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Updated:9/13/19
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Bars, Candlestick Chart:
These vertical lines usually come in two types. Red for loss, green for gain. White, or hollowed out black bar for gain. The black bar signifies loss. After a period, a bar appears based on growth or decline in value. |
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This is a higher high that shows an indication of a lower high. It could show a reversal. It's mostly common with momentum oscillators. |
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Breakout:
When price goes above the expected high, or expected low. Some kind of extreme up or down in a short period, beyond the normal movement. |
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In simple terms, it means the market is in an up pattern. Bull stabs up with its horns. 80% increase.
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The market is in a down pattern. Bear is the opposite.
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Bull & Bear Trap:
It suggests a price up, but is incorrect. As it suggests it's a trap. The stock price is ready to go down. Like a roller coaster finally hitting the peak. The opposite is true for a bear trap. It goes up instead of further going down. This is a common trap for novice chart readers. |
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The price shows a lower low and then forms a higher low. You check the bottom of the chart action. It could signal a reversal. These usually occur with momentum oscillators. Think of it like a person running and right before they make a long jump they stutter step, make a small loss in momentum to gather their strength. Then jump far. |
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Buy Signal:
It's a condition that indicates a when to buy a stock. The indicator that an analyst is using will determine the exact circumstances of the signal. For example, it's a buy signal when the MACD crosses above its signal line. |
A buy order usually placed above the current price, ensuring that a security would have to trade at the set level before the buy order activates. By placing a buy stop order just above resistance, a trader can ensure that the security will break resistance before going long. On the other hand, traders looking to catch a bottom or intraday low might place a buy stop below the current price, but near support. |
Buying on Margin:
It's a risky short-term strategy, where a buyer borrows money from a broker to make an investment. The buyer believes the stock price will rise and is trying to maximize profits by investing more money in the stock. |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Dark Cloud Cover:
Dark Cloud is a bearish reversal pattern that continues the uptrend with a long white body. The next day opens at a new high then closes below the midpoint of the body of the first day. |
It is a style of trading where all positions clear before the end of the trading day. Contrast this with position trading, where stocks or securities are held for longer periods. |
Dead Cross:
When this occurs, you get a shorter moving average. This move is below the longer moving average. This tends to happen in a 50 day. This is where it crosses below the 200-day average. It can be used to spot incoming crashes, recessions. |
A decline is when the charts show lower highs and lower lows. Refer to the bottom portion of the bars. |
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Descending Triangle, Wedge:
Two lines converge to form a triangle. The bottom line is flat. They start high and low and merge down in a bear pattern. |
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The high and low points are towards the middle. The beginning and ending of this pattern are in the left and right of the chart. It would look like an off kilter + on the chart. It is when you connect all 4 ends points. It forms a diamond ♢ pattern. This often leads to a high or low, based on where it forms. |
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Divergence:
A situation that occurs when two lines on a chart move. They move in opposite directions vertically. People often look for divergences by comparing a stock's direction to the direction of its RSI, its MACD or its Stochastic Oscillator. There are two kinds of divergences: positive and negative. A positive divergence occurs when the indicator moves higher while the stock is declining. A negative divergence occurs when the indicator moves lower while the stock is rising. See Chart School article on Positive and Negative Divergences. |
A bearish Point & Figure chart pattern that forms when an O-Column breaks below the low of the prior O-Column. See Chart School article on the P&F Double Bottom Breakdown. |
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Double Triangle:
Draw two triangles pointing down ? ?. This is where the chart showed a high point into a dip, then high point, times two. Two highs, line. In between those two highs is a dip, down. This forms the triangle pattern. This is a double bottom. It can signal a climb up. |
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It is a straight line drawn down. Then it is drawn to the right. Finally, it is above the successive rally peaks. The longer the downtrend line has been in effect. Then the more times tested, the more significant it becomes. A violation of the downtrend line usually signals a reversal of the downtrend. |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Engulfing Patterns:
The red, decline is a small bar. The green growth bar is taller from the top and bottom. It looks like the green bar on the right can eat the red bar on the left. Then it's follow by a smaller green bar up, far right. Three bars in total. This is a bullish pattern, up. The opposite is a bearish pattern, down. These typically occur over a 3-day period. |
