MARKETEDGE.COM


 

Figure 1: www.marketedge.com

Wouldn't we all like to have an edge on the market? When I first glanced at this website, I initially thought it was a site dedicated to fundamental analysis. But when I saw the features available for paid subscribers, such as market timing signals, interactive charting with trading signals, using technical analysis for screening, and point & figure (P&F) chart breakouts and alerts, I decided to explore further, and was I glad I did.

Subscription rates range from $9.95 to $29.95 per month, depending upon what level you want. There is also the option of an annual subscription for $79.95. The homepage for MarketEdge.com consists mostly of articles from various other sites such as TheStreet.com and Standard & Poor's. Across the top of the homepage are several tabs. The "Markets" tab becomes the homepage by default after you log in. The "Stocks" tab lets you enter a stock symbol, which displays (by default) the trading activity of the previous trading day, along with opinions, recommendations, comments, price analysis, volume analysis, and technical analysis. Company profiles, financial data, estimates and opinions, news and analysis, price charts, and P&F charts are also available.

One feature I particularly liked was the "Stock Watch," where you select from a list of indexes/sectors, then select an analysis and/or various other options from dropdown menus. I especially liked being able to look for stocks that are near support or resistance levels.

I found several technical analysis?based screening tools to be useful. The "Advanced Tool" is worth a look. Here you can get a list of stocks that meet the P&F breakout, or those that display P&F buy/sell signals. You can get a list of stocks that could potentially be rewarding long or short positions. The Industry Group Analysis is also useful. In addition, you can do some basic technical analysis charting by launching Smart Chart, an interactive chart where you can insert indicators or change the time frame, frequency, and chart type.

Overall, this site has a lot of features, in both the arenas of technical and fundamental analysis. It's certainly worth a visit, especially if you like to look at both schools of stock market analysis.

--Jayanthi Gopalakrishnan, Editor



 

TraderMentors.com


Figure 2: the homepage of tradermentors.com
 

When Marty Schwartz decided he wanted to move from being a trader who was "always going tapioca" to someone who traded for a living, he and his wife wrote out a list of things he needed to do in order to make that dream happen. One item was to develop a sound methodology. Another item was to come up with an appropriately sized "nut" of $100,000 (in the early 1980s, no less). Second on the list was to buy a seat on an exchange. The third item on the list?

GET A MENTOR

I've riffed on this theme before. The commandment to "get a mentor" might be the one aspect of becoming a professional-caliber trader that many aspirants find the most vexing. This task is often all the more difficult for those who don't have ready access to a live exchange, the way Schwartz did with the American Stock Exchange or Linda Bradford Raschke did with the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange.
 Fortunately, the rise of the Internet has done more for aspiring professional traders than just provide them with access to eye-catching price charts and streaming data. The web has fostered message boards and chatrooms for traders and investors. True, some of these interactive e-ventures had all the half-life of the Internet bubble that ushered them into our PC desktops and browsers. And many of the most popular of those sites are no longer around. But the spirit behind these websites -- geared toward developing a community of traders of various experience and talent levels -- remains. And one incarnation of that spirit is TraderMentors.com.

TRADING WITH THE MENTOR

TraderMentors.com is not exactly a trader/mentor matchmaking service (hmm, now there's a thought ...). The folks running this website let everyone know up front that their "directory" is not screened and shouldn't be considered to be "endorsed" by TraderMentors.com. And they are quick to remind website visitors to examine and review the trading records and credentials of anyone who claims to be a mentor. But behind the disclaimers, TraderMentors.com has a "resource directory" that is rich in famous and not-so-famous traders and market analysts. These include Lan Turner (Gecko Software), Robert Prechter, Steven Hochberg, Jeffrey Kennedy, Peter Kendall (Elliott Wave International), Don Bright (Bright Trading), John Person (NationalFutures.com), and a host of others.

Exploring TraderMentors.com is easiest by way of the button menu running vertically along the left-hand side of the website. In addition to the "About This Site" background information (where you'll find most of the cautions and encouragements just mentioned), visitors to the website can search through a directory of mentor profiles by name, company affiliation, or markets traded.

An alphabetical listing of all the trader mentors is also available from this page. Next in the menu is a "Resource Directory" that helps up-and-coming traders find information about brokers and brokerage companies, hedge funds, professional organizations, data and trading software products, financial exchanges around the world, and regulatory agencies, as well as links to financial news services, technical analysis and foreign exchange websites, and other educational sources. A "Headlines" button brings up a list of the top financial headlines of the day.

TraderMentors.com also carries articles and educational pieces under the "Articles" and "Education" headings. These pieces vary from a review of the day's action in the emini Standard & Poor's 500 to an explanation of Elliott wave methodology, and are written by the trader mentors themselves. Some of the material available free is as extensive or more so than what some of these mentors provide for no charge on their own websites and in their own newsletters. Closely related under the "Events" heading is a listing of upcoming seminars, workshops, and tutorials offered by radio, online, and in person by various trader mentors.

Some other aspects of TraderMentors.com are less developed, owing to the website's relatively recent arrival. The developers have created both a message board?type forum as well as a chat feature, and a "Store" is still in the process of developing an inventory of CDs, Dvds, educational videos, newsletters, and subscriptions to services available through the various trader mentors. This is an area that will be worth watching as the website continues to grow.

In the end, websites like TraderMentors.com can only be as good as those who visit the website, get to know the various trader mentors, and become a part of the community the site's developers are working to build. Already the roster of mentors covers most of what the average trader associates with the financial markets, from the methodologies of Elliott waves and Fibonacci studies to the nuts-and-bolts analysis of tradables like currencies, the Dow Jones Industial Average, and the emini S&P.

All this, of course, does not mean that the site already has all the mentors it needs or wants. Those experienced, veteran traders with a few words of wisdom to share are strongly encouraged by TraderMentors.com to sign up to become a mentor. If it is true that a part of the education process for "young" traders (even if only "young at heart") involves getting to know the ones in the know, then websites like TraderMentors.com might become among the best ways to make it happen.
 

--David Penn, Technical Writer


Originally published in the February 2005 issue of Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine. All rights reserved. © Copyright 2005, Technical Analysis, Inc.
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