January 2003 Letters To The Editor

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The editors of S&C invite readers to submit their opinions and information on subjects relating to technical analysis and this magazine. This column is our means of communication with our readers. Is there something you would like to know more (or less) about? Tell us about it. Without a source of new ideas and subjects coming from our readers, this magazine would not exist.

Address your correspondence to: Editor, STOCKS & COMMODITIES, 4757 California Ave. SW, Seattle, WA 98116-4499, or E-mail to editor@traders.com. All letters become the property of Technical Analysis, Inc. Letter-writers must include their full name and address for verification. Letters may be edited for length or clarity. The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily represent those of the magazine. -Editor

READERS' CHOICE AWARDS BALLOT NOW ONLINE

Editor,

I've been a subscriber to S&C for many years and I read in your magazine that it's now possible to vote for the Readers' Choice Awards through your website, but I wasn't able to find the link to do it. I shall be glad to know how I can participate in the balloting.

I also thank you for all the great information you provide me every month in S&C.
Fabio Baldi, via e-mail, Italy

Voting for the Readers' Choice Awards has just begun! You'll now find a link at our website, Traders.com.

Voting is open to all current subscribers of S&C. Logging in to the ballot will require your subscriber number (located on your mailing label). Vote for your favorite products and services across 21 categories before January 15, and look for the compiled results in our 2003 Bonus Issue, due out in late February 2003.-Editor

TRADING CHATROOMS

Editor,

I read your recent interview with Teresa Lo (November 2002 S&C) and her mention of a chatroom. But when I contacted them I learned they no longer provide real-time trading in the chatroom as of November 2002. I was wondering if you could help in providing a list of trading chatrooms, especially those for index futures.

I have never seen an article in your mag, but I had hoped you could guide me. I have found that I need this in order to successfully learn how to trade. I never heard of Lo until your article and I don't know how to find these rooms.
Jerry Webb, via e-mail

You'll find many trading chatrooms and discussion areas listed at https://daytrading.about.com/cs/chatroomsforum/, such as RealTraders and the Pristine Trading Room. In addition, visit our website at Traders.com for our Traders' Resource database. One category there is courses and seminars. Finally, reading this magazine will provide ideas on how to trade using technical analysis methods.-Editor

TERESA LO INTERVIEW

Editor,

Regarding your November 2002 interview with Teresa Lo of trendVue.com: I found this interview to be very confusing. First, she says, "The whole 'You can trade for a living' is a big lie," but then says to have your living expenses covered before you trade. Then she says indicators don't work, but then tells us what indicators she uses. Perhaps the reason she is selling her website is because she can't trade for a living.
Erik Klein, New Brunswick, NJ

COPPOCK INDICATOR

Editor,

I would like to see an updated article in your magazine on the long-term record of the Coppock indicator against the Dow Jones Industrial Average showing the formula using Excel.
John Rooney, via e-mail

METASTOCK CODE FOR STOCHRSI

Editor,

Dennis Peterson inspired me a lot with his August 2002 S&C article, "Developing A Trading System." I did not mind the unfinished MetaStock code in the sidebar on pages 50-51. There is a way to cope with the fact that MetaStock does not allow a variable for periods in Llv, Hhv and BBandbot.  The job can be done without WealthLab.

Here, I'll give the MetaStock formula for a dynamic StochRsi. You can use the same trick for Botpercentage or any other dynamic formula. Just don't put too many nested ifs in the formula (better to split the formula).
  

MetaStock code: Dynamic StochRsi

SCaug02adjust periods:=  14;

StochRSI:=(RSI(periods)-LLV(RSI(periods),periods))/
  (HHV(RSI(periods),periods)-LLV(RSI(periods),periods));

rdp1:= Round(Stdev( StochRSI,60)/.053);

rdp2:= Round(Stdev(  StochRSI,60)/.035);

rdv1:=  Round(Stdev(Mov(V,14,S)/1000000,60));

adjust:=rdv1-rdp1+11;

adjust1:=If(adjust<8,8,If(adjust>12,12,adjust))
  SCaug02StochRSIdyn adj1:=(RSI(8)-LLV(RSI(8),8))/
  (HHV(RSI(8),8)-LLV(RSI(8),8));

adj2:=(RSI(9)-LLV(RSI(9),9))/(HHV(RSI(9),9)-LLV(RSI(9),9));

adj3:=(RSI(10)-LLV(RSI(10),10))/(HHV(RSI(10),10)-LLV(RSI(10),10));

adj4:=(RSI(11)-LLV(RSI(11),11))/(HHV(RSI(11),11)-LLV(RSI(11),11));

adj5:=(RSI(12)-LLV(RSI(12),12))/(HHV(RSI(12),12)-LLV(RSI(12),12));

StochRSIdyn:=  If( FmlVar("SCaug02adjust",
  "adjust1")=8,adj1,If(FmlVar("SCaug02adjust",
  "adjust1")=9,adj2,If(FmlVar("SCaug02adjust",
  "adjust1")=10,adj3,If(FmlVar("SCaug02adjust",
  "adjust1")=11, adj4,adj5))));

StochRSIdyn

Maarten Scholten, via e-mail
Amsterdam

Thank you for writing and thank you for sharing this piece of code with other readers. We will also post this at our website, Traders.com, in the subscriber area at https://technical.traders.com/sub/sublogin.asp, so subscribers can copy and paste it into MetaStock.-Editor

ASPIRING TECHNICAL ANALYST

Editor,

I'm doing some research and would like to know if you can give me some direction. I would love to be a stock analyst!

I have been studying for the past six months. I currently use Advanced GET as my trading software and many online links to gather my analysis. I'm not interested in trading but rather in providing technical analysis for those who are looking for it.

My question is: Is there a job market for technical analysts?
Pamela R. Trost, via e-mail

I recommend that aspiring technical analysts contact the Market Technicians Association (foundation@mta.org, www.mta.org) and consider becoming certified through them.-Editor

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