August 2008 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


CROSSOVER PARAMETERS?

Editor,

The Forex Focus article in your May 2008 issue, "Allied Currencies" by Alexander Sabodin, discusses moving average crossovers, but the author does not reveal the numbers he is using for the crossover. The article is very interesting. Can you tell me what numbers he is using?

Mark Osman

Alexander Sabodin replies:

I prefer to use moving averages based on Fibonacci numbers. When it comes to moving average crossovers, I avoid using two adjacent Fibonacci numbers as my parameters. So I won't use, for example, 5 and 8, but instead will use 5 and 13 as my parameters.

When it comes to analyzing the financial markets, it's more art than science, as I have stressed in my articles. When you use a moving average crossover system, you can use any two parameters based on what you view to be the best choices based on historical performance. You want to identify those with the least number of false signals.



AROON INDICATOR

Editor,

I am writing articles in The Netherlands for the magazine Technische en Kwantitatieve Analyse published by Reed/Elsevier. I am looking for some information on Tushar Chande's Aroon indicator and I know you published an article on it in the September 1995 issue of STOCKS & COMMODITIES. I would like to get a copy of the article. I will publish the source of my information.

Aloys Mattijssen
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

You can purchase a copy of the article from the Online Store at our website, www.Traders.com.--Editor



READERS' CHOICE AWARDS

Editor,

I have noticed on some companies' websites that they state they have earned Readers' Choice Awards from your magazine for a number of years. Do you publish details regarding why they got the award on your site? I couldn't find any reference.

Manpreet Sandhu

Our Readers' Choice Awards are compiled from ballots made available to our subscribers at our website once a year. We ask our subscribers to select their favorite products and services from a list, with spaces to write in product names. We tally and compile the results, then present different award levels based on the amounts of votes each product received. Since the ballot is a check-off list, there is no opportunity on the ballot for readers to explain why they made each choice for each product, and we do not publish accounts of individual user experiences in conjunction with the awards.

Our Readers' Choice Awards are presented in the annual Bonus Issue of our magazine. The issue is mailed to subscribers in February and throughout the year to new subscribers, and is sold for a limited period on the newsstands that sell our regular issues. In that issue, we explain that we have asked our readers to vote for the products and services they have found most useful for their trading in the past year. We also explain how and why we've tried to break down the products into various categories. We also acknowledge that some lesser-known products may not be able to garner enough votes to capture an award simply due to the quantitative nature of balloting.

We do not publish the current Readers' Choice Awards results at our website. You can, however, find the results of several past years there. --Editor



SUGGESTIONS

Editor,

Just finished the June issue -- well done. I would love to see more of Larry Williams in the magazine. It seems like you focus on all the new people. People who have been around a long time may have some insights.

Thanks for all you do.
Jamie Robberts

Thanks for writing. We try to have a well-balanced approach to our magazine by presenting both the people on the leading edge and up-and-coming methodologies and products as well as classic approaches to technical analysis and people who have founded the very technical analysis techniques we all benefit from today. Visit our article archives at our website, www. Traders.com, for articles on technical analysis mainstays and for interviews with some of the best long-time practitioners. Not only that, you'll find an interview with Larry Williams that was published in our sister publication, Working Money, at Working-Money.com.--Editor



COMPUTRAC SOFTWARE?

Editor,

I'm looking for information on CompuTrac software. I heard about this software a number of years back and I have tried to find a copy. Could you help with this quest?

David Coulter
Edinburgh, Scotland

Publisher Jack K. Hutson replies:

Here's a little background on the CompuTrac software as it relates to this magazine: I purchased a copy of the original CompuTrac system in the late 1970s and announced and distributed the first issue of Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES, The Traders' Magazine, at a CompuTrac seminar I spoke at in Toronto, Canada, in 1982.

CompuTrac, Inc., began around July 1977 as the first commercial-grade software for traders. The first CompuTrac system ran on an Apple ][. In about 1987, CompuTrac released a Microsoft DOS-based text and graphics system. In 1989, CompuTrac SNAP gave the user a mouse-driven interface before Microsoft Windows was in use (but after the Apple Macintosh was introduced in 1984). The company was merged (sold) to Telerate, who later sold it to Dow Jones & Co. CompuTrac continued to hold industry trading seminars until the late 1990s. In 1999, Ino.com purchased the CompuTrac seminar rights.

