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.

choccy .... please don't start talking about pussy .... it'll get me overexcited!

Well this stuff isn't from the site - it's from people like Robert McHugh - who always remembers to put PhD after his name :) and Bill Adlard - who rather refreshingly isn't American.

I also recall TomH calling the bear market, following his mentor Wilder's wild musings.

Nah - everyone's been calling the subprime thingie :)

Blimey, cynic - I thought it was just culinary delights that tickled your extremities ;)

many things oral have great appeal!
meanwhile, my little Dow short is heading in the right direction and may even increase it

btw, CTH (see thread) gets curiouser and curiouser, as said Alice

Thanks for advice Dy have made a note and even understand Thought I might get a blue dot today but sp took a nose dive when yanks opened. I live in hope!!!

maggie, whilst I do not use bar reversals and I'm not knocking the concept, in fact I do agree with Dynamix, don't hang your hat on one particular concept of TA. Like everything, it works until it doesn't work anymore. All methods and indicators have their place in time, deciding when to use each is crucial to success. If any combination of system were anywhere near infallible we would all be doing the same thing and millionaires. There's a lot more to a system than just a blue dot.

pth

bloody

pth - price action is what makes the indicators turn. theres many other price indicators on offer (like 123's etc) but if you use it WITH a lagging indicator it gives it more weight. like you said, theres more to a system than blue dots, thats why in the same picture I posted an MACD which was above zero and a trend line to follow.

The beauty of price action entry signals, they give you a stop loss, or in other words a point at which you know the trade is wrong and time to get out.

With a lagging indicator, by time the indicator turns, the price could have crashed far further than where you wanted to exit

sorry chaps, but right call on Dow even if i did set my limit a bit high

dynamix, I agree entirely with your comments, the point I was making to maggie (and you also agree) is not to rely on just one 'system'. When I first started studying TA I got hung up on MACD bullish / bearish divergence nearly to the exclsuion of everything else, it didn't take me long to realise it wasn't a good system! (Incidentally, I still have an awful lot of TA to study). Finding your posts very useful btw, as I am sure are others :)

pth

PS Well done Mr Cynic.

I must guard against hubris, for last 4 calls i have made on Dow have proved profitable ..... confess i fear for Monday though after hours, index looks to have recovered above 13205 which is potentially quite critical, even though i had set my limit 60 points higher where there was a lesser support - non-existent it would seem!

Gentlemen? this is the best thread I've read on this BB because it is giving me the tools to make informed decisions. Much better than "Technical Advice for Dummies" book. I find all of the info interesting and try to understand the concepts. I have already worked out that the best way is to use all the TA that I understand. Having said that I'm only a beginner and I really do appreciate the time spent by all of you to point me in the right direction. Please don't stop.
PS I think one concept I can't get my brain around is patience

Pth What happened with the last trend line, is it working would appreciate an update - in your own time
Absolutely brilliant thread so says Harvey wallbanger sss

i think the markets in general could be in for a very torrid few weeks unless Dow has an unexpectedly strong day on Monday ....... if there is no further bad news on sub-prime etc over w/e that is just conceivable, though i shall not be betting on it until there is some positive indication ..... Dow after close just about struggled back over the potentially critical 13205 mark.

The FTSE is very close to support. Given the sell off in the DOW last night, it's just possible we'll see it breached on Monday with a head down towards the key 6000 level. It should probably bounce from there. The only danger is a bounce that would start to form a "head and shoulders" pattern. If the FTSE fails to rally significantly then it could mean further declines. Given the amount of TA used in the market I suspect traders and institutions will have seen these possibilities and take advantage of them. I suspect most people here are holding shares outside of the FTSE 100, but the psychological impact of continued falls will no doubt ripple outwards.

I'm not sure how you post images on here so maybe someone could illustrate. Left shoulder peak mid Feb 07 6444, base around 6000, head peak mid June 6732, right shoulder forming down to 6000. A bounce and fail upto 6300 ish possibly completing the pattern.

In my opinion.....

Strawbs.

for those who cannot read charts the spx and nasdaq both fell thro the supporting trendline whilst the dow sits just below

UKX support at 6186

GF

Apologies I missed your post, but FWIW her's my opinion. The white trendline is obviously the longer term uptrend, which in the event of any pull backs should provide support, so any downside limited to 100p and rising. The other trend (blue) is somewhat immature in that it hasn't been overly tested over a lengthy period, so will be interesting to see if it holds should the occasion arise. Actually neither trend line is particularly challenging, both being relatively shallow. Overall it's a nice steady chart with the odd leap followed by a period of consolidation. It tried to break out above the 120p level last week and fell back, I wouldn't be surprised to see if it has another go, although with the current market volatility who knows? Incidentally the long term chart shows a sort of 'saucer' or even 'cup and handle' pattern forming, well possibly, so if you believe in that sort of thing, long term could see a return to 160p by the end of the year.

pth

shan't be in the office this afternoon for otherwise would have been very tempted indeed to go long on Dow .... however, it is quite a dangerous call though odds are in favour of at least a temporary bounce, but as i can't monitor shall be a good boy for once!

having got home about 18:30 i took the plunge ...... the record will show the result as i am far too modest!

I hope you are all looking for potential reversal bars on stocks for the morning right now?

I have 3 major Dax ones to watch along with the usual bunch of UKs. It might not be the bottom, but for short termers like me could be good gains.

may be too late by opening time ..... FTSE indicator is already showing +70, so unless already long ......