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• A complete computer trading program part 2 by John F. Ehlers

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...A complete computer trading program part 2 by John F. Ehlers This program works with the standard CompuTrac or CSI (Commodity Systems, Inc.) disk data reading format (Table 1). The fundamental idea of this program is to take a 40-character string record for each day's data and break it down into eight columns. You can consider each day's entry as a column. The end result is a matrix that measures eight rows high by ""N"" columns long. The first row is the day of the week and date as NYYMMDD for the year, month, and day. Thereafter, the rows are: Open, High, Low, Close, Open Interest, Volume, ...

AUTHOR: John F. EhlersDATE: APR1987

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• A helping hand from the Arms Index by James Alphier and Bill Kuhn

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...A helping hand from the Arms Index by James Alphier and Bill Kuhn It was just about 20 years ago when Richard W. Arms, Jr. published in the pages of Barron's his new index number which combined upside and downside volume with the traditionally watched statistics on the number of advancing and declining issues. Arms' method of combining the ""raw head count"" of the advances and declines with the total number of shares these stocks were trading was simple....

AUTHOR: James Alphier and Bill KuhnDATE: APR1987

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• An after-Christmas story by Ron Jaenisch

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...An after-Christmas story by Ron Jaenisch Santa completed his rounds at Christmas and went on a one-month vacation in Mexico. When he got back to the North Pole he realized that it was once again time to raise funds for the Christmas toys. Since it was only February he knew he had lots of time. ""I've got more than $40,000 left over from last Christmas and I'll be needing $4 million this year,"" he said to Mrs. Claus. She answered, ""Dear, this year instead of doing fund-raisers what about raising it by trading the futures market?"" ""You may have a point there,"" he said. ""After all, thes...

AUTHOR: Ron JaenischDATE: APR1987

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• Calculating retracements by Hal Swanson

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Calculating retracements by Hal Swanson The following forecasting method is an approach to charting price retracement in stocks, commodities, indices or any free market. It is a study of momentum, an evolution somewhere between Gann and Elliott Wave, that allows traders to project an ideal price correction in both price and time. In my approach, a price move of any proportion will attempt to retrace itself by 50% to 61.8% of the initial price move. This retracement first occurs at twice the original momentum, or even greater, and then completes the price correction with the same momentum as ...

AUTHOR: Hal SwansonDATE: APR1987

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• Floor Talk by William Eng

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Floor Talk by William Eng I started my trading career at the MidAmerica Commodity Exchange more years ago than I care to remember, or at this time, more years than I can remember. I learned a lot of lessons while trading there. One lesson I learned, and one which I am extremely fond of repeating to new traders, is the one concerning secrecy. No one can be told about your trading position, not even your wife. And if you are a wife, no one can know, not even the kids! There was a legendary trader at the MidAmerica Commodity Exchange by the name of Harold Goodman. Most people don't know who thi...

AUTHOR: William F. EngDATE: APR1987

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• Hardcard offspring by Howard Falk

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Hardcard offspring by Howard Falk About a year and a half ago the Hardcard appeared on the personal computer marketplace and quickly became a very popular item. Hardcard is a 10 million byte hard disk that plugs into one of the expansion slots (normally used to hold adapters for printers and displays) at the back of the IBM Personal Computer. This product sold so well that it stimulated development of many similar disks-on-a-card. In fact, there are now so many different card-mounted units available that they constitute a new category of hard disks for personal computers. From the start, the...

AUTHOR: Howard FalkDATE: APR1987

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In This Issue John Sweeney, Associate Editor

AUTHOR: John SweeneyDATE: APR1987

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• Letters To S&C by Technical Analysis, Inc.

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Letters To S&C by Technical Analysis, Inc. Where are we? Editor, I enjoy S&C and look forward to each new issue, including articles by guys getting off on esoteric concepts that hardly anyone will ever bother with. Although I enjoy the theory, I do find it difficult to understand the prevailing nuts and bolts philosophy of the S&C editorial staff concerning: can an informed, ""off-the-floor"" speculator make any money in commodities? The February 1987 issue has a glowing critique of some Gann software. It also contains Schwager's skepticism regarding most things. John Sweeney is a part-time...

