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Questions tagged [technical-analysis]

For questions relating to technical analysis, the practice of evaluating securities by analyzing statistics and patterns generated by market activity, such as past prices and volume.

For a detailed introduction to technical analysis, see Investopedia's Introduction to technical analysis.

202 questions
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Is this the proof that Technical Analysis does not work?

If Technical Analysis is working, why is not possible to program a bot to do it automatically? The bot will be much faster than any human, will not make any numeric error, will not fail due emotions, will work 24/7 and also could analyse thousands…
Enrique
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How to Explain "efficient frontier" to child?

I have found this challenge almost impossible because I don't want to use too technical jargon, just nice pictures, gestures and analogies to everyday life. So I created this pathological example with monkey A and B. Monkey A is believes that…
user1770
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What is the OHLC of a candle when there are no trades

I hope I'm asking this in the right place. Couldn't find any definitive info anywhere. When creating a candle / time series / bucket, is the open of the series the first price in that series and not the close of the previous series? If so, what is…
TBohnen.jnr
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Technical Analysis not working

After reading a book and a million articles on the internet, I now know everything there's to know about the most popular technical analysis indicators, at least their theoretical use. However, when I go to http://stockcharts.com/, go to the year…
user19035
4
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2 answers

Rationale behind using 12, 26 and 9 to calculate MACD

The standard setting for the MACD are 12, 26 and 9. Is there a rationale why these seemingly arbitrary numbers are considered a standard? My other question is that why is 26 considered to be the long term EMA for MACD while 26 in a general sense is…
Victor123
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Technical Analysis: the concepts of overbought / oversold don't make sense

Some technical indicators (e.g. Williams %R) indicate whether the market is overbought or oversold. But this doesn't make sense. Let me explain. Every time a stock or commodity is bought, it is also sold. And vice versa. So how can anything ever be…
thanks_in_advance
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Calculating weekly simple moving average

I'm familiar with calculating multi day moving averages (i.e. 20/50/200 etc). However in regards to calculating weekly moving averages, I'm not 100% entirely sure. To calculate say a 30-weekly moving average, does it involve calculating a weekly…
user172839
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How to correctly look at 20 day price channel breakout?

In my data I'm looking at 20 day highs and lows of a security. Hence the upper channel is the 20 day high and lower channel is the 20 day low. This is my graph of the 20day high/low (white band) and last prices (green band): It seems that prices…
Nikitau
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Evidence for Technical Analysis

In finance, technical analysis is a security analysis methodology for forecasting the direction of prices through the study of past market data, primarily price and volume. Is there any evidence (public available) that technical analysis actually…
Mark Messa
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What could be the difference between "volume" and "number of trades" in stock market analysis software?

My broker software reports 2 different numbers for "volume" and "number of trades". However, if I look on investopedia it lists "volume" to be the number of trades. The volume number is usually 2-3 digits larger than the other number. What do these…
wdkrnls
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ATR period for intraday trading (15 minute timeframe)

I am using ATR (and $EVZ) to estimate recent volatility, in order to position my stop loss. What period should I use for ATR? I am aware many use 14...but I am wondering if there is a justification for a shorter number if my trades are rarely open…
brownie74
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What is the point of placing your stop-loss at/around the next fibonacci level when using fibonacci retracement?

I'm a little confused as to how this works. The graph above is examining a downward retracement in a long, upward trend. The recommended point to place your stop loss is apparently at the level below the fibonacci indicator that the support level…
Bradley
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What is the implication when a MACD is far below its 9-period signal line versus when it is far above it?

What does it mean for the difference between a 12-period MA and a 26-period MA to be lower or higher than a 9-period MA? I also don't understand how the 9-period signal line can be plotted next to the MACD when the MACD has values that differ wildly…
Bradley
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Calculating slope of series of points

I have a series of prices plotted against time. I'm trying to determine the slope of the line whereby all the prices fall below this slope but at least two prices need to be touching the slope. Im not sure if there is a way to calculate this easily?…
user172839
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How do I read technicals for tickers that move together but are slightly different?

Take SPX, SPY, and /ES (E-mini S&P). My understanding is that these all move together as they are all based off the S&P (correct me if I'm wrong there). However, various levels such as the low of 8/24/15 are different distances from other areas of…
Joey
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