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This bearish reversal pattern continues an uptrend. It has a long white body day, followed by a gapped up small body day. Finally, it shows a down close with the close below the midpoint of the first day. |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Falling Three Methods:
This is a bearish continuation pattern. A long black body followed by three small body days, each fully contained within the range of the high and low of the first day. The fifth day closes at a new low. |
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When you get a bull pattern, create a wedge that is wide at the top and goes down, contracts with the price heading downward. Eventually you determine a resistance point, a breakaway. |
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Fibonacci Numbers:
The numerical sequence 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144 and so on, created by adding the first two. This lets you arrive at the third number. 2+3 =5, 1+2 =3, 5+3 =8, 21+13 =34. Easy, right? This means the ratio of the next number is 61.8%. The inverse is 38.2% for a Fib retrace. This ratio is to determine future price action. Fibonacci is one of the pillars of chart reading. |
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A flag pattern will persist less than 3 weeks. The top and bottom lines are parallel. This includes stagnation, dips, growth. The overall high and low points keep the top and bottom in straight lines. |
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Flat Yield Curves:
It is a flat curve. This appears from a normal or inverted yield curve. It depends on the changes in its condition. This occurs when it goes from high growth to slow growth, or recession. The yields on long-term bonds fall and securities rise. The opposite is a recession into a recovery, or high growth. Long-term bonds rise, and short-term securities go down. This creates an inverted yield curve for the flat yield curve. |
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Futures contracts are forward contracts, meaning they represent a pledge to make a certain transaction at a future date. These exchange-traded contracts require the delivery of a commodity, bond, currency, or stock index, at a specified price, on a specified future date. |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Gap:
Gaps form when opening price movements create a blank spot on the chart. This occurs when the high of the day is below the low of the previous day or when the low of the day is above the high of the previous day. Gaps are especially significant when accompanied by an increase in volume. |
The short moving stock moves beyond the longer moving stock. When the 50-day going above the 200-day average.
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Updated:9/13/19
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Hammer:
When the candles move low after the opening day, but go up at the close, end of the day. Higher than the daily, low. It looks like a square stop sign, or a hammer. |
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Hanging Man candlesticks form when a security moves significantly lower after the open, but rallies to close well above the intraday low. The resulting candlestick looks like a square lollipop with a long stick. If this candlestick forms during a decline, then it is a Hammer. |
Head and Shoulders Bottom:
This is when you see three or more upside down triangles. A straight line runs across all three. Like upside down mountains. The middle triangle pointing down is the largest. The line that goes through is the neckline. This can be broken at the end of the triangles by going up, completing the reversal. ︵︵︵ |
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With three or more troughs, with a middle trough that is lower than the others are. This can lead to a bullish, up reverse pattern. You are looking for a head, shoulders and trend line, neck; connecting the peaks. When it's broken, the pattern is complete. The inverse is an inverse head and shoulders. |
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Hidden Divergence, Bearish & Bullish:
Higher high and bars then show a lower high. It shows a down pattern when you draw a line through those points. Lower low and into a higher low is the bullish divergence. Add in volume movement to complete the line. |
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Created by James Miekka, the Hindenburg Omen warns of potential weakness in the stock market. There are three criteria to activate the omen. First, NYSE new highs and new lows must both be more than 2.8% of advances plus declines. Second, the NY Composite is above the level it was 50 days ago. Third, the number of new highs cannot be more than double the number of new lows. The activation period is good for 30 days. Once active, a sell signal is triggered when the McClellan Oscillator moves below zero and negated when the McClellan Oscillator moves back above zero. |
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Horizontal Line:
This is a specific price level on the chart. A straight horizontal line shows it. More lines are added, to figure out the average low and average high. Additionally, lines can also determine stagnation, dips, growth. |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Inverse Head And Shoulders:
This pattern is also known as a "reverse head and shoulders" or a "head and shoulders bottom". ... They are trading an Inverse Head and Shoulders Aggressively. A buy stop order placed just above the neckline of the inverse head and shoulders pattern. |
