Cycles  |  MAY 2005

Cycles In Time And Money by Stuart Belknap, Ph.D.

Stocks & Commodities V. 23:5 (28-35): Cycles In Time And Money by Stuart Belknap, Ph.D. Wouldn’t you like to be able to identify top and bottom extremes and get signals to open new positions or close current ones? This may help. When was the last time you thought about using cycles to design a trading system? Many trading systems depend on cycle indicators, and in this article I will focus on systems derived from oscillators. These days, there are literally hundreds of oscillator-based cycle indicators, each scalable by one or more parameters. In addition, most toolbox programs provide a simple formula language, which you can use to derive any number of personal variations. Markets, groups, and individual securities have characteristic behavior that requires just the right indicator for a given time frame and trading bar interval. It is also evident that markets demonstrate both extended trending and flat or trading type price action, each of which may or may not favor one indicator over the other. But is this level of complexity necessary? The universal cycle index (UCI) is a standard of reference applicable to any security, time frame, and trading bar interval during either oscillating or trending price action. The MetaStock user formulas are shown in the sidebar on the last page, but here, I will. . .

by Stuart Belknap, Ph.D.