The company that bought the rights to the programs and code for CompuTrac and CompuTrac SNAP technical analysis software was Stratagem Software International, who developed the SmarTrader program as CompuTrac's successor. Stratagem Software contributed Traders' Tips to this magazine for many years until 2006. Readers can find those Traders' Tips archived at our website. (Use the search feature at our site to search for "SmarTrader," or visit our archives area for past Traders' Tips at www.traders.com/Documentation/FEEDbk_docs/backissues.html.) CompuTrac users can implement the SmarTrader code.

Unfortunately, Stratagem Software now appears to be out of business, and we have been unable to locate them. If any reader has any information on a successor or knows if any company is currently still supporting the CompuTrac software, please drop us a line.
 



REPLICATING RESULTS IN ARTICLES

Editor,

John Ehlers writes interesting articles in your valued magazine. When I try to program the systems and indicators in these articles, I almost never get profitable trades. Since I do not have TradeStation, I program these systems and indicators using Visual Basic. Because it is possible that I make mistakes in the conversion from TradeStation code to VB code, it would be helpful if Ehlers includes the stocks used in all his illustrative charts; his charts don't give the stocks' names. Mentioning the name of the security and the period used would allow me to check my results against his.

J. Th.van der Peet
The Netherlands

The systems and indicators that John Ehlers writes about can be applied to any tradable. Often he uses the Treasury bond futures in his articles. In his most recent contribution, which was published in our March 2008 issue ("Measuring Cycle Periods"), the symbol used in the charts was the S&P contract.

I also recommend looking at the symbols on the charts in the Traders' Tips section of the March 2008 issue, since the Traders' Tips section in that issue was based on Ehlers' March 2008 article. You can use these charts and write-ups to compare against your results.



S&P OSCILLATOR

Editor,

I am looking for information on the S&P Oscillator tool that Jim Cramer refers to in his TV show, Mad Money. How can I subscribe to this service? I'd like to receive a sample of what it looks like or a trial subscription.

Larry Bryant

The S&P Oscillator is a proprietary, undisclosed trading tool developed and used by Jim Cramer. Since the formula for it is not revealed, it can't be replicated by others. Therefore, we are unable to offer it and we do not offer services providing trading signals. You will need to contact Mad Money to ask about the S&P Oscillator.

We do offer many articles on other oscillators and trading indicators that people have developed over the years. If you are interested in reading more about those, feel free to take a look at the article archives at our website, www.traders.com. Individual articles can be purchased through our Online Store. Call our toll-free number at 800-Technical for more information or for a trial subscription to this magazine.

Thank you for writing, and good luck with your trading pursuits.



ONLINE STORE ARTICLES

Editor,

I am a subscriber. Recently your website's search engine directed me to an article by Larry Connors that I would like to read [STOCKS & COMMODITIES, Volume 25: 11 (48-52)]. I assumed the citation meant Volume 25, Number 11, pages 48-52. I found the October 2007 issue in my library of past STOCKS & COMMODITIES and looked for the article but it wasn't there. I concluded either I am doing something wrong or there is an error in the citation. Please advise me where to look for this article.

Name withheld

You will find the article in the November 2007 issue. Unfortunately, there is a discrepancy between the way we number our issues in the printed magazine versus at our online store. At our online store, the issue numbers 1 ­ 12 simply correspond to the months of the year. In the printed magazine, we conform to postal regulations.

If you or other readers are interested in more by or about Larry Connors, here are some other articles to mention that can be found at our online store:

Larry Connors On How Markets Really Work (interview)
(December 2004)
by Jayanthi Gopalakrishnan
In his latest book, How Markets Really Work, Larry Connors says there's been an evolution in the way he thinks.

Laps And Gaps To Get Your Edge
(July 2007)
by Larry Connors and Ashton Dorkins
When a stock gaps higher at the open on bullish news, will that lead to even higher prices?

Does The RSI Give You An Edge?
(November 2007)
by Larry Connors and Ashton Dorkins
The relative strength index has been heavily used since its creation, but does it work for you?

Money Manager Laurence Connors (interview) (November 1995)
by Thom Hartle
What makes a trader a winner? It's hard to say. Laurence Connors, who is the co-author of Investment Secrets of a Hedge Fund Manager and the president of money managers Connors, Bassett & Associates, thinks it's all a matter of finding a personal method that works for each individual. STOCKS & COMMODITIES asked him about trading news reversals, why he likes to use average directional movement (Adx), why he doesn't worry when he has a string of losses, why he doesn't like mechanical trading systems and why he doesn't use oscillators.

 


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Originally published in the August 2008 issue of Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine. All rights reserved. © Copyright 2008, Technical Analysis, Inc.