To: Hal Campbell who wrote (5015 ) 1/30/1999 3:34:00 PM From: Michael Olds Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Technical Analysis. Technical Analysis Terminology. AXC as of 1/29/99. Meta Stock User's Manual. Commentary Edited from the Expert Advisor in my Meta Stock program.Notes and Comments : It seems like a reasonable time to post this again. I repeat: am not a great believer in Technical Analysis. However, there are times when charts etc. can sometimes help to focus the intuition. TA generally is an attempt to quantify the psychology of a market. I will post this information from time to time for what it's worth. Comments and suggestions welcome.ALL the rest is froth. Bollinger Bands. A type of envelope (an envelope is the area between two trendlines, for example between two moving averages) where envelopes are plotted at standard deviation (see below) levels above and below a moving average. Here: Number of periods: 20; simple moving average.Candlesticks: Candlestick charts display the open, high, low, and closing prices in a form similar to a modern-day bar chart, with the Open and Close forming the top and bottom of a box which is white if the Open is lower than the Close, black if the reverse. The box is supposed to indicate where the most significant trading took place. I use a version called Candlevolume, which makes the box proportional in width to its percentage of the total volume displayed on the chart so as to show at a glance the relationship between price and volume.Cande Momentum Oscillator: (see Momentum Indicators, Relative Strength Indicator) Uses data from both up and down days; calculates on unsmoothed data (shows extremes); scale is between +100 and -100. Overbought is above 50, oversold -50.NEW: Chaikin Money Flow: Created by summing the values of the Accumulation/Distribution Line for 21 periods and dividing by a 21 period sum of the volume. Based on the assumption that market strength is usually accompanied by prices closing in the upper half of their daily range with increasing volume; weakness the reverse. If prices consistently close in the upper half of their daily high/low range on increased volume, then the indicator will be positive; negative the reverse. Provides excellent confirmation signals of trendline and support/resistance breakouts. For example, if a security's prices have recently penetrated a downward sloping trendline (signaling a potential trend reversal), one might want to wait for further confirmation by allowing the indicator to cross above the zero line. Directional Movement: Involves plotting the 14-period + DI (Demand Index: combines price and volume in a very complicated calculation) and the 14-period -DI on top of each other. Positions are taken by buying when the +DI rises above the -DI, and selling the reverse. (There are methods for eliminating false indications.)MACD (Moving Average Convergence/Divergence): calculated by subtracting the value of a 0.075 (26-period) exponential moving average from a 0.15 (12-period) exponential moving average. The signal line is a 9-period dotted exponential moving average. A sell is generated when the MACD falls below its 9-period signal line, a buy by the reverse.Momentum Indicators: The momentum of a security is the ratio of the day's price compared to the price x-time periods previous. (Stochastic Oscillator, Relative Strength Index, MACD)Moving Averages: A moving average is a method of calculating the average value of a security's price over a period of time. An average is taken for a fixed period of time and moves forward each period that elapses. (for example: 21-day moving average of closing highs)Relative Strength Index: (RSI) Compares the internal strength of a single security using the formula: RSI equals 100 minus 100 over 1 plus an average of upward price change over an average of downward price change. The RSI is a price-following oscillator that ranges between 0 and 100. Tops above 70, bottoms below 30, usually in advance.Standard Deviation: A statistical measurement of volatility, measures the standard deviation from an average price. Standard Deviation Channel plots two parallel lines above and below an x-period linear regression trendline. Linear Regression is a statistical tool used to predict future values from past values. A linear regression trendline plots a straight line through prices so as to minimize the distances between the prices and the resulting trendline. Stochastic Oscillator: compares where a security's price closed relative to its trading range over the last x-time periods. Ranges between 0% and 100%. 0% shows that the security's close was the lowest price that the security has traded during the preceding x-time periods. 100% the highest. Overbought above 80, oversold below 20.Support and Resistance Levels: Support at levels where more investors find the stock a bargain than think of it as a sinking ship; resistance at levels where more investors are previous bargain hunters who got stung and hope to get out at breakeven levels than are those who are of the belief that the stock has bottomed and is in an uptrend. Found by drawing trendlines across the chart parallel to the x-axis from significant highs and lows. Statistical Analysis: Analyzes a variety of statistics to determine the trend.Tushar Chande: Equis Trend Analysis:
