 |
|
or return to January Contents
GREAT ARTWORK
Editor,Your magazine cover and also some of the artwork inside are marvelous art. I'd like to use some of it as a desktop pattern on my computer screen. I hope someday you'll offer desktop themes of all your artwork. Thanks!
Thank you for the compliment. A copy of the current STOCKS & COMMODITIES cover is displayed each month at our Web site at www.Traders.com. Reusing portions of a copyrighted publication for personal and internal use is permissible. Thank you for writing. -- EditorJOSE PASCUAL Manila, Philippines via E-mail
CHARTING CYCLES
Editor,I read with great interest Daniel Chesler's article in the September 1997 STOCKS & COMMODITIES, "Identifying significant chart formations." The charts that accompany the article include graphic representations of the periodicity that Chesler discusses in the body of the piece. Are those cycles that we see on the charts generated by an indicator function (either built-in or custom), or by add-on software? How might I include such a function in my own charting? I use MetaStock.
MetaStock includes a cycle tool for visually defining cycles. You will find the cycle tool discussed in the "Working with line studies" section of your MetaStock manual. See also our product review of MetaStock 6.5 in this issue. -- EditorRICHARD FEIT via E-mail
McCLELLAN OSCILLATOR
Editor,One of my advisors uses an oscillator called the McClellan oscillator. Using this oscillator, he predicts upswings and downswings in the OEX index. Could you please write an article on this oscillator, showing how to compute it and how to use and read it?
See our interview with the McClellans ("It's all in the family: Sherman, Marian and Tom McClellan") in our June 1994 issue, which also included a sidebar on calculating the McClellan oscillator and summation index. -- EditorM. BOOT Lieveren, The Netherlands via E-mail
ELECTRONIC DELIVERY
Editor,How about delivering STOCKS & COMMODITIES electronically by subscription? Some of us traders live where the regular mail is not reliable -- and definitely not speedy. These days, I can get all kinds of information over the Internet via electronic subscription. I don't want your magazine by mail, even for free, since by the time I receive it, it's no longer timely. I would be willing to pay for an electronic subscription if I could access it as soon as it came out.
We are working toward posting all our articles at our Web site for paid access. Currently, we post article abstracts for the current issue, Letters to S&C, Trade News & Products, Futures Liquidity, Traders' Tips, and the Opening Position concurrently with the distribution of the magazine. We expect that we'll have full article text available for downloading on a pay-as-you-go basis late in 1998.CARMEN BATKY via E-mailDon't mistake us, though, for a newsletter that publishes time-sensitive stock recommendations or industry news. We are a how-to, research-based monthly magazine whose content remains useful often for years after publication. In fact, we receive orders all the time for back volumes that contain articles explaining how a particular indicator works or is calculated. We also continue to sell all our back volumes in book form as well as our CD-ROM of past material, which has proved to be a great research tool for readers. -- Editor
ELLIOTT WAVE ENTHUSIAST
Editor,I want to mention that STOCKS & COMMODITIES is an excellent magazine that covers nearly all facets of technical analysis. I also wanted to point out that it would be worthwhile to take a closer look at Elliott wave analysis, because it is so fascinating and accurate. I highly recommend an interview or commentary from Glenn Nealy, Robert Miner or Robert Prechter.
Finally, is it possible to access your previous articles on Elliott wave via the Internet?
You'll find our latest interview with Robert Prechter in our January 1996 issue. To find additional S&C articles about Elliott wave, you can scan the back-issue article listings at our Web site (www.Traders.com). The full text of articles isn't yet available at our Web site; currently, your options for obtaining copies of past S&C articles include purchasing the single back issue if available ($8), the volume book from that year ($29-$59.95), our CD-ROM ($395), or a photocopy from University Microfilm ($12, 800 248-0360). For more information about any of these options, call our circulation department at 800-TECHNICAL (800 832-4642). -- EditorE. DINA via E-mail
BOND DATA SOURCES
Editor,I am on a board of trustees for my church, which has responsibility for investing funds for the church. We have assigned the actual investing of the funds to professional money managers. We would like to track how well those managers are doing, as far as performance and return on investments is concerned.
I have access to stock price history and mutual fund NAV history, but I have been unable to find history on bonds. Is there an online service that has bond information that I can access?
You don't specify what kind of bond price history you need. If you want to know historical yield levels by maturity, one free data source is the Web site of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, at https://www.stls.frb.org/. Good luck. --EditorDICK UNSWORTH via E-mail
T-BOND FUTURES DATA
Editor,I have a question about Dennis Meyers' November 1997 article, "The T-bond futures & stock market breadth system." Would substituting the cash T-bond 30-year yield (which is widely available) provide equivalent performance to using a continuous T-bond futures contract (which is more difficult to come by)? Naturally, using the yield of the cash bond would require reversing the sign before making the substitution.
