
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR


To view this content you must be an active member of the CMT Association.
Not a member? Join the CMT Association and unlock access to hundreds of hours of written and video technical analysis content, including the Journal of Technical Analysis and the Video Archives. Learn more about Membership here.
What's Inside...
PUTTING THE NETFLIX MOVE INTO PERSPECTIVE
by Jon Boorman, CMTEditor’s note: This article was originally published at: http://go.mta.org/3791 and is reprinted here with the permission of the author. “Netflix tumbles to levels not seen since…...
STILL A BULL, BUT LOOKING OVER OUR SHOULDER
by Olaf Sztaba & Ron MeiselsEditor’s note: This report was originally published by Phases & Cycles on November 21, 2013 and is reprinted here with permission. Our last Market Comment pointed to a market that “has plenty...
INTERVIEW WITH RON MEISELS, CMT
by Ron Meisels & Amber Hestla-BarnhartWhat led you to look at the particular markets you specialize in? I began using technical analysis when my broker recommended a number of stocks based on their Fundamental Research and none worked...
WHAT IS ABSOLUTE RETURN?
by Robert F. Palmerton, Jr., CMT & Puneet GuptaEditor’s note: This article was originally published at: http://go.mta.org/3793 and is reprinted here with the permission of the author. Relative versus Absolute Return? Conventional investment...
HOW TO PLOT FIBONACCI RETRACEMENTS FROM EXTREME PRICES TO SET SYNTHETIC 100% TARGET
by Cornelius LucaEditor’s note: This article was originally published as a Charts Newsletter for Thomson Reuters Eikon in October 2013 and is reprinted here with the permission of the author. Plot Fibonacci...
APPS FOR TECHNICIANS
by Michael Carr, CMTApps are a rather recent development but they have become an essential part of life for many. There are apps for everything but few professionalquality apps that help technical analysts do their...
INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT SCHITTLER
by Robert Schittler & Mukul PalHow would you describe your job and what led you to look at the particular markets you specialize in? I am the Chief Technical Analyst of Raiffeisen International. My bank is the investment-banking...
Editor’s note: This article was originally published at: http://go.mta.org/3791 and is reprinted here with the permission of the author.
“Netflix tumbles to levels not seen since… Thursday.”
That’s not a headline you’ll read anywhere but that’s one reality of what happened today. Let’s not sugar-coat it though, there’s no question that was one ugly session. I’m sure there have been fortunes made and lost today, and today’s session could become the stuff of legend and a test case for intraday traders everywhere.
But let’s just put it in perspective for a moment, because this is a classic example of how important time frames are, and how you view $NFLX today will likely be determined by your own particular time frame and methodology.
For people with longer time frames than mine, here’s the monthly chart of the last 5 years:
To view this content you must be an active member of the CMT Association.
Not a member? Join the CMT Association and unlock access to hundreds of hours of written and video technical analysis content, including the Journal of Technical Analysis and the Video Archives. Learn more about Membership here.
Contributor(s)

Jon Boorman, CMT
Jon Boorman, CMT, is a market technician and trader with over 25 years’ experience in global equity, forex, and futures markets. He has held roles as a sales trader to hedge funds and institutions, proprietary trader, research analyst, and buy-side head of desk. Jon currently...
Editor’s note: This report was originally published by Phases & Cycles on November 21, 2013 and is reprinted here with permission.
Our last Market Comment pointed to a market that “has plenty of fuel”, but may need a rest. We also said “in bull markets, surprises occur to the upside”. Indeed, despite the growing need for a correction, the bull has turned its back on a rest period and decided to plough its way higher.
The U.S. indices, accompanied by a newcomer, the S&P/TSX Composite Index, are rallying once again to new bull market highs. All trend-lines are intact and the 50- and 200-day Moving Averages are resolutely following the indices higher. If you are a bull, it may seem “all clear now”. But is this correct?
Despite strong market performance, there is growing evidence that the market may come under some selling pressure. The latest sentiment data (courtesy of Investors Intelligence) paints
To view this content you must be an active member of the CMT Association.
Not a member? Join the CMT Association and unlock access to hundreds of hours of written and video technical analysis content, including the Journal of Technical Analysis and the Video Archives. Learn more about Membership here.
Contributor(s)

Olaf Sztaba

Ron Meisels
Ron Meisels is Founder and President of Phases & Cycles Inc. with over 50 years of stock market experience. He specializes in the independent research of Canadian and U.S. securities and market using Behavior Analysis. Institutions ranked him among the top...
What led you to look at the particular markets you specialize in?
I began using technical analysis when my broker recommended a number of stocks based on their Fundamental Research and none worked out. He subsequently sent me a report with a chart and since I am visually oriented I was immediately attracted. This was 43 years ago and I am still making money.
Do you look at any fundamental or economic inputs to develop your opinions?
The stock market is a leading indicator to the economy and therefore this input has a low priority for me. As to fundamentals, I must know the sector and business of the stock we recommend since different sectors behave well at certain points in the cycle. For example, we are just entering into a period when the energy sector and its stocks should outperform. Aside of this, my opinion is strictly based on technical and behavioral
To view this content you must be an active member of the CMT Association.
Not a member? Join the CMT Association and unlock access to hundreds of hours of written and video technical analysis content, including the Journal of Technical Analysis and the Video Archives. Learn more about Membership here.
Contributor(s)

Ron Meisels
Ron Meisels is Founder and President of Phases & Cycles Inc. with over 50 years of stock market experience. He specializes in the independent research of Canadian and U.S. securities and market using Behavior Analysis. Institutions ranked him among the top...

