Years ago, I was looking to hire a junior analyst to focus on database management and creating new data visualizations. We received quite a large pile of resumes; I'll never forget spending an afternoon flipping through papers until one of the them jumped out at me. What stood... READ MORE
Yesterday, I had a great roundtable with Tom Bowley and Erin Swenlin on MarketWatchers Live, where Erin and I discussed comparisons between gold and Bitcoin. Now, at first glance, that might seem like a bit of a spurious comparison. Gold has been around forever, while Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are... READ MORE
About a month ago, I wrote an article for ChartWatchers titled “Five Trendlines You Should Be Watching.” The general idea was that, as long as those five trend lines held, then the market was still most likely in a very constructive phase. Revisiting those trend lines here will show that... READ MORE
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” - Saint Augustine I recently returned home after a 10-day trip to Scotland with my family for Spring Break. We rented a car in Glasgow, made our way up into the Highlands and took a... READ MORE
“The market will pull back about 5% before continuing higher.” “Banks always do well with a steeper yield curve.” “If the market moves higher, then gold will definitely pull back.” “I’m sure we’ll see a correction in the next two weeks.” When I was in college, one of... READ MORE
My process is built around simplicity. I am of the firm belief that investors, as well as the financial industry as a whole, tend to unnecessarily complicate things. As a result, we are led to believe that we need to track an endless number of data points to have a... READ MORE
Have you ever played devil’s advocate in a group discussion? That's the situation where everyone comes to one conclusion, so you take the opposite side just to provide an alternative hypothesis and argue its merits. We often avoid this sort of “outside the box” thinking because of... READ MORE
I was once asked the classic “trapped on a desert island” question, with a technical analysis twist: If you could only have one technical indicator (except price), which would it be? For me, that’s an easy one. RSI. As part of my training experience at Bloomberg, I was introduced... READ MORE
I’ll never forget the first time I did a simulated engine cutout at altitude. I was up in the air with my instructor, preparing to do some maneuvers, when he unexpectedly reached over and pulled out the throttle. The plane lurched forward, rapidly losing altitude, while my instructor turned... READ MORE
Humans are emotional beings, generally making decisions based on their emotional state. Consequently, when the market moves against your positions, you will most likely have a visceral reaction to that event. The fear of losing and/or the fear of missing out are often the causes of bad investment decisions.... READ MORE
Question: When can “overbought” be a good thing? Answer: When something becomes really overbought. Allow me to explain. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is one of the most common ways to measure price momentum, ranging from 0 to 100. When the RSI becomes overbought, the price has risen too high... READ MORE
I’ve written several articles regarding seasonal trends in the markets, including the four-year Presidential Cycle, the “Sell in May” phenomenon, and even general thoughts on cyclical patterns in price. This time of year, we’re faced with a very interesting anomaly known as the January Barometer. This is different... READ MORE
Anchoring is a behavioral phenomenon wherein we, as people, lock in to a specific reference point that then affects our subsequent decisions. When I taught technical analysis at Brandeis University, I asked one group of students to tell me where the S&P 500 would be at the end... READ MORE
Everyone believed they had a sound approach to investment during the extended bull market of 2009-2018. When everything’s gaining in price, slowly and steadily, it’s easy for confidence in your process to become overconfidence in your process. To quote a phrase, “Never confuse brains with a bull market.... READ MORE
“We’re entering the seasonally strongest part of the year.” “The New Year tends to be very good for small caps.” “Year three of the Presidential Cycle tends to be good for stocks.” “The Friday after Thanksgiving is usually a bullish day on lighter volume.” How many of these quotes... READ MORE
I recently returned from a 10-day trip to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. This was my first time in Malaysia, where I spoke at the IFTA Annual Conference along with my fellow StockCharts commentators Julius de Kempenaer and Martin Pring. After the conference, when I was checking out of the hotel... READ MORE
I was panicked. On my previous training flight, I had put the Cessna 172 into a nose dive. That’s right, in my attempt to demonstrate a power-off stall, I had literally pointed the airplane directly at the ground. Which is not a good idea if you want to remain... READ MORE
During my ChartCon 2018 presentation entitled “The Mindless Investor and the Mindful Investor”, I shared the technical checklist that I use to teach a disciplined process for technical analysis. I received a question after the session on whether I had a “behavioral checklist” to help minimize the impact of behavioral... READ MORE
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to my new blog on StockCharts.com entitled The Mindful Investor. I have been a StockCharts.com user for years but have become even more impressed as I’ve gotten to know the great people behind this website. I’m honored... READ MORE