Ease of access can be a matter of viewpoint. End-of-day T-bond futures prices are available from a variety of sources. Some sources allow you to download bond prices for a minimal fee as an add-on service to your stock data download. The final day's values can be found at the Chicago Board of Trade's Web site at https://www.cbot.com. --EditorMICHAEL G. CARACAPPA Haddonfield, NJ
AFTER THE CLOSE
Editor,Your recent series of articles by Dennis Meyers has a flaw that could be easily fixed. The articles give a long series of calculations that include figures such as advancing and declining volume, which are not generally available until after the markets close. The calculations use these figures to perform computations for a position that opens or closes at the end of the day.
The techniques would be much more useful if they made their trades at the market opening on the following day. This change would probably not affect the technique, but without actually trying it, it's not clear how much difference it may make. This change would make future articles in this series more useful and less hypothetical.
The database that Meyers uses for historical testing in most of his recent articles is the S&P 500 index. The S&P index uses the previous day's closing price for the opening, because not all stocks that make up the index open simultaneously each day for trading.DAVID HOLROYD via E-mailIf you follow Meyers' methods, you should be aware of market activity to know when a potential signal is possible. Thus, you could simply watch intraday values on CNBC or over the Internet to give yourself the opportunity to act on that day's closing price. --Editor
DAYTRADING FOR BEGINNERS
Editor,I am new to stock trading. I want to put a computer monitor on my desk and do some daytrading to help pass the time while I repair cameras for a living. I visited the Software Comparison listing at your Web site, but there are so many choices, I still don't know what to do.
Do you have any past articles that might help me locate a $100 charting program with analysis features? I want to type in 10-minute averages and make an intraday chart during trading hours. I don't know if this is going to be any fun or not, so I only want to test the waters first and not yet lay out $1,000 for a full-fledged real-time trading program.
We are constantly flooded with requests from readers to help them shop for a product that meets their specific needs, and it's very difficult for us to provide personalized responses. Our hope is that by providing product reviews, Quick-Scans, and Trade News & Products in each issue, and by posting the Software Comparison Table -- which is a detailed listing of more than 150 technical analysis products -- at our Web site, and by hosting the Readers' Choice Awards in our annual Bonus Issue, that our readers will find plenty of ideas to follow up on. If you can narrow down your choices from the Software Comparison feature, and then call the vendors for more information, the homework could prove educational. --EditorZANE KORI Abilene, TX
SOMETHING FOR NOTHING
Editor,Just bought my first copy of your publication. I am looking for a Web site that provides technical analysis on stock charts over the Internet -- for example, giving you the ability to add resistance levels, buy signal levels, and so on. I have not been successful so far. Can you tell me if such Web sites exist, and if not, why everyone needs to pull their own data into some software program and do their own analysis?
Thank you for any response to this lazy beginner.
More and more Internet or Internet-ready products are being introduced. Some products simply give you the convenience of downloading data over the Internet, others offer downloadable software from the Internet, and others run entirely over the Internet for a monthly fee.BOB HANGEBRAUCK via E-mailCheck the Online Resources/Links area of our Web site, at https://www.Traders.com, for charting sources. Check also our monthly product reviews and Trade News & Products column for Web sites, free services, and Internet products that offer technical analysis.
Of course, while Internet services are constantly improving, you may still not find the same level of sophistication and customization that you'll find in a software product for sale. And since technical analysis software has become very affordable, as has data access, and Internet connections are still slow and sometimes unreliable, why not spend the extra few minutes to install one of them? Successful traders are not afraid of hard work! --Editor
NOVICE TRADER NOTEBOOK AT S&C WEB SITE
Editor,The information in your pages is worth a lot. But please do something about the background on your Novice Trader Notebook feature at your Web site! When I maximize your browser on a 1024x768 screen, the spiral notebook graphic repeats, making it difficult to read some of the text. Please edit the notebook graphic to cater to any screen width, up to at least 1600 pixels wide.
It's been fixed. Thanks for pointing it out. -- EditorLOOD STRYDOM via E-mail
AUTHOR GUIDELINES
Editor,I have been a longtime reader of your magazine and appreciate the attempt you make to educate the hobbyist trader. I have noticed that lately you are focusing too much on entry and exits as the basis of success.
I have recently completed some research that I could share with your readers if you think it would be of value. May I have a copy of your Author Guidelines either via E-mail or by regular mail?
Thank you for your high-quality publication.
You can review our Author Guidelines at our Web site, www.Traders.com. We look forward to receiving your submission. --EditorALAN CRARY Trumbull, CT via E-mail
TRADERS' TIPS
There will be no Traders' Tips this month. Look for the section to return next month.
S&C INFO
Subscriptions, address changes and back issues:For subscription service questions, address changes or ordering information, call toll-free 800 832-4642 or 206 938-0570. Or write to STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine, 4757 California Ave. SW, Seattle, WA 98116-4499.
Single back issues from the current year (subject to availability) are $8 prepaid. Prior years are available in book format (indexed and without ads) or in CD-ROM format. Currently, Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES Volumes 1 through 14 are available for purchase (see page 11 of this issue for ordering information). Volume 15 will be available soon.