MAR 1999 STOCKS & COMMODITIES Magazine

Article Archive For MAR1999

A Rationale For Managed Futures by Charles R. Lightner

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...A Rationale For Managed Futures by Charles R. Lightner Although the futures markets are widely misunderstood even among knowledgeable investors, they serve a critical purpose in our economy; through the managed futures industry, they provide an important investment opportunity for both institutions and individuals, and they need not expose the investor to unreasonable levels of risk. Stocks, bonds, and real estate are the largest and best-known types of investments in our economy. They have distinctly different investment characteristics, and each has a specific effect on an investment port...

AUTHOR: Charles R. LightnerDATE: MAR1999SUBJECT: Managed Futures

Bollinger Bands by Stuart Evens

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Bollinger Bands by Stuart P. Evens This indicator combines popular technical methods -- moving averages, support/resistance, and envelopes -- with statistical analysis to create a powerful technical analysis tool. Bollinger Bands, used in combination with the relative strength index (RSI) to analyze a market, enables us to develop a method to enter and exit trades and review the historical results. On a day-to-day basis, markets trade in a volatile fashion around the trend. To better see the trend, traders use moving averages to filter the price action. This way, traders can gather important ...

AUTHOR: Stuart EvensDATE: MAR1999SUBJECT: Novice Traders' Notebook

Interview: Tales From The Front: Robert Zellner by Thom Hartle

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Tales From The Front: Robert Zellner Robert Zellner, whose career has ranged from academic to institutional trader to business manager before settling on full-time private trader, started off with his sights aimed on academia, despite a grandfather who was a speculator in the 1920s and 1930s. But it wasn't long before the family genes came into play and Zellner stepped into the trading arena. He has worked for Cook Industries; Drexel Burnham Lambert; and Citibank Futures, among other financial firms. STOCKS & COMMODITIES Editor Thom Hartle met Zellner when their careers overlapped at Drexel b...

AUTHOR: Thom HartleDATE: MAR1999SUBJECT: Interview

Technical Studies And The Primary Cycle by Raymond A. Merriman

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...Technical Studies And The Primary Cycle Cycle analysis offers the opportunity to identify windows of potential market bottoms and tops. Technical indicators can be used to time entries and exits in the stock at key points in the cycle. How well does this concept work? The primary cycle in the stock market is the centerpiece of cycle analysis for traders as well as an important market timing tool for investors. Typically 17 weeks in length -- with a window, or orb, of four weeks -- the primary cycle is composed of smaller, short-term, subcycles known as phases. Further, the primary cycle itself...

AUTHOR: Raymond A. MerrimanDATE: MAR1999SUBJECT: Trading Technique

The Maximum Favorable Excursion Strategy by D. Stendahl and L. Zamansky

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...The Maximum Favorable Excursion Strategy by David C. Stendahl and Leo J. Zamansky Maximum favorable excursion (MFE) is the peak profit that a trade earns before the trade is closed out. Reviewing the performance of a trading system allows us to measure the tendency of the MFE of the trades. This article explains how to use the information to enhance profitability. Maximum favorable excursion (MFE), a concept originally created by John Sweeney to mea-sure the distinctive characteristics of profitable trades, can be used as part of an analytical process to enable traders to distinguish betwee...

AUTHOR: D. Stendahl and L. ZamanskyDATE: MAR1999SUBJECT: System Design

Traders' Notes

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...For those traders who want a clear and brief explanation of various concepts often touched on in technical analysis and trading, we offer Traders' Notes. INTERMARKET ANALYSIS Intermarket analysis, one of the pillars of technical analysis, is the comparison of the price action of one market to another. This comparison can be as simple as placing two different charts side by side. The most widely endorsed use of intermarket analysis hails from the Dow theory, whereby the movement of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is compared with the Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA). The theory...

AUTHOR: Technical Analysis, Inc.DATE: MAR1999SUBJECT: Novice Traders' Notebook

Traders' Tips

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...TRADERS' TIPS Here is this month's selection of Traders' Tips, contributed by various developers of technical analysis software to help read-ers more easily implement some of the strategies presented. Internet users will also find these and some previous Traders' Tips on our home page at http://www.traders.com. TRADESTATION / SUPERCHARTS In this issue's interview with Robert Zellner, Zellner describes a stochastic oscillator model with a fixed-bar exit. To create an indicator and system based on this model in TradeStation, we first need to create a function to calculate the %K and %D stocha...

AUTHOR: Technical Analysis, Inc.DATE: MAR1999SUBJECT: Traders' Tips

V.17:3: Letters

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...LETTERS TO S&C The editors of S&C invite readers to submit their opinions and information on subjects relating to technical analysis and this magazine. This column is our means of communication with our readers. Is there something you would like to know more (or less) about? Have you run across trading techniques, services or products that have proved useful? Tell us about it. Without a source of new ideas and subjects coming from our readers, this magazine would not exist. Address your correspondence to: Editor, STOCKS & COMMODITIES, 4757 California Ave. SW, Seattle, WA 98116-4499, or E-mai...

AUTHOR: Technical Analysis, Inc.DATE: MAR1999SUBJECT: Letters To S&C