Day 2

So I'm still reading through Getting Started in Technical Analysis.  I'm just about near part four: trading system guidelines, finishing part three on Trading Systems.  Roughly 40 pages left until the Appendix, which I'm not sure I'll read or not.  Basically the whole part on optimizing and testing trading systems is rather confusing.  I'm going to have to look further into this from other sources.  But it seems to me that Schwager sees optimizing as possibly pointless.

Schawager somewhat says that optimizing trading system parameter sets shouldn't be used and then again should be.  He's almost saying I don't like them and I don't use them, they don't help anyone make money, but if there is someone out there that uses it and has made lots of money, it could possibly work so my word is not the end all of answers, as it shouldn't be anyways.  Sounds like he's covering his own ass in this chapter, but its good to get a background in it, although it gets to be kind of complex and frustrating to pick apart.

I'm trying to finish this book as soon as I can so as to start reading another one.  The next book isn't exactly on technical analysis or day trading to be exact, but can be seen as book on tool that traders have at their disposal, options.  Options can be used easily and can be thought of as simple, and then again, they can be complex and can be used in different ways to hedge against loss or other investments.  I don't fully understand options and all of the different types of options, butterfly spreads and such (I think that's the correct term).  But I hope to fell more confident in understanding options and being able to use them as I start to read the book.  Oh, the book is called "Options made EASY: your guide to profitable trading", by Guy Cohen.

I watched the market most of the day, and watched some more financial news and such on CNBC.  Mad Money, Fast Money, The Closing Bell, etc..  I really like CNBC.  Great channel, real time stock tickers, and their website is pretty good too, I might start using it a little more.  All I know is, I'm itching to start analyzing and investing in the market, but its so volatile right now, its probably not a good time to put money in the market because its unpredictable.  Any trading system a person tries to use in a time like this might not work out the way it would in a normal market.  Although, looking at it in a different light, with fundamentals involved, some companies have plenty of cash flow, and growth, earnings, dividends even to go around to make it out of this recession.  Its a great time to get stocks for these companies at discount prices.  But this is a Buy and Hold look on things.  Because yes, these companies are trading at huge discounts, but it might take 5 years or more for them to start showing profit, like possibly 5%?  If you look into the past recession times and see how these companies fared during those recessions, you will see what you will be getting yourself into a little more if you start investing now.  I have no specific companies or data at hand right now and I don't have enough energy right now to delve into research for this one blog, but I'll see what I can uproot later on.

Day 1

Hi and welcome to the start of my new blog!  I've taken an interest in Technical Analysis, analyzing stocks and equity charts, so I've been reading up on it as much as I can in the last month.   It's pretty tough stuff, but I'm making headway in understanding some of it. 

This really isn't "Day 1", I've already started to learn what I can and I'm just now starting to share my thoughts with the public.

The blog will be a way for me to share my findings and my learning progress not only for myself, as a reminder of the things I've gone through and as a later look back into the past, but as a helpful site for others who are interested in learning about technical analysis and want to get ideas from me.

I am by no means any type of professional when it comes to stocks, equities, futures, commodities, etc. and I give no assurance that anything I say is accurate, or can make anyone else any profit. What I write is only information that I am trying to ingest and to make sense of for myself that anyone who reads can take it and use it at their own discretion. I am also not a very good writer, if you couldn't tell already, as my background is in computers, I've strayed away from writing as much as possible.

Again, as a disclaimer: I am not responsible for any monetary gain/loss due to the information provided on this blog. Use it at your own discretion.

So a lot of the stuff I've learned so far came from the site Investopedia. It has a great wealth of information for the beginning investor and/or technical analyst as far I can see. I've also picked up some books on day trading, analysis, stock trading, etc..

The first book that I've started to read is called "Getting started in Technical Analysis", written by Jack D. Schwager. It's a pretty good book, although somewhat dry and boring at times, but HEY, technical analysis is just that!!   So some might find it easy to read, some might find it hard, I personally am in the middle, I am learning from it and can go through some of the pages quickly, while others I have to reread a couple of times.

Although I've said this book might not be meant for everyone, I have learned quite a deal from it. It explains TONS of stuff like:

• Types of charts
• Types of patterns that show up
• Trends
• Trading ranges
• Support and Resistance
• Oscillators
• Stop-loss points
• When to enter or exit trades
•  ..... and a lot more I haven't read into yet. 

Another section details real world trades that occurred and their results. I am now into the third section of this book, over halfway done, and I'm still interested. I'm pretty sure you can find this book in many stores or online. I'm going to try and post an ad for it if i can find one.
Well this has been a long post, I'm not so sure the rest of them will be as large as this one. We'll see what I learn. 

As this blog grows, I'll try to update it with videos, links, pictures, etc, of the many things I find useful as I come across them. Until then....Watch what happens in the market EVERYDAY!!!

  Remember: the more you follow what happens during the week/day the more you'll start to understand what and why things happen and how to predict them before they happen. So follow the markets and follow the financial news.