Learning Technical Analysis

Does anyone have any good suggestions for Books/YouTube Videos to learn technical analysis?

This won’t teach you everything you need to know, but it’s a good start:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

I mean, you could always just go through the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) program.

Word?

Get a cat and let the cat make your buy/sell decisions. Your result will be just as good, and you can get free cuddles.

If I was using technical analysis to be a “trader” I would have to agree.

However, I would like to use it as a supplemental tool to know when it is and isn’t a good time to initiate a position in a stock that I believe in the fundamentals as a long term holding.

Not that I don’t see your rationale, I just wonder if there’s any significant benefit in trying to nickel and dime using TA in something you’re interested in over a longer investment horizon.

My anecdotal experience with TA has left me subscribing more to the philosophy that markets with significant trading activity are at least weak-form efficient. With that said, I haven’t really read much of the published literature on TA and any new current developments or innovative techniques.

Pring and Murphy are the Bibles of TA - look them up

https://www.amazon.com/Technical-Analysis-Explained-Fifth-Successful/dp/0071825177

https://www.amazon.com/Technical-Analysis-Financial-Markets-Comprehensive/dp/0735200661

Also a good read,

Japanese Candlestick Charting

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0735201811/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=K28DK6Q53FDRNEJBRNZ8&dpPl=1&dpID=51xik0Tgy4L

I love free cuddles. Especially with dimes.

On the the long term/ investment time frame, TA is useless (I think even as a timing mechanism) … TA, even at it’s best is not very accurate. It is best applied by participants who make many trading decisions and can realize the edge which resolves over a large sample of trades. Even then, I can tell you these participants have worked very hard to develop specifics in how they apply basic TA principles. If effective use of TA could be obtained in few you tube videos… everyone would be market ballers :stuck_out_tongue:

If you are still interested … I recommend

“The Art and Science of Technical Analysis” Adam Grimes (also has a great blog and website)

In addition, look into “auction market theory” which takes TA a step beyond patterns, drawing lines on a chart and calculating moving averages.

I’m one of the 1600 CMTs out there and I’ll be the first one to tell you that there are good things about TA and very, very “bad apples” which spoiled the rest.

There are two types of technicians – the Elliott Wavers/Astrologists/Draw Lines On Charts guys and the ones who enjoy learning about markets but want to add some statistical rigor to their own methods (these guys are generally quant-ish). Bear in mind most technical analysis methods were invented between 1940 and 1960. If you’re looking to add value to your own skillset, I would suggest picking up one of the less entertaining books such as The Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns by Thomas Bulkowski or Trading Systems & Methods by Perry Kaufman. The first is a lighter read but the author (an engineer) puts some statistical rigor into what the folks were doing back in the 1940s and 50s and sorts out the good from the bad.

The second one…it’s about as dry as a CFA reading and 1300 pages, but you’ll leave understanding spectral analysis, genetic algorithms, systems development/testing, and knowledge of almost every event-driven and trend-following system out there (both long and short term oriented).