FuturesTechs Blog

Here at FuturesTechs we are constantly evolving our product, and in recent years we have added a merry band of private customers and ‘at home’ traders to our following via our website members area.

One request from a good few of our less experienced members is for a bit more clarity as to our current thinking about short term trend, and preferably something visual. So we have devised the coloured bar that you can see next to our levels on the left. We will release this new innovation on Monday 16th November.

You can see there are three colours on display: Green, Grey and Red.

If we are in the green zone the market is bullish technically. In the grey zone the technical outlook for the markets is neutral or uncertain. In the red zone the technicals are bearish.

These “skews” are short term outlooks. The medium and long term pictures may differ. We have decided that the profile of our average customer is short term, so this is the most useful timeframe for a tool of this type.

So let’s think about how different looking SkewBars should be treated.

To the left is an example of a SkewBar that’s more or less all green, with only a dash of red at the bottom. This means that the market is very bullish, and that you probably want to be buying it! We suggest that you trade “to the long side”, looking to try and buy dips to support levels, or buy breakouts through resistance levels. If you were scanning through each of our reports looking for something that might be worth a buy this is the sort of SkewBar you’d be looking for.

Stops can be placed below any support level, of course, but it’s only when we move out of the Green area that the short term skew changes from bullish.

In this case there is no Neutral Zone, the market flips straight to bearish below 120.98.

In this SkewBar the market is pretty neutral, only turning bearish if we break below bold support at 121.63. The neutral skew stays in place until we get all the way up to 123.04. It is only above here that the bulls regain control of things.

In Neutral markets you should can trade in either direction but don’t hold too much conviction. Many traders like neutral conditions as they can do plenty of lower risk “range” trades, trying to do more trades but take smaller amounts of money each time.

You may want to try and “play the range” by buying at the bottom end of the grey band, selling if and when the market gets near the top.

If we then break out of the range by moving into the red or green zones then things have changed and playing the range is no longer the game in town.

Our last example SkewBar is a bear market, and this doesn’t change unless we get above 123.04. Even above here the market only turns neutral. There is no green portion on our SkewBar at all, which means the bulls don’t even get as look in!

We hope this new innovation is a helpful visual addition to our reports. It has been suggested to us that sometimes the reports can be a little ambiguous, and while we try not to send mixed messages sometimes that’s just what the market conditions are. Hopefully the SkewBars will give a little more clarity.

To all our long term readers we’d like to point out that nothing’s changed with this innovation with respect to how we analyse the markets, we’ve just added a bit of colour, if you like!

As always your feedback would be most welcome. info@futurestechs.co.uk

Last week’s big highlight was meant to be the US Employment Report. As it turned out all the action was before this, and the numbers were a bit of a damp squib (like the topical analogy there?).

Equity markets have caught a fresh bid, and we were early to catch this as there were several reversal patterns on major indices at the start of last week. We were bullish from Wednesday onwards, so have reaped some firm rewards on the back of that timely change of sides.

Most of our readers are short term traders so they benefit from these timely “calls”. Longer term traders and Investors may be on the sidelines waiting for an opportunity to get in, and coming out of a dip or retracement is an ideal opportunity. Often, as was the case last week, our charts can tell us nice and early if it’s likely that a pullback has come to an end.

We are now looking to see if resistance at 5300 in the FTSE Index will be seen off. If this  happens the next upside target is 5650, a failure high from last August.

Gold is on another big run at the moment and has traded up to a high of $1111 as of yesterday morning. Yesterday’s candlestick (A “Shooting Star”) gave a warning that things may be getting toppy at these levels but so far we haven’t seen any downside moves to confirm this, so we’re sticking to the idea of higher prices going forward, targeting $1192 next, then $1250.

Oil is stuck in a range for now. Brent Crude has traded between $75 and $80 for weeks now. We expect this range to get broken with a move higher, and we would then target $90 and beyond. We have been suggesting to our clients to buy the dips to $75, and whatever their timeframe this has worked out well. Longer term holders would never have been offside, whereas those who trade in and out should have been able to jump out at $78 to $80 on several occasions then buy again at £75 next time it comes off.

If you are uncertain of any of the terminology used or methodologies discussed in this report you could swot up on our website. Feel free to ask for a Free Trial by clicking here.

Yours,

The FuturesTechs Team

Hi All,

Just a quick note to those who are looking for educational courses and training related to trading.

A word of warning: There are a lot of courses on offer that are long on sales pitch but short on useful content once you sit down on the day. I have come across many clients who have been on these sort of courses and came out more confused than when they went in.

If you read that someone has read loads of books on trading would that encourage you to listen to what they’re saying? I didn’t think so, especially where trading is concerned. and this is one of the biggest problems with seminars/training course on trading: They’re not run by successful traders. In fact many of them are run by successful motivational speakers who make you feel great, but teach you little about the realities of trading the markets, and the swings and roundabouts you will inevitably experience as a trader, however much experience you have!

They’re not run by successful traders, because succesful traders don’t need the money, quite simply because they’re successful traders, and they wouldn’t want to waste time training people when they could be using that time trading, and making more money!

So that presents a problem if you’re looking for a training course. What can be done then?

The best advice I can give is get to know a network of people who are trading or interested in trading. Go to the message boards (like Trade2win) and attend the conferences (like the IX Investor Show or the World Money Show), and create your own network of people who have been through this process. They will tell you there’s no “quick fix” and no fast money to be made in the markets.

Remember the old adage “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is”. Adverts that suggest you can become a Millionaire with just 20 minutes work a day surely come into that category.

But you can make money trading, and a decent start, in the shape of a decent training course from a decent provider, can save you much more money than just wading in, losing you money to the markets. There will be plenty of time to learn trading lessons with real money, and trust me these are often the most valuable lessons!

The point of this Blog post is to put forward one of my suggestions if you want to learn the ropes with a trusted, professional provider of trader training. David Norman at the Trader Training Company has been doing this for many years, and has put together a really decent programme that helps you understand all aspects of trading.

I would strongly suggest you GIVE YOURSELF A CHANCE to make money in the markets before you start to trade heavily.

Click here to go to the link on our website for the up-coming “Boot Camp” at the end of April. I am doing the Technical Analysis module, around 6 hours of Technical Analysis training over two afternoons, covering basic principles, different chart types, Candlestick analysis, momentum indicators, and practical application.

Cheers,

Clive.

PS. The book got a review on Page 73 of this week’s Investors Chronicle. Here’s the link: Three winning traders’ guides