MAR 2004 STOCKS & COMMODITIES Magazine

Article Archive For MAR2004

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Books For Traders by Technical Analysis, Inc.

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...V. 22:3 (122): Books For Traders by Technical Analysis, Inc. Sample entry of the books reviewed in this month's magazine: Mutual Fund Investor's Guide 2004 (509 pages, $20 softcover, 2004, ISBN 1-59184-031-7) by Kirk Kazanjian, a Portfolio book by the Penguin Group. Mutual funds remain the vehicle of choice for smart investors. But in today's markets, which ones? The author provides clear, practical advice, filtering through the universe of stock and bond funds, and dispels the mystery around mutual funds to show you how to figure out the funds that suit you best....

AUTHOR: Technical Analysis, Inc.DATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Books For Traders

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DAT To The Future by David Penn

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...V. 22:3 (17-23): DAT To The Future by David Penn Electronic trading has come a long way in the six years since the SEC's display rules of 1997. How have individual traders continued to take advantage of a revolution in access and transparency? In many ways, the evolution of directaccess trading (DAT) is a classic David and Goliath tale. While many rightly point to the explosion in technological capability -- from PCs and the Internet to sophisticated order-routing systems exploiting intelligent networks -- the primary driver of the electronic revolution has been the efforts by the oft-abused a...

AUTHOR: David PennDATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Internet

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Explore Your Options by Tom Gentile

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...TECHNICAL OR FUNDAMENTAL? Q: Which is a better form of analysis to use when trading options, technical or fundamental? A: Talk about a loaded question! Well, when trading options, the fact is that the life of an option is limited to the terms of the contract. Since the majority of options traders focus on contracts that expire within three months, it's plain to see that fundamental analysis really isn't going to help much. That's not to say that certain fundamentals won't be helpful in making a decision to place a trade, but you probably don't care whether that offshore drilling company is ...

AUTHOR: Tom GentileDATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Explore Your Options

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Interview: David Norman On Market Technology by Jayanthi Gopalakrishnan

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...V. 22:3 (76-83): Interview: David Norman On Market Technology by Jayanthi Gopalakrishnan Trading's come a long way since the days of the bucket shops, and now, technology and trading have become virtually inseparable. Here's someone who can tell us all about it: David Norman has been involved in trading and financial markets technology for 19 years. He has traded for and overseen trading operations in a variety of derivative instruments for a number of international companies, including Prudential Bache International, Cargill Investors Services, Sanwa Futures, Natwest Markets, and UBS Philips...

AUTHOR: Jayanthi GopalakrishnanDATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Interview

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Letters To S&C by Technical Analysis, Inc.

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...V. 22:3 (10-14): Letters To S&C by Technical Analysis, Inc. ON-BALANCE VOLUME Editor, I enjoyed D.W. Davies' January 2004 article, "Daytrading With On-Balance Volume." As a point of reference, I need to point out that while Joe Granville (for whom I have utmost respect as a technician and friend) popularized the term on-balance volume, the idea was originally called cumulative volume and was presented in a course written by Woods and Vignolia in San Francisco in 1946. LARRY WILLIAMS Thank you for pointing this out. It's always important to know history. . ....

AUTHOR: Technical Analysis, Inc.DATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Letters To S&C

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Mechanically Recognizing Triangular Formations by Giorgos Siligardos, Ph.D.

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...V. 22:3 (24-38): Mechanically Recognizing Triangular Formations by Giorgos Siligardos, Ph.D. Patterns such as triangles, pennants, and wedges (hereafter referred to as triangular formations, or TF) are some of the first things to which an aspiring chart analyst is introduced when he or she begins to study technical analysis. The chart formations in this category are characterized by an oscillating movement of price toward an equilibrium point. They all have two things in common: They usually take place during strong trends and they provide good trading opportunities with clear stops and, most...

AUTHOR: Giorgos E. Siligardos, Ph.D.DATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Patterns

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More Mileage From Margin by John Summa

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...V. 22:3 (48-50): More Mileage From Margin by John Summa Looking for ways to get more from your margin? Try this. As an option writer, which by definition produces limited profit scenarios, I am particularly concerned about finding ways to lower my cost of trading. One way is to get maximum mileage out of my margin capital. So I decided to undertake a comparative study of margin requirements for option trades in two popular markets used by option writers: the CBOE's Options Exchange (OEX) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's Standard & Poor's stock index futures. If you are serious about opt...

