Recent content by Brandon Wendell

In this article, I decided to discuss a simple technique that is often overlooked when traders are reading charts. We are all too quick to look at the squiggly lines that we call indicators and oscillators and dismiss the simplest signal available to us which at the simplest level would be...

Many traders look to technical indicators for clues as to where price action will be moving in the future. There are many problems associated with this approach. First and foremost, technical indicators lag current price. The indicators are created from data that is compiled from where price has...

Traders and investors in the equity markets have been enjoying watching as prices have been breaking to all-time highs. Of course the big question in everyone’s mind is where will this bull run end and is there anything I can do to protect my capital when it does? While no one can predict...

When traders and investors look to profit in the markets, they often look to stocks that they believe will grow rapidly in price. However, there is another group of stocks that can not only offer growth potential, but a steady stream of income in almost any market condition. This group is...

Futures trade with high leverage in comparison to the stocks making up the indexes. Buying 100 shares of the SPY (the ETF that tracks the S&P 500 index) would cost nearly $29,200 at the time of this writing. Even with 2:1 margin, a trader would need $14,600 to maintain the position. To trade...

As the year winds down, it is the time where traders and advisors take stock of what the year has brought them and what they expect from the markets to come. We, too, shall look at the charts to see what they are predicting for the new year. This has not been an easy year for investors. As of...

With the recent rise in volatility, there has been a lot of talk about a potential equity market crash. Many investors are nervous about when, not if, this crash will occur and are looking for some protection for their stock portfolios. Closing out your stock positions is an option, but many...

If you have been following the NASDAQ index, you know that prices have been making all-time market highs lately, even though the other indexes have been stuck in a range. There are a lot of stocks that are also at an all-time market high. As traders, we know that we should participate in the...

Technical indicators have long been misused by traders and investors alike. Many learn the traditional style of using the indicators and then try to massage the data to fit certain strategies of trading only to have them fail when the market conditions change. Others simply do not understand...

Surfing is very popular where I live in Southern California. It is a sport that I took up while living on the beach. Analyzing and trading in the markets is very similar to that sport. In fact, many technical analysts have compared the market fluctuations to the waves of the ocean. Just like a...

Many traders look to volume as a method for identifying the strength or weakness of a trend. It may also be used to gauge turning points at supply and demand. In looking at volume, most traders will place the volume histogram at the bottom of their chart to see it correlating with the candles...

Long before we had computers to chart price, traders were making a living and doing it by watching price movement. One of the earliest types of charts was called point and figure charting (P&F). It started from traders who would tick off prices as they watched the trading. Eventually the ticks...

In my first article last week, I discussed the basics of creating the point and figure style of chart. In this article, I will build upon that knowledge and show more advanced methods for identifying patterns and projecting price movement. I want to mention that I tend to use this method of...

Ah, the ever present question as to where a trader should place stops. We all encounter this as we are trading. Let’s face it, there is a fine balance in placing a stop that allows you to minimize damage from a bad trade and a stop that is too close to the market which will get shaken out with...

There is a saying in trading, "Look left to make the right decisions." We will do the same. To determine the major trend of our stock, we can start at the current price and look left until we find a major top or major bottom. If we come to a major bottom, then we are likely in an uptrend and...