In finance, technical analysis is an analysis methodology for analysing and forecasting the direction of prices through the study of past market data, primarily price and volume. As a type of active management, it stands in contradiction to much of modern portfolio theory. The efficacy of technical analysis is disputed by the efficient-market hypothesis, which states that stock market prices are essentially unpredictable, and research on whether technical analysis offers any benefit has produced mixed results. It is distinguished from fundamental analysis, which considers a company's financial statements, health, and the overall state of the market and economy.
Day trading is a form of speculation in securities in which a trader buys and sells a financial instrument within the same trading day, so that all positions are closed before the market closes for the trading day to avoid unmanageable risks and negative price gaps between one day's close and the next day's price at the open. Traders who trade in this capacity are generally classified as speculators. Day trading contrasts with the long-term trades underlying buy-and-hold and value investing strategies. Day trading may require fast trade execution, sometimes as fast as milli-seconds in scalping, therefore direct-access day trading software is often needed.
A candlestick chart is a style of financial chart used to describe price movements of a security, derivative, or currency.
Bollinger Bands are a type of statistical chart characterizing the prices and volatility over time of a financial instrument or commodity, using a formulaic method propounded by John Bollinger in the 1980s. Financial traders employ these charts as a methodical tool to inform trading decisions, control automated trading systems, or as a component of technical analysis. Bollinger Bands display a graphical band and volatility in one two-dimensional chart.
A chart pattern or price pattern is a pattern within a chart when prices are graphed. In stock and commodity markets trading, chart pattern studies play a large role during technical analysis. When data is plotted there is usually a pattern which naturally occurs and repeats over a period. Chart patterns are used as either reversal or continuation signals.
The hikkake pattern, or hikkake, is a technical analysis pattern used for determining market turning-points and continuations. It is a simple pattern that can be observed in market price data, using traditional bar charts, point and figure charts, or Japanese candlestick charts. The pattern does not belong to the collection of traditional candlestick chart patterns.
The commodity channel index (CCI) is an oscillator indicator that is used by traders and investors to help identify price reversals, price extremes and trend strength when using technical analysis to analyse financial markets.
Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities is an American, Seattle-based monthly magazine about commodity futures contracts, stocks, options, derivatives, and forex.
Fast Money is an American financial stock trading talk show that began airing on the CNBC cable/satellite TV channel on June 21, 2006. Beginning October 10, 2007, it was broadcast every weeknight at 5pm ET, one hour after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, until mid-2011 when it was moved to just four nights per week, Monday through Thursday, to make room for special option and currency trading shows on Friday evenings. On March 22, 2013, it returned to the Friday night slot as a half-hour show, followed by the Options Action half-hour show. The Friday edition of Fast Money returned to being a full-hour show on September 22, 2023, after Options Action was quietly cancelled the previous Friday. The show originates from the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York City.
Munehisa Honma was a rice merchant from Sakata, Japan who traded in the Dōjima Rice Exchange in Osaka during the Tokugawa Shogunate. He is sometimes considered to be the father of the candlestick chart, a form of technical analysis used in stock markets.
An open-high-low-close chart (OHLC) is a type of chart typically used in technical analysis to illustrate movements in the price of a financial instrument over time. Each vertical line on the chart shows the price range over one unit of time, e.g., one day or one hour. Tick marks project from each side of the line indicating the opening price on the left, and the closing price for that time period on the right. The bars may be shown in different hues depending on whether prices rose or fell in that period.
CAN SLIM is an acronym developed by the American investor William O'Neil, intended to represent the seven characteristics that top-performing stocks often share before making their biggest price gains.
The Morning Star is a pattern seen in a candlestick chart, a popular type of a chart used by technical analysts to anticipate or predict price action of a security, derivative, or currency over a short period of time.
The Vortex Indicator is a technical indicator invented by Etienne Botes and Douglas Siepman to identify the start of a new trend or the continuation of an existing trend within financial markets. It was published in the January 2010 edition of Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities.
Drummond Geometry is a trading method consisting of a series of technical analysis tools invented by the Canadian trader Charles Drummond starting in the 1970s and continuing to the present (2021). The method establishes support and resistance areas in multiple time periods and uses these to determine high probability trading areas.
In financial technical analysis, a candlestick pattern is a movement in prices shown graphically on a candlestick chart that some believe can help to identify repeating patterns of a particular market movement. The recognition of the pattern is subjective and programs that are used for charting have to rely on predefined rules to match the pattern. There are 42 recognized patterns that can be split into simple and complex patterns. Author Thomas Bulkowski takes an in-depth look at 103 candlestick formations, from identification guidelines and statistical analysis of their behaviour to detailed trading tactics. He makes important discoveries and statistical summaries, as well as a glossary of relevant terms and a visual index to make candlestick identification easy.
Carley Garner is an American commodity market strategist and futures and options broker and the author of Trading Commodity Options with Creativity, Higher Probability Commodity Trading, and A Trader's First Book on Commodities, published by DT publishing an imprint of Wyatt-MacKenzie. She has also previously written four books published by FT Press, Currency Trading in the FOREX and Futures Markets, A Trader's First Book on Commodities, and Commodity Options. Commodity Options was named one of the "Top 10 Investing & Trading Books of 2009" by SFO Magazine. A Trader's First Book on Commodities was named as the best futures trading book in 2021 by a UK financial education website. Garner was also featured in FT Press' e-book series entitled "Insights for the Agile Investor", and an educational video series. Carley can also be found at TradersEXPOs and MoneyShows throughout the country.
Price action is a method of analysis of the basic price movements to generate trade entry and exit signals that is considered reliable while not requiring the use of indicators. It is a form of technical analysis, as it ignores the fundamental factors of a security and looks primarily at the security's price history. However, this method is different from other forms of technical analysis, as it focuses on the relation of the security's current price to its price history, which consists of all price movements, as opposed to values derived from the price history.
Brian Shannon, CMT is an American author and technical analyst. Shannon published his acclaimed book entitled Technical Analysis Using Multiple Timeframes in 2008 to educate beginning and intermediate day traders on the tools and techniques that have made him "one of the best indie traders in the business". In the book The Stocktwits Edge, Howard Lindzon wrote "it is not by accident that about one-third of the traders featured in this book point to Brian as a mentor who has had the biggest impact on their careers."
In finance, MIDAS is an approach to technical analysis initiated in 1995 by the physicist and technical analyst Paul Levine, PhD, and subsequently developed by Andrew Coles, PhD, and David Hawkins in a series of articles and the book MIDAS Technical Analysis: A VWAP Approach to Trading and Investing in Today's Markets. Latterly, several important contributions to the project, including new MIDAS curves and indicators, have been made by Bob English, many of them published in the book.
