As of 12/20/2024
Indus: 42,840 +498.02 +1.2%
Trans: 15,892 +32.54 +0.2%
Utils: 986 +14.76 +1.5%
Nasdaq: 19,573 +199.83 +1.0%
S&P 500: 5,931 +63.77 +1.1%
|
YTD
+13.7%
0.0%
+11.9%
+30.4%
+24.3%
|
 44,200 or 41,750 by 01/01/2025 16,100 or 17,700 by 01/01/20251,050 or 975 by 01/01/202520,500 or 19,300 by 01/01/20256,100 or 5,775 by 01/01/2025 |
As of 12/20/2024
Indus: 42,840 +498.02 +1.2%
Trans: 15,892 +32.54 +0.2%
Utils: 986 +14.76 +1.5%
Nasdaq: 19,573 +199.83 +1.0%
S&P 500: 5,931 +63.77 +1.1%
|
YTD
+13.7%
0.0%
+11.9%
+30.4%
+24.3%
| |
|
44,200 or 41,750 by 01/01/202516,100 or 17,700 by 01/01/20251,050 or 975 by 01/01/202520,500 or 19,300 by 01/01/20256,100 or 5,775 by 01/01/2025 | ||
Updated an image of the CPI on 8/31/2020.
Here are a few trading tips that could make your trading life easier, and more profitable, if you follow them.
Imagine that you are contemplating a trade, but the chart pattern doesn't look quite right. You have doubts. Is the left shoulder too far below the right for a proper head-and-shoulders top? Are the two bottoms of an Adam & Eve double bottom too far apart in time or price or is it another combination of Adam and Eve?
Such questions are good to have, but they also highlight a problem area. If you have to ask me for help with a trade then you should look elsewhere for a more promising setup. If you have doubts about a pattern then others may share similar feelings.
Sometimes, chart patterns and technical analysis in general are self-fulfilling prophesies. For example, you can mathematically show that round numbers are no more likely to act as support or resistance than other numbers, but if traders believe that they do, then the technique works.
Here is another example, taken from my
Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns
In the second edition of my book, Eve & Eve double bottoms with narrowly spaced bottoms show rises of 44% in a bull market, but those spaced wider apart show post breakout rises averaging just 37%. Traders see the narrower double bottom and trade it, overlooking the wider one.
Do your wallet or purse a favor and wait for a setup in which you are confident that other traders will see it the same way that you do.
If you are a novice at picking chart patterns, so was I once. I remember looking at a triple top chart pattern. Was it a triple top or a head-and-shoulders top? The middle peak was below the surrounding two, so it was clearly not a head-and-shoulders. But was the middle peak too far below the others? The answer came with experience and the recognition that other traders probably had the same doubts. A search for more triple tops revealed that it is common for the middle peak to be slightly below the other two.
A bit of research eased my mind and I was able to trade the pattern with confidence.
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My worst trades are those in which I know that I am right. I am so confident in my position that when price drops, I average down (buy more at a lower price, dropping the average purchase price). That technique works well for buy-and-hold providing that price recovers, but it is often a disaster for more frequent trades.
What happens is that the price drops enough so that the pain of losing gets so hurtful that you sell just before the stock begins recovering. Not only do you take a huge loss, but feel additional pain as price rises while you watch from the sidelines. You kick yourself for not holding on a few days longer. That belief creates a bad habit. The next time a loss happens, you will hold longer, suffering an even larger loss.
Overconfidence leads to failure.
The next time you feel that the trade is a no-brainer, that it can't lose, recognize that you're about to lose big. Skip the trade. Sometimes the best trade you can make is none at all.
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If price is in a trading range, meaning that it is bouncing up and down, but not really moving anywhere except sideways, then the breakout from a chart pattern could signal the start of a new trend. However, the breakout may be fake with price returning to moving sideways, or worse -- zipping downward.
In these turbulent markets (2008, mostly), I see many chart patterns with breakouts showing price rising, but not enough to justify raising a stop to break even.
This type of choppy movement causes loss after loss, but I know that if I don't play the market, a trend will start and I will miss it.
Waiting for the chart pattern indicator to signal green helps with trend determination, so I have added that to my toolbox to help pick successful trades. The most reliable signals occur when three green triangles accompany the signal. I show a screen capture of 0.5 green triangles (circled in red), and you can find them near the top of most pages on this website. Keep in mind that a signal can disappear or change for up to a week.
If I could reliably tell when a market was trending, I would be retired. OK, so I did retire at 36, but you know what I mean.
I want all of my picks to work. I want every chart pattern breakout to lead to a long, straight-line move up. That is the stuff I dream about, but sometimes a woman is involved...
-- Thomas Bulkowski
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Support this site! Clicking any of the books (below) takes you to
Amazon.com If you buy ANYTHING while there, they pay for the referral.
Legal notice for paid links: "As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases."
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My Stock Market Books
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My Novels
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Copying machine: A device that shreds paper, flashes mysterious codes, and makes duplicates for everyone in the office that isn't interested in reading them.
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