’s a 100% gain!
Knowing your trade’s drawdown is an important part of risk management. Traders usually take note of their maximum drawdown, which is the largest top-to-bottom loss incurred under a trading strategy. While “Maximum Drawdown” sounds like your typical summer blockbuster movie, it ain’t cool since it basically measures your biggest losing streak!
What is a mutual fund?
A mutual fund is a fund created by an investment company which combines money from many investors and invests it in a group of stocks, bonds, or other investment vehicles. The investment company actively manages the portfolio to meet a desired goal, such as long-term growth or steady dividends. One major benefit is diversification. Many mutual funds also charge a fee when someone buys or sells shares.
When someone buys shares of a mutual fund, they are not directly buying shares of the underlying companies. Instead, they are entitled to a proportional amount of the fund's profits, which are usually distributed two or three times per year.
Day Trading: Day trading with the foreign exchange market is in some ways vastly different to that in other markets, in addition to which, day trading in the currencies market does not suffer from the unpleasant connotation that may spring to mind when one thinks of such things with relation to the stock market.
That said, if you have previously traded in other markets, then many items styles utilized in forex, such as forwards, futures, options, spread betting, contracts for difference and also the spot market are very similar to those used in the equity markets, and often maintain a minimum trade sizes for the base currencies.
It is worth noting however that day trading, being a fast moving, highly challenging trading style may not be for everyone. Should decide that day trading is for you, then there are also many different styles and variations of day trading with the currency market that you may wish to sample before choosing the form that feels right for you, or maybe you will prefer to utilize a series of styles.
The best way to learn the day trading styles with regards to forex markets is the same as in learning and perfecting any other trading style, or indeed other skill; by practice.
Talking to you forex trading mentor and other experienced day traders to see what styles have worked best for them over the years, ask for any hints, tips and techniques that may be of benefit and try them out before making the definitive choice of which style will be right for you.
Bar Chart
Perhaps the most popular charting method is the bar chart. The high, low and close are required to form the price plot for each period of a bar chart. The high and low are represented by the top and bottom of the vertical bar and the close is the short horizontal line crossing the vertical bar. On a daily chart, each bar represents the high, low and close for a particular day. Weekly charts would have a bar for each week based on Friday's close and the high and low for that week.
Bar charts can also be displayed using the open, high, low and close. The only difference is the addition of the open price, which is displayed as a short horizontal line extending to the left of the bar. Whether or not a bar chart includes the open depends on the data available.
Bar charts can be effective for displaying a large amount of data. Using candlesticks, 200 data points can take up a lot of room and look cluttered. Line charts show less clutter, but do not offer as much detail (no high-low range). The individual bars that make up the bar chart are relatively skinny, which allows users the ability to fit more bars before the chart gets cluttered. If you are not interested in the opening price, bar charts are an ideal method for analyzing the close relative to the high and low. In addition, bar charts that include the open will tend to get cluttered quicker. If you are interested in the opening price, candlestick charts probably offer a better alternative.
DeMarker Indicator: The Demarker Indicator is a technical analysis tool developed by Tom Demarker for identifying high-risk buying or selling areas in a given market.
Two variants of the Demarker Indicator exist, one bounded by values from -100 to 100, the other bounded by values from 0 to 1. The basic principle behind the Indicator is the same in either case. If the high price for a period is higher than the previous period's high, the DeMax variable for that period is the difference between the highs; the DeMin variable for the period works similarly for the low prices. The Demarker Indicator is then the moving average of DeMax divided by the sum of the moving averages of DeMax and DeMin. Thus, the higher the value of DeMax relative to DeMin, the greater the value of the Demarker Indicator.
On the 0 to 1 Demarker Indicator scale, a value anywhere above .7 indicates that a downward price turn is imminent, while a value anywhere below .3 indicates that the price will shortly turn upward. Values between .3 and .7 indicate relatively low-risk periods for entering a given asset market. Thus savvy traders can use the Demarker Indicator either to determine when to enter a market, or when to buy or sell an asset in order to capitalize on probable imminent price trends.
Sector Rotation
Unsurprisingly, the business cycle influences the rotation of stock market sectors and industry groups. Certain sectors perform better than others during specific phases of the business cycle. Knowing the stage of the business cycle can help investors position themselves in the right sectors and avoid the wrong sectors.
Doji: The doji is a type of candlestick and a warning sign of a pending reversal. The lack of a real body conveys a sense of indecision or tug-of-war between buyers and sellers and the balance of power may be shifting. The open and close are pretty much equal. The length of the upper and lower shadows can vary and the resulting candlestick looks like a cross, inverted cross or plus sign.
In this example of the NASDAQ 100 Index $NDX), the stock broke resistance at 935 in May-97 and traded just above this resistance level for over a month. The ability to remain above resistance established 935 as a new support level. The stock subsequently rose to 1150, but then fell back to test support at 935. After the second test of support at 935, this level is well established.
Bearish Reversal Candlestick Patterns: The Bearish Reversal Candlestick Pattern comes in over 12 different forms. These include the Abandoned Baby, the Bearish Engulfing Pattern, the Harami, the Dark Cloud Cover, the Evening Star and the Shooting Star. Bearish Reversal Candlestick Patterns should form in an uptrend and most will require Bearish Confirmation as reinforcement of the pattern. Use additional anaylsis to further support your findings.
Other people buy stocks based on rumors that the price will rise/fall sharply soon.
Many experienced traders watch financial news on TV, read the relevant newspaper stories, and investigate companies that are in the news. They also use "technical indicators," which are numbers or graphs which may help indicate whether a stock will rise, fall, or stay the same.
A few people will randomly pick stock symbols by throwing a dart at a newspaper, for instance.
What is the Bid price? What is the Ask price?
When you request a quote for a stock, you will receive the bid price and the ask price. The bid price is the best (highest) price you might receive if you sell your stock back to the market. The ask price is the best (lowest) price you might receive if you buy stock from the market.
You are not guaranteed to get these prices because the market fluctuates constantly and prices change quickly. Also, if you buy (or sell) shares of a low-volume stock, you run the risk of affecting the price due to excess demand (or supply).
Current Account Balance: The Current Account Balance (CAB) is a function relating to a country's Balance of Payments (BOP), others being the Capital Account and the Financial Account. Basically, it is the broadest measure of international flows of capital, goods, and services in and out of a country.
Validation
It takes two or more points to draw a trend line. The more points used to draw the trend line, the more validity attached to the support or resistance level represented by the trend line. It can sometimes be difficult to find more than 2 points from which to construct a trend line. Even though trend lines are an important aspect of technical analysis, it is not always possible to draw trend lines on every price chart. Sometimes the lows or highs just don't match up, and it is best not to force the issue. The general rule in technical analysis is that it takes two points to draw a trend line and the third point confirms the validity.
The chart of Microsoft (MSFT) shows an uptrend line that has been touched 4 times. After the third touch in Nov-99, the trend line was considered a valid line of support. Now that the stock has bounced off of this level a fourth time, the soundness of the support level is enhanced even more. As long as the stock remains above the trend line (support), the trend will remain in control of the bulls. A break below would signal that net-supply was increasing and that a change in trend could be imminent.
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