Technical Analysis: The Complete Resource for Financial Market Technicians (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: bar chart patterns, chart pattern analysis, trend confirmation, Dow Theory, Ned Davis Research, Trend Analysis (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I’ve been reading technical analysis works for forty years. This is the first book on the subject worthy of being called both comprehensive and disciplined. It will be a great asset to both practitioners and serious students alike.”
—Phil Roth, CMT, Chief Technical Market Analyst, Miller Tabak + Co.

“The authors deftly straddle the divide between the artistic and the rigorous aspects of technical analysis. The publication of this text is an important financial-market event and the authors are to be congratulated.”
—John Bollinger, CFA, CMT, President, Bollinger Capital Management

“The authors have done a superb job of making the subject so understandable, setting goals for each chapter, and seeing they are met, with a concise summary at each chapter’s end. After four decades of practicing the subject, I am proud to place my colleagues’ book in a prominent spot in my technical analysis library.”
—Alan R. Shaw, CMT, former Managing Director, Smith Barney, second President of Market Technicians Association

“As both a technical analysis teacher and practitioner, I have long looked for a book that covers the subject from a practitioner’s perspective and at the same time meets a student’s need to learn a complete body of knowledge. Kirkpatrick’s and Dahlquist’s book is the first I have seen that hits the mark on both fronts.”
—Bruce M. Kamich, CMT, Adjunct Professor of Finance, Baruch College, and former president, Market Technicians Association

Product Description

Now, there's a comprehensive, objective, and reliable tutorial and reference for the entire field of technical analysis. For traders, researchers, and serious investors alike, this is the definitive book on technical analysis. Individual investors and professional investment managers are increasingly recognizing the value of technical analysis in identifying trading opportunities. Moreover, the SECs requirement for analysts and brokers to pass Section 86 exams can now be fulfilled with the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) certification. Author Charles D. Kirkpatrick II has spent decades using technical analysis to advise major investing institutions -- and he currently teaches the subject to MBA candidates, giving him unique insight into the best ways of explaining its complex concepts. Together with university finance instructor and CMT Dr. Julie Dahlquist, Kirkpatrick systematically explains the theory of technical analysis, presenting academic evidence both for and against it. Using 200+ illustrations, the authors explain the analysis of markets and individual issues, and present a complete investment system and portfolio management plan. Readers will learn how to use tested sentiment, momentum indicators, seasonal affects, flow of funds, and many other techniques. The authors reveal which chart patterns and indicators have been reliable; show how to test systems; and demonstrate how technical analysis can be used to mitigate risk.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 704 pages
• Publisher: FT Press (August 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131531131
• ISBN-13: 978-0131531130
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,172 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough Look at Technical Analysis, December 12, 2006

By	L. Masonson (Monroe, New York USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Charles Kirkpatrick II, CMT, and Julie Dahlquist, Ph.D., the authors, have decades of experience in using and/or teaching technical analysis on the college level. Their subject mastery is apparent in this well-written all-inclusive textbook , which is clearly and logically written. Each chapter builds on the knowledge learned in prior chapters. In addition, there is an extensive 18-page bibliography.

This 672-page 23-chapter book is written in a college textbook style. For example, each chapter begins with a handful of objectives, followed by the subject matter including large easy-to-read charts and tables (many created using TradeStation charts and data from Ned Davis Research, Inc.), and ends with a conclusion section, as well as review questions.

In the introduction to the subject, the authors review the history of technical analysis, as well as the importance of trends, and the controversy surrounding the validity of the random walk hypothesis and the efficient market hypothesis. Next, the focus is on market indicators (Dow theory, market sentiment, market breadth indicators (ARMS Index, 90% down days, new highs and new lows, and percent of stocks above their 10 and 30 dmas), cycles and patterns, and fund flows into the market. Also reviewed are breakouts, stop placements, retracements, and moving averages.

There is an extensive review of chart construction, chart pattern analysis and trend confirmation using bar charts, candlesticks, and point-and-figure charts. Also covered is a discussion on cycles, Elliott wave, Fibonacci and Gann. Furthermore, there is a discussion of trading and investing and market and issue selection. A chapter on system design and testing, and money and risk management provides additional insight into the subject.

The knowledge imparted by this book can benefit financial professionals, individual investors, college students; financial journalists who want to learn the key concepts of technical analysis, and other interested parties. In addition, this book can also be used as a study guide for the Certified Market Technician (CMT) designation.

This book is substantial in content and a welcome addition to the field. Those wishing to increase their technical analysis knowledge even further, can read books by John Murphy, Greg Morris, Thomas Dorsey, Martin Pring, Steve Nison, and of course the joint work of Robert Edwards and John Magee.

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Singe Best Book on Technical Analysis!, January 24, 2008

By	Brandon Steele "Pleasant Surmise" - See all my reviews

Technical Analysis by Kirkpatrick and Dahlquist has raised the bar and set the standard for TA books. It's far more advanced than Murphy's Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets, and a much easier read, as well as more scientific, than Pring's Technical Analysis Explained.

It consists of 629 pages loaded - I'm talking small type - with brilliant insights on stock analysis and market analysis. The book serves as a guide, a text book on TA, and a myth buster of some of the "pie in the sky" vodoo that tends to distort the image of TA. It tells you - with statistics and scientific research - what's effective, what was never effective and what used to be effective. After already having read several investment books on TA and fundamental analyis and having went to B-School, I still learned both fundamental things and TA things from this book.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book!, December 12, 2007

By	Chris Diesel (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This is by far the best book I have read on technical analysis. It is a complete guide to all the different aspects of T/A. The best part of the book and the reason it I give it 5 stars, is the fact that the author has tested all of the indicators himself (and his team), and if he hasn't tested them personally, he list someone who has. He provides you with the success/failure rate of different indicators, what % of the time the stock will rise after say a declining wedge, and how often contrarian trading works to your advantage.

If you have not read a book on T/A before, I would recommend reading something like Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets. I think you will get more out of the book if you already have a good knowledge base built up before hand.