Technical Analysis


As an independent company DOLEFIN provides Technical Analysis on currency pairs, stock indices and government bond futures, as well as some selected commodities.

It is DOLEFIN’s aim to deliver an in-time service, meaning the fresh updates are to be published once a target gets hit or an adverse market outcome occurs. Although DOLEFIN argues purely technically by applying its relative vocabulary, the “conclusion”-part should be comprehensive and clear for any reader, unrelated to whether trained in technical analysis or not.

All Technical Research Reports are disseminated per e-mail; furthermore, clients can access them conveniently via our online library.
Feel free to ask for a sample issue and detailed description of the service including the subscription fees.

Example of a technical reportAsk for service description

What is Technical Analysis


There exist numerous methods to anticipate future price development in financial markets. The goal of this commentary is to familiarise you with Technical Analysis (TA) that the financial community, including academics, recognizes as an original approach to the market forecasting dilemma and as an important and respected tool in professional portfolio management. This is the case despite the fact that TA disagrees with the weak form of the market efficiency hypothesis, stating that historical prices cannot be used to forecast the upcoming market development. Though, various quantitative studies demonstrate that serial dependence of prices – refused by advocates of the weak form of market efficiency – is one of the most reliable observed patterns in financial markets. Expressed in a simpler language, it means that price movements are not a random walk but “unfold in trends” – one of the three premises of TA. The other two are: “History repeats itself” and “Market action discounts everything”. The former means that recognizable price formations like triangles, channels, a.o., the amplitude of time leaps from one reversal point to another or the amplitude of price legs (to name a few) reoccur throughout time and can assist in anticipating the future price development. Finally, the premise of “market action discounts everything” means that any available information (public as well as inside information) is reflected in the current price. Therefore, a technical analyst bases her/his research exclusively on historical price data (and related data like volume).
It is crucial to keep in mind that TA is not an exact science. Rather, it deals with probabilities (understandably, the same thing is true for any other forecasting approach) and as such leaves room for unexpected counterproductive outcomes. This means that a strict and rigorous discipline is a must in the practical use of TA (e.g stop losses) !
The methods applied within the field of TA are manifold; from simplistic drawing of trendlines to highly sophisticated computer-supported assessments.
Often, technical analysts work with a combination of different systems with the goal to extract corroborating hints in order to increase the probability of a forecast’s accuracy. A certain part of subjective interpretation is always involved.
To finish, here a statement from central bankers that might convince any remaining sceptics:
Technical analysis, the prediction of price movements based on past price movements, has been shown to generate statistically significant profits despite its incompatibility with most economists’ notions of efficient markets…” Federal Reserve Bank of New York, C.L. Osler and P.H. Kevin Chang, Staff Report No. 4, August 1995.

Theory


Here below some books about Technical Analysis from Dolefin’s library

Technical Analysis of Stock Trends (7th Edition)
by Robert D. Edwards and John Magee

Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques
by Steve Nison

Beyond Candlesticks
by Steve Nison

Understanding Bollinger Bands
by Edward D. Dobson

Candle Power
by Gregory L. Morris

Fibonacci Applications and Strategies for Traders
by Robert Fischer

Fractales, Hasard et Finance
by Benoît Mandelbrot

Leonard of Pisa and the New Mathematics of the Middle Ages
by Joseph and Frances Gies

Zen in the Markets
by Edward Allen Toppel

The Crowd – A Study of the Popular Mind
by Gustave Le Bon

Technical Analysis Explained (third Edition)
by Martin Pring

Technical Analysis (Reprint from Financial Analyst’s Handbook)
by Alan R. Shaw

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
by Charles Mackay

Elliott Wave Principle – Applied to the Forex Exchange Markets
by Robert Balan

Martin Pring on Market Momentum
by Martin J. Pring

Mastering Elliott Wave
by Glenn Neely

The Spiral Calendar and its Effect on Financial Markets and Human Events
by Christopher Carolan

The Symmetry Wave
by Michael Gur

Design, Testing, and Optimization of Trading Systems
by Robert Pardo

Trading Without Fear
by Richard W. Arms, Jr.

R.N. Elliott’s Masterworks – the Definitive Collection
by Robert R. Prechter, Jr.

Trading Rules – Strategies for Success
by William F. Eng

Fibonacci Numbers
by N.N. Vorob’ev

R.N. Elliott’s Market Letters
by Robert R. Prechter

The Trading Rules That Can Make You Reach
by Edward D. Dobson

Volume And Open Interest
by Kenneth H. Shaleen

Intermarket Technical Analysis
by John J. Murphy

Powertiming – Using the Elliott Wave System to Anticipate and Time Market Turns
by Robert C. Beckman

The Disciplined Trader: Developing Winning Attitudes
by Mark Douglas

The Psychology of Technical Analysis
by Tony Plummer

Understanding Fibonacci Numbers
by Edward D. Dobson

Fibonacci Ratios with Pattern Recognition
by Larry Pesavento

A Complete Guide To the Futures Markets
by Jack D. Schwager

Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets
by John J. Murphy