Three of the Most Consistent Candlestick Patterns

Williams’ %R: One of the Most Essential Technical Indicators

One of the best ways to become a great trader is to try new things.

Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a perfect strategy. But if you’re willing to trade outside of the box, you can become a better trader.

Trading with the 50 Day and 200 Day Moving Averages

When it comes to technical analysis, one of the necessities for success is the moving average.  In fact, for years, I’ve personally relied on two of them – the 50-day and even the 200-day moving averages.

Each is powerful because they give us a view of a stock’s trend, as well as a look at where we may find support and resistance along the way.  For example, if I find a stock that historically bounces every time it hits its 50-day moving average, I’m likely to buy on a test of that moving average. 

That’s because, as they say, the trend is your friend.

Three of the Most Powerful Technical Pivot Indicators

When bungee jumpers plummet off a bridge, what happens?

They pop back up, right?

The very same thing happens with stocks when they become too overbought or oversold. And if we can position ourselves for the exact moment the “snap back” happens, we can make money. And it’s actually quite easy to spot.

The Exact Time to Jump out of Any Trade

It’s not about having the perfect strategy.

It’s about the rule you abide by with each trade. 

One of the biggest issues facing all walks of traders is a severe lack of discipline and structure in stock buying habits. Many fail to use stop losses, or even protect gains with a simple trailing stop loss strategy. Others risk far too much.

Price Expansion and Retraction: The Rubber Band Effect

If you pull a rubber band too far, too fast, what happens?

It snaps back, right?  The same thing happens with stocks, indexes, and currencies.  If they’re pulled too far in one direction, eventually they’ll snap back and revert to back to the mean.  In fact, we see it happen all the time.

The Two-Step Process to Uncovering Value after a Pullback

“Why would I want to touch a stock that just plummeted?”

My answer, “Why not?”

What many traders don’t understand is that many pullbacks create opportunities, especially when it happens to a well-known stock. 

How to Properly Catch a Falling Knife

Traders are often told to buy excessive fear.

Warren Buffett even advises to buy when others are fearful.

It’s part of the reason some bought Twitter (TWTR) and Facebook (FB) after both witnessed ugly downturns on earnings fiascos.

How to Know When a Trend Reversal Is Likely

We have all heard the phrase, "the trend is your friend" and as traders we also know just how amazing profitable it can be trading alongside it as well as how devastating it can be to out accounts when we trade against it. But before we are truly able to spot likely trend reversals, we must be able to spot a trend itself.

Trading the J-Hook Continuation Pattern

Technical analysts attempt to predict direction by studying past price action and charts. And understandably, there are critics. In fact, some see it a pseudo-nonsense. 

Forbes for example says it’s fundamentally flawed.

Analysts Turn Bullish on Gold, But Beware

Investors piled into gold in June 2019, sending the precious metal to a six-year high.

All thanks to tensions with China, a more dovish Federal Reserve, and the latest “hard-hitting” sanctions on Iran after a U.S. drone was shot down. Remember, gold is a safe haven and a good store of value during times of a weaker dollar, slowing economic activity, and geo-tensions.

How to Spot a “Blood in the Streets” Opportunity in Big Tech

In early June 2019, markets pulled back sharply.

And it wasn’t just because of the trade war. This time, falling knives in big tech forced the NASDAQ into correction territory. All thanks to antitrust regulator’s plans that could lead to broader oversight on Facebook, Google, and Amazon.

How to Identify Flag and Pennant Setups

Once you begin to understand technical analysis, you’re literally looking at a consolidated view of the very forces of supply and demand – the two key forces that drive markets. 

We’ve already discussed some of the most powerful and most used patterns, like Bollinger Bands, Fibonacci retracements, relative strength, head and shoulder patterns, breakouts, and even how to use candlesticks.

The Magic of Moving Average Crossovers

By now, you’re well aware of how to find trends using simple moving averages, such as the 50- and 200-day moving averages.   But you should also know how to potentially spot when a trend could stop dead in its tracks, or birth a new trend.

An Easy Way to Spot Pivots in Stocks

One of the best ways to make money on the Street is by spotting excessive bouts of fear and greed. 

In fact, that’s how some of the most famous investors made their money.

In short, they were buying when others were scared, and selling when others got too greedy. They were exploiting the very psychology of herd mentality.

And we can do much of the same.

Always Look for Agreement with These Technical Indicators

I love when traders tell me technical analysis doesn’t work. 

While they’re entitled to be wrong, the fact remains that technical analysis does work, sometimes by up to 80% of the time. Granted, there is no Holy Grail, but if we use the right indicators, we increase our odds of success. Especially if we apply those indicators to well known stocks that may only be down temporarily.

Technical Analysis:Using the Williams’ %R Indicator in Your Trading

There are hundreds of technical patterns to be aware of.

In fact, if you pick up Steven B. Achelis’ Technical Analysis from A to Z, you can see most of them in 400 pages. But after 20 years of trading, I can personally tell you the most powerful momentum indicators a trader can use include Bollinger Bands (2,20) moving average convergence divergence (MACD), Relative Strength (RSI), an Williams’ %R (W%R).