Inverted Hammer:
In a single day, you go from losses to gains. A U pattern. It opens the day lower, and then ends the day higher, but close to where it started. |
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Nothing For Now
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Updated:9/13/19
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Key Reversal is a one-day chart pattern where prices sharply reverse during a trend. In an uptrend, prices open to new highs and then close below the previous day's closing price. In a downtrend, prices open lower and then close higher. The wider the price ranges on the key reversal day and the heavier the volume, the greater the odds that a reversal is taking place. |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Momentum:
It's a leading indicator measuring a security's rate-of-change. The ongoing plot forms an oscillator that moves above and below 100. Bullish and bearish interpretations found by looking for divergences, centerline crossovers, and extreme readings. |
A three-day bullish reversal pattern consisting of three candlesticks - a long-bodied black candle extending the current downtrend, a short middle candle that gapped down on the open, and a long-bodied white (hollow) candle that gapped up on the open and closed above the midpoint of the body of the first day. |
Moving Average:
This is the average of the data. It is for a specific number of points in time. A movement for each calculation, using the latest x number of points in time. A moving average tends to lag the market. An EMA, exponentially smoothed moving average can attempt to reduce the lag. |
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Updated:9/13/19
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New Highs and New Lows:
Over the course of 52 weeks, the price hits a new level. It is something new, not shown in that time span low or high. |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Oscillator:
The indicator says the market oversold or overbought in volume. If an oscillator is extremely high, it is over bought. If it's extremely low, it's oversold. |
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The term, buy low, sell high. Do not buy at top. A good example is everyone did most of their buying of crypto coins in November and December. When it was near the top, it could not grow much more. Relative Strength Index (RSI) goes above 70. I saw people buy Bit coin at $18k, when I bought it at $5k. Bitcoin capped at $20k. This is classic overbought. The charts showed this growth from 5k-20k in 6 months. That is a giant pump, since it did so over a short period. |
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Oversold:
As the price starts to stall, you give it a little time to see if it is taking a break for its next climb, or showing it is ready for a giant dip. The roller coaster analogy, wait for it to slow down at top with indication of down coming. Then sell. A mistake is selling for example in November 2017 when crypto was still going up. Ideally, you would have sold in January, when it started to show signs of stalling. Relative Strength Index (RSI) goes below 30. |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Piercing Line:
This is a bullish two-day reversal pattern. The first day, in a downtrend, is a long black day. The next day opens at a new low, and then closes above the midpoint of the body of the first day. |
This is the point at which resistance disintegrates. The stock price begins to rise past the prior resistance level. This point is the optimal time to buy as the bulls are gaining strength. |
Position Trading:
This is a style of trading. It is characterized by holding open positions for an extended period. Contrast this with day trading, where a trader buys, then sells out of a position before the market closes that day. |
Developed by Andrew Cardwell, a positive reversal occurs when RSI forms a lower low and the security forms a higher low. It is a backward bullish divergence. See Chart School article on Relative Strength Index (RSI). |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Quadrant Lines:
Five lines that divide a specified vertical range into four equally sized horizontal bands. |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Reaction High:
An intermittent peak that forms as a security fluctuates. Whether a security is trending up, trending down or moving sideways, intermittent peaks and troughs form due to changes in supply and demand. Defining reaction highs usually depends on the minimum criteria set for time intervals and price movements. |
An intermittent trough that forms as a security fluctuates. Whether a security is trending up, trending down or moving sideways, intermittent peaks and troughs form due to changes in supply and demand. Defining reaction lows usually depends on the minimum criteria set for time intervals and price movements. |
Resistance:
This is often where we see stagnation. The price high points generally keep the same position on the chart. You can draw a straight line on it. A pattern hints a lower direction is coming. Think of it like the roller coaster at the top of a hill. Before it drops it moves slow, doesn't change position for a bit in that time span. |
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After a dip, the stock/coin value goes back to a previous range. It's between 1/3 and 2/3 of the prior move. If it dips too far it's a trend reversal. When I said the DOW Jones would go down to 13k-18k. I'm looking at the likely retrace from 26k. It was too high, too fast. It is mostly over the span of a year. Nothing in the market suggested it earned such growth. Further research reveals companies accumulating obscene debt, stock buy backs, speculation, and derivatives. Normally the market grows slowly. This is how well it performs with the consumers, supply and demand economics. To accelerate this you invent reasons, or hit some kind of major breakthrough. Such as going from the tube computers, to silicon, then internet based desktops. An invented reason is cheating. No matter how many degrees said 'expert' in a suit has. Basic math says you cannot reward failure over and over, or putting off the problems for tomorrow, AKA debt. |
