Category Archives: In-Depth Article

How to Draw Trendlines & Avoid Severe Losses

Posted on June 1, 2012 by

From the high in 2000 to the low in 2002, the NASDAQ 100 index lost 83% of its value.  It has never recovered its losses.   From 2008 to 2009, the S&P 500 index lost 57% of its value (peak … Continue reading →

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Posted in Futures, In-Depth Article, Market Commentary, Market Timing, Risk Management, Stocks & ETFs, Technical Analysis | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Proven Stock Screens Earn 20%+ Annual Returns

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

Consistently picking individual stocks that will generate excess returns is hard, but most investors make it much more difficult than necessary.  There are a number of simple, fundamental stock screens that have generated historical returns of 20% to 40% per … Continue reading →

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Posted in Fundamental Analysis, In-Depth Article, Security Selection, Stock Investor Pro, Stock Screens, Stocks & ETFs, Zacks | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Are the Seasonal Trends Working this Year?

Posted on May 18, 2012 by

Knowing the historical seasonal tendencies of our trading instruments can dramatically improve our returns, but how much weight should we assign to seasonal trends?  What should we do if our other indicators are bearish and the historical seasonal trend is … Continue reading →

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Posted in Futures, In-Depth Article, Market Timing, Options, Seasonal Tools, SWAMI Charts, Technical Analysis | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Use Sector Confirmation to Improve Your Trading Results

Posted on May 11, 2012 by

Analyzing the technical and/or fundamental characteristics of an individual security is obviously a requirement before investing.  However, very few traders go the extra mile and evaluate the characteristics of the market sector as well.  Using sector confirmation can help you … Continue reading →

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Posted in COT Analysis, Futures, In-Depth Article, Market Commentary, Market Timing, SWAMI Charts, Trade Analysis | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

A More Efficient Relative Strength Indicator

Posted on May 4, 2012 by

Relative strength investing has a proven track record of success.  Most traders have heard the term, but know very little about developing or trading strategies based on relative strength.  The concept is simple: buy the strongest securities and sell the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Economic Indicators, In-Depth Article, Market Breadth, Market Timing, Options, Relative Strength, Stocks & ETFs, SWAMI Charts, Technical Analysis | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Harness the Power of the Seasons

Posted on April 26, 2012 by

As traders, there are very few things we know with certainty.  But there are several factors that we can forecast accurately – even years in advance: when domestic and international holidays will occur when economic data will be released when … Continue reading →

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Posted in Futures, In-Depth Article, Market Timing, Seasonal Tools, Stocks & ETFs, Technical Analysis | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Everybody Loves Fridays

Posted on April 18, 2012 by

We all use economic, fundamental, and/or technical data to gain insight into market movements.  Some data may appear to lead the market, but there is often no plausible explanation for their supposed predictive abilities.  This can be disconcerting for a … Continue reading →

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Posted in COT Analysis, Futures, In-Depth Article, Market Commentary, Market Timing, Seasonal Tools, Technical Analysis | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Look at the Big Picture

Posted on April 11, 2012 by

We all have a few favorite technical indicators.  However, almost all technical indicators calculate indicator values for a specific look-back period and then plot those values over time.  With this approach, we can only analyze one look-back period at a … Continue reading →

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Posted in COT Analysis, Futures, In-Depth Article, Market Commentary, Market Timing, Stocks & ETFs, Technical Analysis, Trade Analysis | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments