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Strategies & Market Trends : Technical Analysis - Beginners -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PeterS who wrote (8298)	4/19/1998 7:16:00 AM
From: Lee Lichterman III	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12039

I will let David give the insight on TA however I wanted to post regarding the Millionaire observation. Those with money can buy and hold and do well. Many of us are small time and build our wealth more quickly by trading. I started with $600 way back used one of the first online cheap brokers and turned profits well in excess of anything I could have received through the buy and hold approach. My tax rate was only 15% etc etc. Now as I move up in the world, I have to trade in my IRA account and minimize the trades in my regular portfolio only doing those that will pay the tax man and still leave me enough profits leftover. Trading maximizes the runs and minimizes the waiting or retreating thus keeping your money growing daily. Once I get to the stage where I can buy and hold a million shares of MSFT and Berkshire Hathaway, I too will just buy and hold. <ggg>

To: PeterS who wrote (8298)	5/24/1998 10:20:00 AM
From: F Robert Simms	Respond to of 12039

That was a very good question. I am sorry that more people didn't respond. I am still new to TA but I will give you what I got. There is a guy on the Real Trader list server that just finished a 3 month contest. He had over a 200% return. He traded SP500 and commodities with TA. His comments lead the impression that this was common for him. He came in second and said that he rarely would win, but would usually be in the top 10 in contests like these. Can we expect these kinds of returns. Not likely! Most of us have flaws (greed, hope, etc.) that would keep us from doing as well. Is TA useful? YES! A first recommendation is to do what you do now but use TA to time your entries and sells. The Visual Investor book and the CANSLIM book would be the first choices for timing information. That should help your return. You might go to Big Charts and look at what the indicators were telling you when you bought and sold the stocks you did. Would they have helped or hurt your decisions? Best Wishes, Bob

To: PeterS who wrote (8298)	6/11/1998 3:37:00 PM
From: David R. Evans	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12039

Hello Peter, The answer to your question is "It depends on the person doing the TA." TA is no magic bullet; it's a process. I think it's a very good process BUT it is not magic. You mentioned Lynch, Buffet in your post. Now do you think that "FA" made them successful or do you believe they made "FA" successful??? I believe they made "FA" successful and if they had chosen "TA" then they still would be as successful as they are today. Successful people will be successful no matter what they do or how they do it. It's the disciplines THEY bring to the game that make they successful. Give me a person who is good at "FA" and I'll have them good at "TA" in a short time. Give me a person who is good at selling cars and I'll make them good at "TA" in a short time. It's not the "TA"; it's the person. Now, with that said, the person makes the system BUT if the system is bad, it will not work. No matter how good a person is in Math, he or she will not be able to make 2 + 2 = 7... TA works if you work it right. The amount of money you can make depends on the amount of money you have available to trade AND the money management you have in place. I KNOW people who do this for a living and they live well.. Can you make $10,000 a week using TA? Sure, but do you have a few hundred dollars to put into the game? Does this help?? Dave Evans