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Reversal Pattern:
The prior trend had a long up or down pattern. It shows a vertical, long sloped line. Then it shows a shorter down or up pattern. This is followed by a new trend. The new trend continues the old trend. In other words, the price takes a break then continues what it was doing. |
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A rising three is a bullish continuation pattern. A long white (hollow) body followed by three small body days, each fully contained within the range of the high and low of the first day. The fifth day closes at a new high. |
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Rising Wedge:
From the high point starts the first line. The low point is the second line. Then both complete their destinations up. It looks like long a door wedge pointing up. |
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A rounding bottom is known as a saucer bottom. It is a reversal chart pattern. This represents a long consolidation period that turns from a bearish bias to a bullish bias. See Chart School article on Rounding Bottom (Reversal). |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Sell Signal:
A condition indicates a good time to sell a stock. The indicator that an analyst is using will determine the exact circumstances of the signal. For example, it is often a sell signal when the RSI crosses down through the 50 level. |
The process of selling a stock with the hope of buying it back at a lower price (sell high, buy low). Short sellers are bearish and believe the price will decline. Short selling involves borrowing stock (usually from the broker) to sell short and using margin to finance the borrowing. If the price of the stock in question advances too far, the short seller will receive a margin call and be required to put up more money. A short squeeze occurs when the price advances so fast that short sellers are forced to cover their positions (buy the stock back), which drives prices even higher. |
Signal Line:
It is also known as a, ¡°trigger line¡±. It is a moving average of another indicator. It generates simple buy and sell signals. Probably the most used signal line is built into the MACD Indicator display. The signal line is the exponential moving average of the MACD line. A buy signal generated when the MACD line crosses above the signal line. The sell signal generated when the MACD line crosses below the signal line. |
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This is a line drawn over the chart in a 20 degree to an 80 slope. |
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Split:
This is a division of a stock into multiple shares. In a 2-for-1 split, the stockholder's shares will double in quantity, though the value of each stock halved. A stock split is usually an attempt to make high stock prices seem more attractive to investors and generally occurs in the face of new highs. |
This is the difference between the asking and bidding price. More liquid (heavy volume) stocks usually have smaller bid/ask spreads. Less liquid stocks (light volume) usually have larger spreads. See related: bid, ask and size. |
Stop Loss Order:
It is an instruction to the broker to buy, or sell stock when it trades beyond a specified price. They serve to either protect your profits or limit your losses. |
There are multiple touching points in the chart. You can determine the support, bottom horizontal line and resistance. This is the top horizontal line. This is where stock experts determine where the price should stop falling, or reverse direction. If it bounces, and it does not hit the level determined. It will continue to fall to the next support level. |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Trailing Stop:
A stop-loss level set above or below the current price that adjusts as the price fluctuates. For a long position, a trailing stop would be set below the current price and would rise as the price advances. When the price declines and reaches the trailing stop. Then a stop-loss is triggered and the position closed. As long as the price remains above the trailing stop, the position held. Indicators such as the Parabolic SAR or moving averages used to set trailing stops. |
Draw straight lines on the chart. This is below the reaction low. It moves in an upward line. Alternatively, it is above the peaks. It moves in a downward line. This is to ascertain the current movement. When the lines are broken this normally warns of a trend reversal. |
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Triple Bottom Breakdown:
Three red bars line up. Therefore, it would be green, red, green, and red, green, red. With the red bars bottoms lining up. This is often shown with X's and O's. O's would be red. X's green. |
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At three points on the chart, the bottom hits a generally straight line. After those three consistent lows, you see a break out, growth. |
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Triple Top Reversal:
At three points on the top of the bars. We can mostly draw a straight line on the top of the bars. This is where the bottom points do not line up. After those three points, the next movement tends to be down. At least one low shows a support break. |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Up & Down:
