ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Building a trading system by Frank Alfonso Dramatic world events will continue to produce uncertainty in today's global financial markets, and most trading experts will agree that some form of technical strategy is necessary to reduce this information explosion to an objective buy/sell/hold decision-making process. I have developed a computerized strategy based on three primary trading principles: Trade with the trend, Let your profits run, and Cut your losses short. Most profitable traders will agree that these three principles have had the most impact on their success. Although markets ar...
BY: Frank Alfonso
ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Estimating the Market Profile Value Area for intraday trading by Donald L. Jones T he prime question for every trader is whether to get into a market, or if in, whether to stay in or get out. Since these questions must be decided on the basis of inadequate knowledge (no, we really do not know where the market is going), a key element in the trading decision is the state of the market. Is it facilitating trade with its breadth (price range) and depth (volume), or is it showing signs of change? A principal tool in measuring the extent to which a market is facilitating trade is Value Area, a fe...
BY: Donald L. Jones
ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Gap watching by Joe Van Nice There's nothing on a chart that isn't laden with significance for a technical trader. Price ticks and volume bars jump off the chart at your eye, but they're just the beginning. Even gaps, the blank spaces left when prices leapfrog to a higher level, can be important technical indicators of the future. Gaps are a chart's way of showing you the trading ranges in which no actual trading took place. Most are easy to identify and to interpret since the price action immediately following a gap will identify the upcoming price movement....
BY: Joe Van Nice
ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Introduction to spread investing Part 1 by Frank Taucher Most commodity traders are aware of the lower risk and margin requirements that traditional spread trading offers vs. outright long or short positions. Many even have a favorite spread or two that they enjoy trading each year. But are you aware of the fact that many spread traders actually earn higher returns while sleeping sounder than outright speculators? Spread investing allows one to identify attractive spread trades that can be used to construct a diversified portfolio of profitable and reliable spread trades. It is this diversi...
BY: Frank Taucher
ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Letters To S&C by Technical Analysis, Inc. Schwager on Schwager Editor, I always get a kick from seeing references to my articles (or interviews) in the ""Letters to S&C'' column. It reminds me of the line about the suspense involved in watching the 1962 Mets. ""Whenever there was a fly ball, you knew someone was going to drop it, but you didn't know who."" Well, in my case, I know I'm going to be misquoted--I just never know how. Sheldon Smith (June 1987, ""Letters to S&C"") quotes me as follows: ""He then makes the statement that he has a block on trading: for him nothing works."" Where do...
BY: Technical Analysis, Inc.
ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...The TEM Trading Systems and how it all began by William Cruz The last thing on my mind when I started trading futures in the mid-1970s was developing and marketing a trading system. In fact, if someone had told me back then that I'd be trading full-time and actually making a great deal of money at it I would have probably thought they were nuts! But as they say, reality is stranger than fiction, and that's just where I find myself today. In just the past four and half years, I've gone from being a consistent commodities loser to a very profitable winner. Since Jan. 1, 1985, my research accou...
BY: William Cruz
ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...War Stories from Commodex by Philip Gotthelf Unforgiving is a word frequently used to describe both markets and subscribers to stock or commodity advisory services. When we in the advisory business make profits, it is never enough. When we experience losses, we are never forgiven. While most experienced investors suggest it is imprudent to attempt picking absolute tops and bottoms, such as ""crystal ball"" performance is expected from ""experts"" who publish newsletters that cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year. Hence, we try to develop market models and fundamental analysis tha...
BY: Philip Gotthelf