WWW.CHARTPATTERN.COM
FIGURE 1: www.chartpattern.com
Dan Zanger is well known in the trading community, and for good reason. Zanger, who uses chart patterns to find high-volatility stocks, is often quoted in popular financial magazines such as Forbes and Fortune, hosts his own radio shows, and has been interviewed in several trading magazines, including the one you are reading (but not this particular issue). He piqued the interest of technicians in 2000 when he discussed how he turned $11,000 into $18 million in a year and a half, an unofficial world record for trading stocks, with the records to prove it.
Not surprisingly, he has made his presence on the Internet through his website, www.chartpattern.com, which, I might add, offers a rather hip presentation. The animated charts with background music and the occasional beeps that sound at buy or sell points, the bright colors and interesting clipart, if nothing else, make this an enjoyable site to use.
As for website content, Zanger shares his 10 trading rules (which he refers to as the "10 Golden Stock Rules"); his performance history; a primer on stock chart patterns (such as cup & handle, wedge formations, triangle formations, and pennants); and he also indulges in an area of personal interest, global warming, with a links area (and charts, of course). These tidbits plus some additional areas are available without logging in.
Those who register, however, will also receive the daily newsletter that provides Zanger's thoughts on the market. This newsletter, "The Zanger Report," is for active traders and investors who focus on taking long and short positions in stocks. Charts of the broader indexes and individual equities, together with supporting indicators and comments regarding position recommendations, also come with a subscription.
Another feature available to subscribers is stock selections, although these did not appear to be updated regularly. When I viewed the site, I noticed that the last update was done about three weeks previous. The chat forum is another feature subscribers will enjoy. It's sometimes refreshing to communicate with other traders, given that trading is a lonely profession. And if you need to find links to useful resources on stock trading, a list is available on this site.
Are the services available on this site worth the $59-per-month fee? That depends on your needs. Fortunately, you can take advantage of a three-week free trial to help answer that question.
--Jayanthi Gopalakrishnan, Editor
Further reading
Blackman, Matt [2003]. "The Charts Know It All: Chart Patterns, Trading,
And Dan Zanger," interview, Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES,
Volume 21: August.
WWW.FUTURESKNOWLEDGE.COM
FIGURE 1: HomePage of FuturesKnowledge.com
Are you interested in finding a futures broker? How about scoring some solid analysis of the markets? Quotes and charts? Are you curious about forex trading, electronic trading, or systems trading? Got a thing for options (or like to know where you could get one)?
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then knowledge about futures may be what you are after. And if it is futures knowledge that you are looking for, then perhaps Futures Knowledge.com should be among your destinations.
FuturesKnowledge.com is a website geared specifically to those who are trading -- or are interested in trading -- commodity, index, and interest rate futures. The website boasts a host of sponsors, some of whom -- like Lind-Waldock, Ira Epstein, and FXCM -- may already be familiar to futures and foreign exchange traders and observers.
According to the background provided at the website, Futures Knowledge began as an "organizational tool for an advertising agency" looking to understand more about the world of commodities trading and investing. After launching a website to keep track of the accumulation of resources and information on futures trading, the FK founders attracted more and more organizations and individuals looking for the same thing. In this fashion, Futures Knowledge has grown beyond its original intents to become a broad-based source for information about trading commodities.
Futures Knowledge's connection to the advertising world is still present, though mostly in the way the website is able to garner a wealth of data and information about brokers, market analytics, price and volume action, foreign exchange, systems trading, and the world of the electronic trader. Unlike many futures-oriented websites, FuturesKnowledge.com also provides special information for those interested in daytrading futures, a small but important group of those participating in these markets.
A not-insignificant part of Futures Knowledge is still a work in progress. For example, the website's "Broker of the Month" feature has not had a celebrated broker since July 2002. Yet the analyses of the markets that I consulted were all up to date, as were the majority of links I followed, making FuturesKnowledge.com a website worth passing on to those always looking out for more information, more analysis, and more tricks of the trade that make up the world of futures trading.
FOUR BY FUTURES KNOWLEDGE
There are four main sections at FuturesKnowledge.com: Research and Commentary, Research a Broker, Education, and Resources. The Research and Commentary section consists of a series of links to specific commentary divided by commodity group (currencies, energies, financials, grains, indicies, meats, metals, softs). The commentary is of varied origin, written by analysts and brokers from firms such as DailyFutures.com, Alaron Futures and Options, and Striker Securities -- and differs in methodology, analytic technique (fundamental, technical, seasonal), and tone (one analysis of crude oil and Opec exhorts: "If you got it, baby, pump it!"). Many commentaries come with an image of the analyst, as well as a profile of the author, which provides a phone number and email address for those interested in following up on a particular observation or analysis.
The Research a Broker section is not as complete as I'd prefer. However, if you are looking for a futures broker, one of the things you want first is a list of the futures brokers available, a basic rundown on who they are and what they offer, and some way of getting more information if you are interested. In this, FuturesKnowledge.com does a solid job in providing both aspiring futures traders and those looking to make a brokerage change with a few of the names and places in the futures brokerage business. This section is subdivided into categories for discount brokers, full service brokers, online brokers, options brokers, and forex brokers. To my eye, the "catalog"-like way the information is presented is a plus, making side-by-side comparisons between brokers a relatively straightforward affair.
As you might expect, Futures Knowledge.com makes some provision for quotes and charts -- although this is perhaps one of the less strong aspects of the website. Quotes and charts are provided by way of Barchart.com, and while the charts are exacting, they probably won't have too many traders abandoning their TradeStation or eSignal platforms any time soon. That said, those looking to become informed about futures perhaps need little more -- at least initially -- than what FuturesKnowledge.com provides. In addition, intrepid web searchers might note that the website's quotes and charts page is provided by Barchart.com, and opt to visit that website directly if more detailed charts are required.
The Resources section of Futures Knowledge includes links to some of the basic information that every futures trader will want to be aware of. Whether that is contract specifications, Commitment of Traders (COT) reports, a calendar of expirations, weather forecasting for agricultural futures, or a key to ticker symbols, this section is loaded with data that will surely be printed out and saved (or at least bookmarked) by budding traders looking to familiarize themselves with the mechanics of futures trading. Because there is a dearth of commentary on futures trading outside of Chicago, I find this kind of compendium of basic futures information to be invaluable. Having had to cobble together some of this information from different places in the past, it is a nice bonus to have so much of this material in one place.
LITTLE NUGGETS OF KNOWLEDGE
Aside from these main sections, FuturesKnowledge.com boasts a number of links and smaller education and reference modules that are of particular interest to traders getting to know the futures markets. These links and modules include a market snapshot window of daily change numbers for a number of major commodities (mini-Dow, Nasdaq, and Standard & Poor's 500, with the dollar index, gold, crude oil, and wheat) on the homepage, and links to futures and forex paper trading resources and home study courses from the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and The Futures Academy, as well as a set of introductory lessons on options trading.
It must be underscored that FuturesKnowledge.com is a work in progress. Some of the modules remain under construction, and it will be largely up to the support and interest of those in the futures industry that will make the difference whether FuturesKnowledge.com will thrive as a resource for futures traders.
In the meantime, the website is certainly worth a visit if you are at all curious about the commodity trading industry -- or merely looking for a place to answer a question or two about a kind of trading that many have called the highest-stakes game in town.
--David Penn, Technical Writer
Originally published in the August 2004 issue of Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine. All rights reserved. © Copyright 2004, Technical Analysis, Inc.