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Strategies & Market Trends : Analysis Class for Beginners

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To: Mary A Young who wrote (836)6/9/1998 11:57:00 PM
From: Trader X  Read Replies (4) of 1471
 
Mary, an answer to your MACD question. <<trying to understand MACD>>

I disagree with Tang -- MACD is a very useful leading indicator for predicting turning points...buy and sell signals. Trendlines alone will help you only so far.

MACD stands for "moving average convergence/divergence."

This is an oscillator based on exponential moving averages. The standard formula subtracts the difference between a long term (26 week) and short term (12 week) exponential moving average. This difference is then made into another moving average (9 week) before display.

click here for an example:
chart2.bigcharts.com:80/chart?time=7&freq=1&uf=0&lf=4&type=4&style=3&size=3&compidx=aaaaa&symb=kr&comp=&maval=10&state=0&ma=3&r=chart&onbad=badsymbol&country=us&sid=2783&sec=c&xyz=53998859&s=16667

As with all oscillators, look for a divergence from the price pattern and trend within the oscillator.

In the example above, KR made a price low near $40 about May 15, but the oscillator was making higher lows from late April to mid-May. This is what's called a "divergence", when the oscillator pattern and price pattern diverge from each other. It's a very reliable short-term forecast for price trend changes.

In the same example, higher prices from Feb to April was being met by a diverging MACD which was making progressively lower highs.

Could a trendline alone have gotten you into the stock as soon as the MACD? Possibly. The mid-May low held support at the trendline going back to Sept '97.
chart2.bigcharts.com:80/chart?time=9&freq=1&uf=0&lf=4&type=4&style=3&size=3&compidx=aaaaa&symb=kr&comp=&maval=10&state=0&ma=3&r=chart&onbad=badsymbol&country=us&sid=2783&sec=c&xyz=54613968&s=25256
But the MACD was valuable as confirmation.
It's important to have confirmation in T/A, and that is the reason people look at a multitude of indicators, rather than simply "trendlines".

Trader X
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