by ilene - February 16th, 2010 10:38 pm
Here’s the second chapter from Pharmboy’s “Handbook of Technical Analysis.” If you missed the introduction and first chapter, click on “Understanding Market Cycles: The Art of Market Timing” to read from the beginning. – Ilene
Courtesy of Pharmboy of Phil’s Stock World
Technical analysis dates back hundreds of years. According to historical records, a great Japanese rice trader named Homma Munehisa (1724-1803) developed a form of TA known as candlestick charting.[1] A candlestick chart is a style of bar-chart used primarily to describe price movements of securities, derivatives, and currencies over time. It combines aspects of a line-chart and a bar-chart, in that each bar represents the range of price movement over a given time interval. It is most often used in TA of equity and currency price patterns.
Technical analysis is an art. With focus and diligence, TA can often be learned within a short period. A chartist using TA reads and interprets chart patterns and then attempts to predict the most likely short-term outcome based on his methods. Figure 1 shows a 6 month Diamonds (DIA) candlestick chart and many patterns and studies that traders often use to enhance their trading. Moving averages convergence divergence (MACD) and relative strength index (RSI) are two studies very commonly used by technical analysts. MACD is a trend-following momentum indicator that shows the relationship between two moving averages of prices, while RSI is a technical momentum indicator that compares the magnitude of recent gains to recent losses in trying to decide overbought and oversold conditions of an asset. Because candlestick charting is the basis of this handbook, I use these types of charts almost exclusively in my examples.
In the U.S., TA first gained a following from Charles Dow’s Dow Theory in the late 19th century. The six basic tenets of Dow Theory, as summarized by Hamilton, Rhea, and Schaefer, are as follows:
Tenant 1. The market has three movements (Figure 2):
- The primary trend, or major trend, may last from less than a year to several years. It is bullish or bearish.
- A secondary trend moves in the opposite direction of the primary trend, or as a correction to the primary trend. For example, an upward primary trend will
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Tags: charts, dow theory, Pharmboy, Stock Market, technical analysis, trading techniques
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by ilene - July 2nd, 2009 12:00 am
Courtesy of Ben, the Financial Ninja
FN: I’ve pointed out some of the divergences over the last few weeks that are mentioned in this Bloomberg article.
Banks Falling 23% Since May Foreshadow S&P 500 Slump (Update1): "Declines of more than 20 percent in regional banks and homebuilders and the failure of transportation companies to erase their annual loss may be signs the rally in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is about to fizzle.
Smaller lenders in the gauge lost 23 percent since climbing to a four-month peak on May 8, while builders tumbled 26 percent from May 4, when they reached the highest level since October. Concern that mortgage rates, credit losses and foreclosures are increasing spurred retreats in the companies forecast to be among the biggest beneficiaries of $12.8 trillion in government stimulus spending.
Slumps in bank stocks foreshadowed previous declines in the S&P 500 as investors focused on real-estate losses that curbed lending. Regional banks’ 51 percent plunge over 28 days starting Dec. 8 came a month before the S&P 500 began a 28 percent slump to a 12-year low of 676.53. The lenders’ all-time high in February 2007 occurred seven months before the S&P 500’s record.
FN: I pointed out three times that banks had stalled, rolled over and were threatening to break down in: Financials: Charts Say "Decision Time", Update1, Update2.
“If housing and credit led us into all this, they will have to stabilize,” said Mark Demos, a Minneapolis-based money manager at Fifth Third Asset Management, which oversees $18.7 billion. “There’s a growing concern that they’re not out of the woods. Less bad does not equal good.”
Speculation government spending will end the first global recession since World War II helped push up the S&P 500 by 15 percent since March 31, the biggest quarterly increase since 1998. Financial shares gained the most among the S&P 500’s 10 industry groups, rising 35 percent. Futures on the index rose 0.6 percent to 920.60 at 7:12 a.m. in New York today.
