Forum Archive Index - June 2001

[Phaedrus <Phaedrus@techemail.com>]

Jesse, Thanks for the positive feedback. So, even Nasdaq daytraders find charts 
helpful!
Grant, Glad you found it enlightening. I feel honour bound, though, to try and 
dampen some of your initial enthusiasm. Right now you don't want a US$100 
charting package and 60 pages from a day-trading website. You want a 542 page 
$140 book (you know the one.) Invest in your education rather than software at 
this point. The software you are looking at was written primarily for portfolio 
management. The TA bit is just a small later addition. Far from doing "nearly 
all the clever stuff" it has less than a tenth of the functionality of 
MetaStock (which I use), or any other good program. It can not test systems, 
perform explorations, optimise indicator parameters, you can not create your 
own indicators or systems, etc etc. Don't be blown away. I can show you free 
systems with more functionality! I don't want to sound like a software 
salesman, so I will email this info to you directly. I was relieved to see that 
you have no ambition to be a day-trader. Don't be misled by Jesse's success. 
Day-trading is by far the toughest arena of them all - most people fail at it. 
My fear is that you may rush in to using TA before you understand it fully 
enough. This would inevitably lead to losses, and the statement "I have tried 
TA - it simply doesn't work". Suddenly Snakeoil has a supporter! Grant, forgive 
me if I have seemed a bit hard on you, but it is for your own good, believe me!
 Snoopy, I suspect that philosophically you and I are poles apart. Which is why 
I find it intriguing that I often agree with you. Good points.
Mike G,  Don't confuse a stop-loss with a trailing stop. A stop-loss is just 
that - a device to limit your losses if a stock moves below the price you paid 
for it. A trailing stop is to protect profits, trailing the price action such 
that it is triggered by a fall in price, thus locking in profits. There is no 
such thing as a trailing stop-loss.
 Athol, ditto as per my reply to Grant.
One way or another we all have to pay our dues. The expensive way to learn is 
from your mistakes. The cheapest is by study and reading books. Whatever your 
approach (fundamental, technical or both) a substantial investment of your time 
and effort is required. Skimp on these, and you will pay with very real money. 
Technical Analysis is not a shortcut. There are no short cuts.
                         Phaedrus.

_____________________________________________________________
Are you a Techie? Get Your Free Tech Email Address Now! Visit 
http://www.TechEmail.com


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.sharechat.co.nz/          New Zealand's home for market investors
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To remove yourself from this list, please use the form at
http://www.sharechat.co.nz/forum.shtml.