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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robert O who wrote (39335)	11/9/2000 12:27:09 PM
From: Gottfried	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Robert, you're right: a rigid TA follower might have sold AMAT when price broke the support at 43 this am [pre-market, I suppose.] Since the stock is up now, I can say it held above support. It also ignored the BofA target reduction. Personally I use TA in conjunction with other considerations. Right now I'm just holding my small AMAT position because both TA and FA have me totally confused. But I am not buying more for lack of TA buy signals. And even if a buy signal comes, it may just be a temporary hiccup. We have had several of those lately. Gottfried PS: there is no holy grail. What's more: as soon as I think I understand what makes a stock move, the rules change.

To: Robert O who wrote (39335)	11/9/2000 12:43:36 PM
From: Gottfried	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Robert, more TA stuff: I have recently begun to use TA more. So far it has mainly kept me from buying stocks that looked cheap but got cheaper [example LU at 40 and LU at 30]. I continue to ignore TA sell signals on stocks like INTC, MSFT and a few others. I'm saying TA can help, but can also get you whipsawed - as you have observed. G.

To: Robert O who wrote (39335)	11/9/2000 1:28:02 PM
From: Pink Minion	Respond to of 70976

Wouldn't most TA rules have had me selling my AMAT shares this morning for sure as price fell well below 'support.' Traders will ALWAYS buy a gap down. 9 out of 10 times it's free money. Most TA'er will only use closing prices for analysis. Also, some will have percentages for slippage to prevent whipsaw. Also, I see 42 as support. (On 10/18 it closed at 42 1/16 and a low of 40 1/2). Looks like it was a screaming buy this morning to me. Double bottoms are very bullish. I'll short it if it breaks 40. TA can be just as subjective as FA. Different people see different things in charts, just like how they react to FA news. Some don't think push-outs buy KLIC is a big deal, others run for the hills.

To: Robert O who wrote (39335)	11/9/2000 1:55:34 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Robert if I may put in my 2c, I started out investing with a distaste for TA and a lot of respect for FA. After a few years I learned that TA is more valuable than FA, but neither one alone will be sufficient. Without getting into how TA signals are created, let me just say that it is a lot more than just looking at support and resistance levels or even "learning" well known patterns. It used to be that one of the best TA signals was a "false signal" or reversal. An example of that would be AMAT today. It broke a support level but then went up instead of sinking. Unfortunately any time a TA signal/system becomes popular, it ceases to work. Doing great TA is not any easier than kicking the tires and doing world class FA. Still, I do not know of any successful investor/fund manager who is strictly TA or FA. It is simply a matter of shades. regards, ST BTW you are completely right about taking out the limit orders. This is a common and old practice. Then again, when you play cards, you shouldn't complain if show them around.