Stocks began to decline three weeks ago as economic reports spurred speculation the U.S. economy isn’t recovering fast enough to justify the S&P 500’s 36 percent advance since March 9. The Federal Reserve said in its
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Tags: dow theory, financials, homebuilders, Stock Market, Transports
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by ilene - June 14th, 2009 5:11 pm
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Courtesy of Corey Rosenbloom of Afraid to Trade
There’s interesting chatter in the “Dow Theory” community as to whether we’re experiencing a non-confirmation in the Industrials and Transports currently – namely, the Industrials are at a new high for 2009 and are above the 200 day SMA while the Transports are not. Let’s take a look at both.
Dow Jones Industrial Index:
One may also ask the question “Is there a ‘Three Push’ Reversal pattern forming in the Dow Jones?” It would appear so, with three consolidating ‘pushes’ or impulses up that have formed on three lower highs in the 3/10 Momentum Oscillator. That alone is a serious non-confirmation of higher prices.
We also see a volume divergence setting in underneath price, with volume in the Dow Jones Index (1.1 Billion today) reaching a level that is clearly below the recent average – more importantly is the “trailing off.”
One can also see the multitude of ‘dojis’ (often known for their ‘reversal’ signal) that have formed over the last two weeks – that is showing signs of serious indecision.
In terms of Dow Theory, the Industrials have made a new high and have risen above their 200 day Simple Moving Average which is classically bullish… but the Transports Index has not.
Dow Jones Transportation Index:
Again, while the Dow recently formed new highs for 2009, the Transports could neither break above their May highs nor its 200 day simple moving average.
A negative momentum divergence has also formed as well as a negative volume divergence.
I could have easily titled this post “Major Sell Signal in the Dow Jones Index” but I dare not be so bold, given the ability of the market to rise against a negative fundamental and technical backdrop.
From a chart (technical) standpoint, the chart is literally screaming “sell signal,” but still we operate in a world of probabilities and stranger things have happened, so do continue to guard your risk and do your own analysis for additional insights.
Corey Rosenbloom, CMT
Afraid to Trade.com
Tags: DOW, dow theory, Transports
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by ilene - June 13th, 2009 2:54 pm
Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist
Interesting read in yesterdays Journal on the Transports. Readers know that I am fond of following the REAL economy – consumer trends and blue collar jobs such as trucking score high on my scale of economic importance. Lately, we’ve been seeing an odd trend. The transport stocks and the general market tend to be trending higher despite little to no signs of strength in actual consumer spending or real economy industries like trucking and rails. The Journal writes:
A new high for transports would “confirm,” in technical lingo, a similar peak for the Dow industrials this week. According to the school of market analysis called Dow Theory, which arises from the ruminations of Wall Street Journal co-founder Charles Dow, having the Dow industrials and the Dow transports in such harmony is strong evidence a bull market is cooking.
But this indicator can send false signals. It was bullish in the spring of 2008, just before the transports and industrials tumbled together.
And reading these charts is a subjective art. Ryan Detrick, technical strategist at Schaeffer’s Investment Research, notes that one could take the view that transports have lagged behind the industrials all year, often a warning sign for stocks. And transports have a good reason for lagging behind: Transportation hasn’t caught up to other recent signs of economic recovery.
One measure of this is the number of railroad cars being loaded with coal, auto parts and other stuff at the nation’s major railroads. Car loadings this year are down nearly 20% from the same period in 2008, putting this on pace to be the worst year since 1982, according to the Association of American Railroads.
The AAR on Thursday reported that loadings jumped last week to their highest levels in nine weeks. But loadings have zigzagged up and down within a downward trend since March, even as transport stocks have risen. Ordinarily, transport stocks and car loadings are more closely correlated, said Ed Yardeni, chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research.
“The plunge in rail-car loadings,” Mr. Yardeni recently told clients, “is one of the most glaring nonconfirmation signals for those of us rooting for an economic recovery and a sustainable bull market.”
The King of Dow Theory sounds equally pessimistic, despite near confirmation in the
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Tags: consumer trends, dow theory, false signals, Stock Market, Transports
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the site