Green, or white bars mean the price is going up. Red, black is a loss in price. |
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When there are prices that break above resistance. This is a lone high point in the bars. Quickly it is followed by a reversal. It settles back into the resistance range. It cannot keep its direction and will drop back down. People also call this a failed bull. This happens in a 1-3 day range. |
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Uptrend Line:
A straight line that is drawn upward, and to the right below the reaction lows. The longer the uptrend line has been in effect. The more times it tested, the more significant it becomes. Violation of the trend line usually signals that the uptrend may be changing direction. |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Volatility:
Usually a yearly deviation of the percent change in daily price. More volatility means you can gain or lose more money in a short time. With crypto, this tends to operate even faster, and more unpredictable. Eventually the market will stabilize to the point where you can make yearly comparisons. |
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Nothing For Now
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Nothing For Now
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Updated:9/13/19
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Zig Zag:
Down, up, down, up pattern. Another is up, down, up down, up pattern on the charts. |
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Updated:9/13/19
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Practice |
Examples |
Test 1
Full Image |
Using what we learned, predict the outcome in the right side of the white space. Then click the image. No cheating. |
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Test 2
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Now predict the next outcome in the right side of the white space. Then click the image. |
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Test 3
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Predict the outcome in the right side of the white space. Then click the image. |
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Overall Market
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Even in market crashes. You can see it takes time for various companies, markets to recover. In the 2007 crash, retail didn't hit its bottom until 2012. Some markets recovered as early as 2009. This is why figuring out ranges is important. |
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Conclusion
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Congratulations! You have gotten better at reading charts. Remember that it's only one part of investing. It exists to give you an idea of buy, sell, and hold outcomes. Chart reading will not always be right, but when paired with data, research, awareness of the market, experience. You will be in a better position than most of your competition. |
Advice |
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Buy Low Sell High
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TThe worst advice you can give a newcomer. Buy low when, sell at the top when? It's unknown until the market has played out. Better advice is to run a simulator, get practice. When you go to a game tournament, an Olympic event, arrive with the gear you need. Train for the event. Then participate. Go in blind and your failure is certain. This is the case for investing. In this current juncture, the market's bar of competition is low. 80% of all stocks are owned by the .1% (give or take). The rich elite, most of them act the same way. They use advisors like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan (who just admitted they gave people bad advice). They run trade bots and specific algorithms. It makes day trading near impossible. However, those same bots often fail spotting events like Tesla, Bitcoin. This is where human beings shine. Competition is at all time lows. You merely need some practice and you're better off than the 90%. You will be less likely to lose your money, and more likely to make it. |
Company Life Span
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It's just as vital to know how long the company will thrive. Autodesk is a good example. If you only look at their stocks, you wouldn't know they have billions in debt. Their core staff removed years ago. They have been buying competitor's software, and absorbing them into their library. When you dig, you realize their future is very dark. Pair that with the stock flat lining for years. You can make a more reasonable decision. Let's go back to Tesla. How do we gauge their direction? The owner is a firecracker, but the facts stand. His company is the first to push electric cars.
His closest competitors are promising 2020 releases. It sounds good for companies like Ford. Nevertheless, further investigation reveals they have around a hundred billion in debt, a large portion of their car owners fell behind on payments. No real growth, with the gasoline car market's prices dropping like a rock. Those are just a few instances. Take notes; keep track of various companies, markets. You are getting an idea, not trying to come up with ultimatums. Maybe they'll turn it around. With that knowledge, you know where they have to succeed.
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Absolutes
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I've seen far too many people emotionally attached to the company. They view it as victory, or defeat. They defend the company on social media. That's not investing. It's about ranges and estimations. Be wary of your ego, absolutes. |
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