AUTHOR: John SummaDATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Options

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Opening Position by Jayanthi Gopalakrishnan

AUTHOR: Jayanthi GopalakrishnanDATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Opening Position

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Q&A by Don Bright

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...V. 22:3 (74): Q&A by Don Bright Q: Why are you so sure you will be on the same side as the specialist when using envelope orders? Would you please explain the basics about how you select your stocks (criteria)? When do you enter a trade (and when do you pull the order to avoid getting filled)? Finally, you say you have this automated. Does that mean you trade only the price movements of the particular stock? A: When you "envelope" the bid and offer, you are looking to take advantage of what we call trade-throughs. This is when the stock drops or rises an unusual amount to accommodate a large...

AUTHOR: Don BrightDATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Q&A

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Sidebar: MetaStock Code For TPR Explorations by Giorgos Siligardos, Ph.D.

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...V. 22:3 (24-38): Sidebar: MetaStock Code For TPR Explorations by Giorgos Siligardos, Ph.D. METASTOCK CODE FOR TPR EXPLORATIONS Use the code below as a filter to identify TFs that last up to 60 trading days and produce retracements of no more than 50%. In column A, write exactly the same code, but in the last line substitute "TPR>0" with "TPR." You may also name column A as "TPR." The code works with daily charts and requires the zz(20%) to have produced at least four swings in chart history to function properly....

AUTHOR: Giorgos E. Siligardos, Ph.D.DATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Sidebar

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Traders' Resource: Online Trading Services by Technical Analysis, Inc.

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...V. 22:3 (104-113): Traders' Resource: Online Trading Services by Technical Analysis, Inc. You can find a wealth of information on the Internet for nearly any subject imaginable, including investing, trading, and the financial markets. You can even find a good amount on technical analysis. Each month in STOCKS & COMMODITIES' Traders' Resource, we present a listing for different categories of products and services related to trading, all to aid our readers in their pursuit of trading. This month, we focus on the topic of online trading services. We contacted companies that offer services to t...

AUTHOR: Technical Analysis, Inc.DATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Traders' Resource

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Traders' Tips by Technical Analysis, Inc.

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...V. 22:3 (92-102): Traders' Tips by Technical Analysis, Inc. This month's Traders' Tips feature code for Giorgos Siligardos' article ""Mechanically Recognized Triagular Formations,"" which describes a method of assessing chart patterns in terms of triangles with falling volume. Code is supplied for the following software: TradeStation, MetaStock, AmiBroker, eSignal, Wealth-Lab, NeuroShell Trader, TickQuest, Prophet, TechniFilter Plus, and Trade Navigator....

AUTHOR: Technical Analysis, Inc.DATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Traders' Tips

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Websites For Traders: GoldMoney.com by Bruce R. Faber

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...V. 22:3 (90-91): Websites For Traders: GoldMoney.com by Bruce R. Faber GOLDMONEY.COM There are two basic kinds of money: commodity-backed money and faith-based money. Commodity-backed currency can be exchanged on demand for the commodity that backs it. That commodity might be gold or silver, or it could be something of lesser, but commonly known, value, such as grain rye -- hence the "rye marks" of Weimar Germany in 1923. In order to increase the amount of a commodity-based currency, there must be an increase in that commodity. More gold and/or silver must be mined or acquired by trade, or mo...

AUTHOR: Bruce R. FaberDATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Website For Traders

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Websites For Traders: MrSwing.com by David Penn

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...V. 22:3 (68-69): Websites For Traders: MrSwing.com by David Penn MRSWING.COM Do you swing? Whether you are a novice or a veteran trend trader who has discovered that your need for immediate gratification (also known as "ringing the register") is greater than your ability to withstand the inevitable drawdowns and lower winning trade percentages involved in riding out long-term market moves, then call me crazy, but swinging -- as in swing trading -- may be your thing. What is swing trading? As Frederik Van Duuren, better known as "Larry Swing," the creator of MrSwing.com, puts it in a section o...

AUTHOR: David PennDATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Website For Traders

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Will The Real XAU Volume Please Stand Up? by James Kellndorfer

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS ...V. 22:3 (56-61): Will The Real XAU Volume Please Stand Up? by James Kellndorfer There's more to volume than meets the eye. One of the questions facing technical analysts today is deciding which dataset to use. This dilemma, which recently exposed the ugly side of technical analysis with the XAU index, stems from poor standards and definitions, and it is exacerbated by the fact that technicians assume they know what they are working with. Data is now available in so many varieties that a technician must be careful not to overlook the obvious, and it is becoming far too easy to inadvertently mi...

AUTHOR: James KellndorferDATE: MAR2004SUBJECT: Internet

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