I often find all manner of reference to Technical Analysis whilst reading threads, questioning certain elements, asking for advice on indicators and also requesting advice on a stock and whether it's a good time to buy, sell, hold or remain indifferent. I am the first to admit that my own TA is still in its infancy, but I do spend time on expanding my knowledge (hopefully in the right direction!).

Rather than having to ask a TA question on a particular thread, perhaps this thread could be used as a forum for TA queries and become a knowledge base. Just a thought, if there is little or no interest, the thread will sink without trace and that will be the end of that. I will personally add a few snippets to help those with less knowledge (if that's possible) to keep things rolling. There is a danger that the thread will receive countless requests for opinions on a variety of stocks and there is only so much I can do alone, therefore I would more than welcome input from other posters, no matter how rudimentary they believe their own knowledge to be, hopefully some real experts will take the time to contribute.

sned, I'll have a look later and post summat, nice uptrend this year though :)

Greyhound reckons support at 20530, but if 20700 broken then anywhere, though he is betting on 21000

All coming together nicely today:

DOO on the slide
SCHE reached the initial target of 545p (hit 542p), the revised target of 535p perhaps in sight.
CSR staying in its 'box'
TAN managed to get through 200p and passed my short entry of 207p (hit 211p) and now falling off, will it go as far as my target of 175p though?
Tate & Lyle showing weakness as expected
COH continues to ease off
Suggested shorting of ACM last night would now be in profit, although only slighlty thus far.

One theme throughout - all shorts!

pth

Forgot about my long - WNG - not unaffected by today's tribulations, but hanging in there.

Thought I'd better join in if we're talking cable/fx, only as it's my full time job. I see big support at 2.0530 and remain bullish above. Not withstanding we're at multi year highs corporates still failing (as usual) to cover and believe we're in a new phase now and see us 2.10/2.1050. Not specifically sterling strength but dollar weakness and getting sold across AUD/NZD/JPY... good luck!

hope you ain't going to piss on my party Mr G! ...... in the money at the moment, but that can change very quickly ...... your "big support" at 20530 well noted and may top slice at that level, just to cover my arse (from your attentions!)

Not a great deal of UK/US data out this week. Nationwide house prices on 26th to keep an eye on. US confidence tonight. Just be wary and as long as you don't leave it open then you're fine. Gut feeling tells me sell the dollar...and keep selling it. EUR/JPY already being talked of at 170. Might not be a quiet summer.

thanks for the advice ..... except when travelling, i monitor throughout the day and have learnt the hard way to cut losses

ACU for Mr Sned :)

A few lines to look at here. The green dotted trendline goes back to Dec 2006, since then it has acted as both support and resistance in equal measure and hence its inclusion, it may well act as support again during any pullback. The brownish trendline has been overtaken by a steeper rise (purple dashed line) and if (when?) this steeper trend fails, again this may provide support. The horizontal white dashed line is the previous all time high.

So where does ACU go from here? Obviously the SP has 'broken' out, but the indicators don't seem to offer much room for further rises as the moment. The RSI usually retreats from this level, but that doesn't mean there will be a sell off. Personally I think there will be a consolidation of sorts and an easing of the SP, would keep an eye on 90p as a level which broken may cause concern.

Bit woolly I know, hope it helps.

pth

Acambis:

The reason I posted this yesterday as a possible short is self explanatory. ACU has been in a steady decline for an awful long time. Everything seems to point to further weakness and the SP is currently quite close to the top of this channel. Bit of a slow mover though. The company claim that everything is going to be ok with a pipeline of positive news expected so I would exercise some caution with a stop just above the channel.

pth

Thanks again PTH I can see what you mean by waiting to establish the trend. So another question, (you did say I could ask!!!!) Regards SCHE I can see your support at 535 suppose it bounces off that, would you be looking for it to breach the 545 mark before going long, I do think this is going to to up again. Alternatively if it breaches 535 would I be correct in saying next support is 500?
EMG is still creeping up I think it willl test the high again, fingers crossed.

be prepared for a very bloody opening tomorrow morning ....... am so thankful i took slabs of profit over the last couple of weeks and shall probably now just ride out the storm ...... SOLA could easily tumble very sharply and having just looked at the charts, DOO could also fall heavily, but there will still be the odd stock that bucks the trend for special reasons - e.g. t/o approach

Forget that question PTH have just read the SCHE thread and have got my answers at least I got the 500 right :)

maggie, you answered the second part of your question yourself, as to the first. I wouldn't necessarily go long just because the SP climbed back through a previous support line. It is important not to use any one indicator in isolation, use evrything at your disposal to maximise the success of a trade. Since I have started this thread I have continually assessed the overall state of the market, well at least my take on it. Not much point in going long on anything if we're in a major bear market (not saying we are, but.............) keep these things in mind.

pth

Thanks Think I'll follow Cynic's lead and ride out the storm. Hope it's a short one.

If it's a long storm short the arse off everything :))

Thanks Greyhound, I am a complete novice at this game and it's nice to hear from a pro. So given a 2-3 year time frame, where do you think cable might go? Take your point about dollar against other currencies, however, walk, don't run, I want to get my head around cable first. Cheers

CSR had to be a great buy this morning at +/-800, so have just jumped back in at 807

garfee, nice question, 2-3 year time frame is a hard one as we're talking some 26 year lows. The last two times I traded cable back in 1992 when sterling crashed out of the ERM we saw a fast retracement. My general feeling is cable at 2.1050ish this time,should the 2.0530 hold. 2-3 years back to 1.80/1.60 perhaps. Really not sure so don't make any decisions on that!!! UK rates will eventually peak and US rates will start to fall (maybe another hike shouldn't be ruled out first).

Only trading cable is fine but you shouldn't look in isolation, look at AUD, NZD because these are the "things" that provide the impetus for the big overruns in the fx markets (which is why I think 2.10 is a real possibility - and then maybe buy property in Vegas being the fastest growing US city!!).

Greyhound, thanks for that, I shall study.