Technical Analysis Notes
Technical Analysis Notes
Avoid Them
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PREDATOR OR PREY?
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{I} Overview of Financial Analysis -
Support: Areas of congestion or previous lows below the current price mark support
levels.
A break below support would be considered bearish.
Resistance: Areas of congestion and previous highs above the current price mark
the resistance levels.
A break above resistance would be considered bullish.
Buying/Selling Pressure: For stocks and indices with volume figures available, an
indicator that uses volume is used to measure buying or selling pressure.
When Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) is above zero, buying pressure is dominant.
Selling pressure is dominant when it (CMF) is below zero
Relative Strength: The price relative is a line formed by dividing the security by
a benchmark.
For stocks it is usually the price of the stock divided by the S&P 500.
The plot of this line over a period of time will tell us if the stock is
outperforming (rising) or
under performing (falling) the major index
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{II} How to Analyze Charts -
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[A] What Are Charts?
A price chart is a sequence of prices plotted over a specific time frame.
In statistical terms, charts are referred to as time series plots
On the chart, the y-axis (vertical axis) represents the price scale and
the x-axis (horizontal axis) represents the time scale.
How to Pick a Time Frame:
How Are Charts Formed?
1. Line Chart - By paying attention to only the close, intraday swings can be
ignored. Line charts are also used when open, high and low data points are not
available.
2. Bar Chart - Perhaps the most popular charting method is the bar chart. The
high, low and close are required to form the price plot for each period of a bar
chart.
The high and low are represented by the top and bottom of the
vertical bar and
the close is the short horizontal line crossing the vertical
bar.
Bar charts can also be displayed using the open, high, low and
close.
The only difference is the addition of the open price, which
is displayed as a short horizontal line extending to the left of the bar.
3. Candlestick Chart - For a candlestick chart, the open, high, low and close
are all required.
Many traders and investors believe that candlestick
charts are easy to read, especially the relationship between the open and the
close.
White (clear) candlesticks form when the close is
higher than the open and
black (solid) candlesticks form when the close is lower
than the open.
The white and black portion formed from the open and
close is called the body (white body or black body).
The lines above and below are called shadows and
represent the high and low.
4. Point & Figure Chart - Point & Figure Charts are based solely on price
movement,
and do not take time into consideration.
There is an x-axis but it does not extend evenly
across the chart.
Point & Figure charts consist of columns of X's and
O's that represent filtered price movements over time.
On a P&F chart price movements are combined into either a rising column of
X's or a falling column of O's.
If you are familiar with standard chart analysis, you can think of each
column as representing either an uptrend or a downtrend.
Each X or O occupies what is called a box on the chart.
Each chart has a setting called the Box Size that is the amount that a
stock needs to move above the top of the current column of X's (or below the
bottom of the current column of O's) before another X (or O) is added to that
column.
Each chart has a second setting called the Reversal Amount that determines
the amount that a stock needs to move in the opposite direction (down if we are in
a rising column of X's, up for a column of O's) before a reversal occurs.
Whenever this reversal threshold is crossed, a new column is started right
next to the previous one, only moving in the opposite direction.
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Traditionally, the box size is set to 1 and the reversal amount is 3.
The number on the vertical axis represents the value of the "floor" of the
box. The "ceiling" of the box is equal to the floor + the box size.
If prices move anywhere inside that range of values, the box is filled in
with an "X" or and "O".
Is it important to remember that P&F charts do not show time in a linear
fashion. Each column can represent one day, or many days, depending on the price
movement.
Because of the nature of P&F charts, support and resistance levels are
always horizontal lines and trend lines always appear at 45� angles.
Support Levels - You can spot support levels on P&F charts by looking
for a horizontal row of Os that each mark the bottom of their respective columns.
Resistance Levels - Like support levels, resistance levels are horizontal
lines on P&F charts. They mark the upper level for trading, or a price at which
sellers typically outnumber buyers. Find them by looking for a row of X's.
Upward Trend Lines -
Downward Trend Lines -
5. Price Scaling
There are two methods for displaying the price scale along the y-axis:
arithmetic and logarithmic.
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[F]
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