Interview  |  JAN 1994

Chatting With Marc Chaikin by Thom Hartle

Chatting With Marc Chaikin - by Thom Hartle Veteran technician Marc Chaikin, senior vice president of Instinet Corp., got started in the financial industry with most fortuitous timing: He was issued his stockbroker's license the very day that the bear market of 1966 ended. Over the years, Chaikin gravitated to trading, turning to technical research when fundamental research faltered and disappointed, and along the way devised the indicator that bears his name, today included in many software technical analysis packages. STOCKS & COMMODITIES Editor Thom Hartle interviewed Marc Chaikin on October 21, 1993, discussing such subjects as how he developed the Chaikin oscillator, how keeping track of money flow is crucial and why you should avoid timing the broad market on a short-term basis. I became very interested in trading, but I wasn't using technical analysis then. For the first two years of my career, the concept never crossed my mind .Then I decided that there had to be a better way to guide buy and sell decisions than depending on fundamental analysis, so I started what's ended up being a 24-year research project in technical analysis. —Marc Chaikin When did you start your career in the financial community? In 1966 at Shearson Hammill, which was one of the early forerunners to the current Smith Barney Shearson Lehman Brothers. I was issued my license as a stockbroker the day the bear market of 1966 ended. Great timing! For the first two and a half years of my career, all I knew about were upticks. Shearson had a reputation as having a very good fundamental research department, so by following their recommendations, I made a lot of profits for people. Were you trading, or buy and hold investing? I became very interested in trading, but I wasn't using technical analysis at that time. For the first two years, the concept of technical analysis never crossed my mind. At that time, the management discouraged using charts because we were supposed to be passing on the firm's recommendations.

by Thom Hartle