AUTHOR: Technical Analysis, Inc.DATE: APR1987

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• Profitability of selected technical indicators by Steven L. Kille and Thomas P. Drinka, Ph.D

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Profitability of selected technical indicators by Steven L. Kille and Thomas P. Drinka, Ph.D In previous issues of this magazine, we have reported the results of applying moving averages, momentum, Williams' %R, and Wilder's Relative Strength Index to Chicago Board of Trade corn and long-term U.S. Treasury bond futures, as well as to silver on the Commodity Exchange of New York (COMEX). In this issue, we report similar information for Eurodollar futures traded at the International Monetary Market of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. In addition, we will report results of applying Wilder's Dire...

AUTHOR: Steven L. Kille and Thomas P. Drinka, Ph.DDATE: APR1987

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• SIDEBAR: Complete computer trading program

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...SIDEBAR: Complete computer trading program 10 REM COMPLETE TECHNICAL ANALYSIS BY JOHN F. EHLERS MODIFIED BY JACK K. HUTSON...

AUTHOR: Technical Analysis, Inc.DATE: APR1987

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• SIDEBAR: Retracement corrections by Technical Analysis, Inc.

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...SIDEBAR: Retracement corrections by Technical Analysis, Inc. In the ""real"" world, markets seldom trace out patterns exactly as our technical forecasting approaches would have them behave. I find it's true in calculating ideal retracements, as well. But another advantage of this method is recognizing when price action is deviating or moving away from the projected correction pattern....

AUTHOR: Technical Analysis, Inc.DATE: APR1987

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• Selecting the best individual stocks Wyckoff method of trading stocks part 9 by Jack K. Hutson

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Selecting the best individual stocks Wyckoff method of trading stocks part 9 by Jack K. Hutson Our discussion of Wyckoff's analytical methods have so far concentrated on deductive reasoning to reach investment or trading conclusions. We first determined the position and trend of the general market, then the positions and trend of group averages, and finally selected individual stocks based on their ability to move in harmony with those larger trends. The opposite approach-inductive reasoning-offers the experienced Wyckoff analyst a valuable way to double check those conclusions. I emphasize ...

AUTHOR: Jack K. HutsonDATE: APR1987

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• Using Maximum Adverse Excursions for stops by John Sweeney

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Using Maximum Adverse Excursions for stops by John Sweeney So often the key to success is the reverse of what we initially perceive. Young basketball players are fascinated with the shot, never suspecting the game is won with fast feet. Traders focus on winning signals when they should worry about when to admit they were wrong. Here it is: It's more important to know when your trade is bad than it is to know how to get into it. Said theoretically, ""minimize your maximum loss"" to win in the long run. In Stocks & Commodities October 1985 issue, I described how to determine stop placement qu...

AUTHOR: John SweeneyDATE: APR1987

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• Van K. Tharp, Ph.D.: Trader's Psychologist by John Sweeney

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Van K. Tharp, Ph.D.: Trader's Psychologist by John Sweeney In purely technical terms, Van K. Tharp is a psychological researcher and counselor specializing in neurolinguistic programming. In the lay language of his clients, he's the specialist who helps them unearth and change their unprofitable states of mind. ""Why I got into psychology, I have no idea. It just interested me,"" says Dr. Tharp, recalling the first decisions that led him to a bachelor's degree in psychology from Beloit College and a doctorate in biological psychology from the University of Oklahoma. He found, however, that h...

AUTHOR: John SweeneyDATE: APR1987

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• Weekly price cycles: evidence of auto-correlation by Frank Tarkany

  ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Weekly price cycles: evidence of auto-correlation by Frank Tarkany This article is a continuation of my article last month which examined Dow Jones Industrial Average weekly closing price data for price auto-correlation and cross-correlation with total weekly NYSE volume. This work found cycles which compare favorably with previous cycle studies. In your trading, you may reasonably use these cycles with more confidence than is typical. Also, there may exist a 22-week fundamental price cycle, with harmonics, in the DJIA weekly close data....

AUTHOR: Frank TarkanyDATE: APR1987