Candlesticks

Introduction to Candlesticks

History

The Japanese began using technical analysis to trade rice in the 17th century. While this early version of technical analysis was different from the US version initiated by Charles Dow around 1900, many of the guiding principles were very similar:

• The "what" (price action) is more important than the "why" (news, earnings, and so on).
• All known information is reflected in the price.
• Buyers and sellers move markets based on expectations and emotions (fear and greed).
• Markets fluctuate.
• The actual price may not reflect the underlying value.

According to Steve Nison, candlestick charting first appeared sometime after 1850. Much of the credit for candlestick development and charting goes to a legendary rice trader named Homma from the town of Sakata. It is likely that his original ideas were modified and refined over many years of trading eventually resulting in the system of candlestick charting that we use today.

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Weaknesses of Fundamental Analysis

Fundamental analysis can be valuable, but it should be approached with caution. If you are reading research written by a sell-side analyst, it is important to be familiar with the analyst behind the report. We all have personal biases, and every analyst has some sort of bias. There is nothing wrong with this, and the research can still be of great value. Learn what the ratings mean and the track record of an analyst before jumping off the deep end. Corporate statements and press releases offer good information, but they should be read with a healthy degree of skepticism to separate the facts from the spin. Press releases don't happen by accident; they are an important PR tool for companies. Investors should become skilled readers to weed out the important information and ignore the hype.

Fundamental Analysis

What is Fundamental Analysis?

Fundamental analysis is the examination of the underlying forces that affect the well being of the economy, industry groups, and companies. As with most analysis, the goal is to derive a forecast and profit from future price movements. At the company level, fundamental analysis may involve examination of financial data, management, business concept and competition. At the industry level, there might be an examination of supply and demand forces for the products offered. For the national economy, fundamental analysis might focus on economic data to assess the present and future growth of the economy. To forecast future stock prices, fundamental analysis combines economic, industry, and company analysis to derive a stock's current fair value and forecast future value. If fair value is not equal to the current stock price, fundamental analysts believe that the stock is either over or under valued and the market price will ultimately gravitate towards fair value. Fundamentalists do not heed the advice of the random walkers and believe that markets are weak-form efficient. By believing that prices do not accurately reflect all available information, fundamental analysts look to capitalize on perceived price discrepancies.

General Steps to Technical Evaluation

General Steps to Technical Evaluation

Many technicians employ a top-down approach that begins with broad-based macro analysis. The larger parts are then broken down to base the final step on a more focused/micro perspective. Such an analysis might involve three steps:

1. Broad market analysis through the major indices such as the S&P 500, Dow Industrials, NASDAQ and NYSE Composite.
2. Sector analysis to identify the strongest and weakest groups within the broader market.
3. Individual stock analysis to identify the strongest and weakest stocks within select groups.

The beauty of technical analysis lies in its versatility. Because the principles of technical analysis are universally applicable, each of the analysis steps above can be performed using the same theoretical background. You don't need an economics degree to analyze a market index chart. You don't need to be a CPA to analyze a stock chart. Charts are charts. It does not matter if the time frame is 2 days or 2 years. It does not matter if it is a stock, market index or commodity. The technical principles of support, resistance, trend, trading range and other aspects can be applied to any chart. While this may sound easy, technical analysis is by no means easy. Success requires serious study, dedication and an open mind.

What is Technical Analysis?

Technical Analysis

What is Technical Analysis?

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Technical Analysis is the forecasting of future financial price movements based on an examination of past price movements. Like weather forecasting, technical analysis does not result in absolute predictions about the future. Instead, technical analysis can help investors anticipate what is "likely" to happen to prices over time. Technical analysis uses a wide variety of charts that show price over time.

Things not to Do and Use When Daytrading

Daytrading is a very difficult endeavor for anyone who's tried it. Those who go through it day after day will agree that everyday is different and that each day requires maximum attention. The end of each trading day leaves the daytraders exhausted. But not only does it take stamina, endurance, high degree of concentration and focus, there are other factors that make a daytrader a special breed apart from other types of traders. Every tick or second counts. Precision and personal discipline makes the difference between a loss and a profit. Not everyone is cut out to be a successful trader. In fact, 95% of daytraders fail eventually. But here are a summary of what NOT to do that can help further enhance his chances of surviving the daytrading jungle.

Forex Trading Strategy

Which forex trading strategy actually works?

Learning Forex trading is not a simple task, but in no way it is difficult either. Forex trading is all about regulation, willpower and determination. Leveraging your strength could be extravagant by organizing the apt Forex trading strategy. You may find hundreds and thousands of Forex trading strategies out there. Logic would tell us that there is a foreign currency strategy out there which leverages our strengths. All forex trading strategies use a variety of indicators and combinations. These indicators and studies are just calculating support and resistance and trend in the Forex trading market.