Amber Hestla-Barnhart
Editor’s note: This article was originally published at: http://go.mta.org/3793 and is reprinted here with the permission of the author.
Relative versus Absolute Return? Conventional investment strategies and managers seek to beat a pre-defined benchmark or basket of market indices across one or more asset classes and hence they measure themselves relative to this benchmark or index. This is true of most mutual funds and financial advisors and planners. Thus, if the benchmark, say the S&P 500 index is down 39% as it was in 2008, the manager or strategy is considered successful if it “beat” the market, even if they generated a 35% loss that year. A relative return manager, hence, has a built in excuse for not performing well with your investment, i.e. the markets were at fault.
Absolute Return Strategies: In contrast to relative return strategies, an Absolute Return strategy seeks to generate a positive return over a predefined period
To view this content you must be an active member of the CMT Association.
Not a member? Join the CMT Association and unlock access to hundreds of hours of written and video technical analysis content, including the Journal of Technical Analysis and the Video Archives. Learn more about Membership here.
Contributor(s)

Robert F. Palmerton, Jr., CMT
Robert F. Palmerton, Jr., CMT, has over 25 years’ experience in corporate finance. He has held positions as CFO, Director of Finance, and Financial Management and Analysis roles for Fortune 500 and multi-national firms (ADP, Honeywell, BOC Group) as well as for early-stage and...

Puneet Gupta
Puneet Gupta is Chief Investment Officer of the Absolute Return, LLC. He was most recently an Investment Advisor Representative with H. Beck, Inc. Prior to his financial services career, Puneet has 16 years of experience in the technology industry at Intel Corporation, where he...
Editor’s note: This article was originally published as a Charts Newsletter for Thomson Reuters Eikon in October 2013 and is reprinted here with the permission of the author.
Plot Fibonacci Retracements from Extreme Prices to Set Synthetic 100% Target – Equity Index
Fibonacci ratios are essential for analyzing the health of trends by gauging both corrections and projections in all asset classes. They apply well to all asset classes, whether equities, commodities, FX, or fixed income.
When used in a disciplined manner, Fibonacci ratios can enhance your trading and analytical skills. In this article I am analyzing the use of the Fibonacci Retracements tool to generate future targets.
Typically, traders use Fibonacci retracements from the lowest low to the highest high of a specific range of a time series to gauge the magnitude of retracements. Let’s turn this around and set some targets for ongoing trends instead.
The conditions for this method are:
- the formation of
To view this content you must be an active member of the CMT Association.
Not a member? Join the CMT Association and unlock access to hundreds of hours of written and video technical analysis content, including the Journal of Technical Analysis and the Video Archives. Learn more about Membership here.
Contributor(s)

Cornelius Luca
Corelius Luca authored “Trading in the Global Currencies Markets,” published by Prentice Hall (3rd edition – 2007), a comprehensive analysis of the foreign exchange markets, instruments, players and methods of forecasting, and “Technical Analysis Applications in the...
Apps are a rather recent development but they have become an essential part of life for many. There are apps for everything but few professionalquality apps that help technical analysts do their jobs. Three useful apps for technicians are listed below.
Some apps focus on the current market. One of those is Bollinger Bands ®, a free app that provides current market quotes and charts plotted in candlestick, Bollinger Bar, traditional bar, or line chart format. Several dozen indicators, including the Bollinger Band suite of indicators with Percent b (%b) and BandWidth, moving averages, and volume weighted MACD, can be added to the charts.
Voice command can be used to modify the chart display, date range, or add and remove indicators. Audio expert technical analysis of chart patterns can be used to listen to an
To view this content you must be an active member of the CMT Association.
Not a member? Join the CMT Association and unlock access to hundreds of hours of written and video technical analysis content, including the Journal of Technical Analysis and the Video Archives. Learn more about Membership here.
Contributor(s)

Michael Carr, CMT
Mike Carr, who holds a Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation, is a full-time trader and contributing editor for Banyan Hill Publishing, a leading investment newsletter service. He is an instructor at the New York Institute of Finance and a contributor to various...
How would you describe your job and what led you to look at the particular markets you specialize in?
I am the Chief Technical Analyst of Raiffeisen International. My bank is the investment-banking spearhead of a locally well settled consumer bank, with a focus on Central & Eastern Europe and some offices in Asia, the U.S. and U.K. My team deals with most asset classes, cross-rates, bonds, stock- and commodity-markets worldwide.
We take a global view before going asset specific. Our work is based on my basic principles of charting together with both macro and micro economic analysis, an understanding of derivatives including ETFs and CFDs, and portfolio-management. I have published a 1,200-page overview with the title “Das Große Buch der Börse” (The Big Book of Exchange). Our understanding of technical analysis and knowing how to work with charts improves the quality and transparency of our research.
Which technical indicators do you rely
To view this content you must be an active member of the CMT Association.
Not a member? Join the CMT Association and unlock access to hundreds of hours of written and video technical analysis content, including the Journal of Technical Analysis and the Video Archives. Learn more about Membership here.
Contributor(s)

Robert Schittler
Robert Schittler leads the Raiffeisen Bank‘s Technical Financial Markets Analysis group. Robert meets the multiple and different needs of a global clientele. In previous positions, he has been a Relationship Manager, head of sell-side analysis, an editor with the Austrian...

Mukul Pal
Mukul Pal, a technical analyst who holds the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation, is the founder of AlphaBlock, a technology group focused on bringing the predictive mapping characteristics of AI to the market mechanisms that use blockchain to create an adaptive...
New Educational Content This Month
-
December 10, 2020
Using Pattern Recognition in Contraction and Expansion Phases
Presenter(s): Leslie Jouflas, CMT
-
December 2, 2020
Identifying Opportunities and Managing Risk with the Tactical Composite Trend Model
Presenter(s): Dean Christians, CMT
-
November 25, 2020
Optimizing Inefficiencies in Technical Analysis
Presenter(s): Jake Wujastyk