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Strategies & Market Trends : Market Gems:Stocks w/Strong Earnings and High Tech. Rank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ellen who wrote (68793)	10/30/1999 8:38:00 PM
From: stan s.	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 120523

Hi Ellen. tough questions. I never realized that I still look at dozens of things but put emphasis on so few. I do think the fibo retracement numbers have value and I look to them on occasion. As for the fans and waves...I think they too have their place. A couple of things come to mind. The first is the simplest and that is, the obscurity factor. Not so much related as to their ability to help but rather the fact that so few people use them in a public forum that one is left standing alone most of the time. There simply is no consensus and in my own trading I find other analysis to be as good or better. The second reason is ...when is it enough already? I've been doing this for years and have endeavored to learn as much TA of various kinds as my brain could soak up. Time only allows a certain amount of things to slap on a chart, especially if you view quite a few in a day. So...as to what do I look for now? Everything I write below is predicated on short term position trades, as I let the technicals plays out. Generally 3 days to 3 weeks. Daytrades and long terms have different criteria. By the way for safety and diversity, I try not to put more than 10% of my trading money in any one stock. My preference, and what has been most lucrative to me, is a rotating 10 stock portfolio. Something is always happening, it's rarely boring and as I said, relatively safe. I always chart in candles. Luckily I'm able see the patterns that mean a lot to me right off. The engulfing patterns, the haramis, the dark clouds and piercing lines. These are very easy to learn and can be second nature in no time.There are other, lesser patterns that I note but pay scant attention to. Most of us can glance at a chart and see if it has some potential (helped by scans)...if it does, the first thing I do is draw in some trend lines and support and resistance lines. These give me a real feel for a chart. They gives you risk reward ratio immediately. They also show pattern breaks. Significant pattern breaks are so important, I can't emphasize them enough. You have to have a chart system that allows for the drawing of lines... Look at volume....that's a biggie of course. Okay ...I could stop here and do just about as well as if I keep throwing on more stuff. But since I know how the other stuff works and I have my charts set up in such a way I only need to look briefly...I do. Next thing is a glance at a few indicators...not an in depth study. I look for bullish/bearish divergences, particularly in the RSI, be it 7, 14 or 21 day. The reason I use the RSI more frequently is simply because it is much less prone to giving divergences...and it means more when it does. I look briefly at other oscillators and the like as well as the A/D's, money flows etc. ...basically again to see if they are moving in the same direction as price and I note but don't emphsize the overbought, oversold nature of them.. The 50 and 90 day ma's are plotted already...so I note them but not with much interest. To me they can help with the general health of a chart but I don't use them in reference to support and resistance. It's nice to recognize the various triangle patterns as well. They can, to the uninitiated, appear quite similar but have drastically varied influences. So...candlesticks ( as confirmation), volume, trendlines and support and resistance, not in that order...generally initiated with the use of well designed scans all used in conjunction with sector trends where applicable. Scans are the foundation for all of this. Best of luck...I can provide links for anything I've mentioned...I think! lol Stan