Classic Techniques  |  OCT 2000

Ichimoku Charts by Ken Muranaka

The Mountain Man Is Back, This Time In Computerized Trading Rooms Ichimoku Charts by Ken Muranaka A Japanese charting technique developed early in the 20th century is enjoying renewed popularity. Invented before World War II by a Tokyo newspaper writer who called himself ""Ichimoku Sanjin"" (a pen name meaning ""a glance of a mountain man""), ichimoku charts are becoming a popular tool for Japanese traders once more, not only in equities but also in currencies, bonds, indices, commodities, and options. Literally, ichimoku means ""one look""; a chart of this style is referred to as ichimoku kinkou-hyou — the table of equilibrium prices at a glance. Ichimoku's guidebook on the charts finally appeared in 1968, long after the newspaper writer, whose real name was Goichi Hosoda, developed the technique. All the computations involved no more than taking midpoints of historical highs and lows in various ways. Nevertheless, the completed chart presents a panoramic view of price movement. For years, Hosoda hired students to do numerous calculations (or simulations) to come up with the optimum formulas, long before personal computers or even pocket calculators were the norm. He died in 1983, but the spirit of his work is in computerized trading rooms in the form of ichimoku charts. Although he also developed some wave theories, I’ll only cover the chart style here.

by Ken Muranaka