Moving Averages Can Identify a Trade

These 3 charts help you understand how moving averages work

By Elliott Wave International

Moving averages are a popular tool for technical traders because they can "smooth" price fluctuations in any chart. EWI Senior Analyst Jeffrey Kennedy gives a clear definition:

"A moving average is simply the average value of data over a specified time period, and it is used to figure out whether the price of a stock or commodity is trending up or down... one way to think of a moving average is that it's an automated trend line."

Moving averages are both easy to create and extraordinarily dynamic. You can choose which time frame to study as well as which data points to use (open, high, low, close or midpoint of a trading range).

Jeffrey Kennedy shares 3 of the most popular moving averages in this excerpt is from his 10-page eBook: How to Trade the Highest Probability Opportunities: Moving Averages. Continue reading "Moving Averages Can Identify a Trade"

The Secret Word: Deflation - And the Next Five Years of Financial Turmoil

The following is a sample from Elliott Wave International's new 40-page report, The State of the Global Markets - 2013 Edition: The Most Important Investment Report

You'll Read This Year. This article was originally published in Robert Prechter's July 2012 Elliott Wave Theorist.

In the first five months of 2012, there were 20 times as many Google searches on "inflation" as there were on "deflation." This is down from a

ratio of 50 times in June 2008. If any theme has been overdone over the past six years, it is the theme of inevitable inflation if not hyperinflation.

Inflation reigned for 75 years, from 1933 to 2008. People are so used to it that they cannot imagine the opposite Continue reading "The Secret Word: Deflation - And the Next Five Years of Financial Turmoil"

Forex Trading: Why You Need to Look Past Fiscal Cliffs

The "fiscal cliff" agreement did not set the course for EUR/USD -- here is why.

By Elliott Wave International

First, a word on how we all are conditioned to think that, "momentum will remain constant unless acted on by an outside force." Read this excerpt from Robert Prechter's May 2004 Elliott Wave Theorist:

"...'Momentum will remain constant unless acted on by an outside force.' This mode of thought is deeply embedded in our minds because it has tremendous evolutionary advantages. When Og threw a rock at Ugg back in the cave days, Ugg ducked. He ducked not necessarily because his mind had inherited and/or learned the consequences of the Law of Conservation of Momentum.

"The rock would not veer off course because there was nothing between the two men to act upon it, and rocks do not have minds of their own.

"Earlier animals that incorporated responses to the laws of physics lived; those that didn't died, and their genes were weeded out of the gene pool. The Law of Conservation of Momentum makes possible our modern technological world. People rely on it every day.

"Despite its use in so many areas, however, it is inapplicable to predicting [the financial markets]..." Continue reading "Forex Trading: Why You Need to Look Past Fiscal Cliffs"

Learn to Label Elliott Waves More Accurately

Are you looking for an easy way to improve your confidence as you analyze the charts you trade? Take a quick look at this chart (adapted from Jeffrey Kennedy's December 26 Elliott Wave Junctures lesson) to see how divergence relationships help clarify your analysis.

According to Jeffrey, divergence relationships are easy to identify. Whenever prices make a new extreme, look for underlying indicators to move in the opposite direction. Specifically,

The momentum relationship most often seen in waves 3 and 5 is divergence. Bullish divergence forms when prices make a new low while an accompanying indicator does not. Conversely, bearish divergence occurs when prices register a new high while an accompanying indicator does not. Bullish and bearish divergences are common to waves A and C, just as they are waves 3 and 5.

Notice the bearish divergence between waves 3 and 5 in the daily price chart of Halliburton Company (HAL) -- Prices reach a new high, yet the MACD indicator moves in the opposite direction: Continue reading "Learn to Label Elliott Waves More Accurately"

Don't Expect the News to Tell You Where EUR/USD Is Going Next

By Elliott Wave International

On December 27, EUR/USD shot up as high as $1.3283. Forex news headlines were quick to comment:

"Dec 27 - The euro slightly extended gains against the dollar after strong U.S. new home sales data last month further lifted the market's appetite for riskier currencies."

But after EUR/USD hit that high, it promptly reversed and fell back down to the $1.3200 level, where it had been stuck all week.

You may ask: What happened to that "appetite for riskier currencies"? Continue reading "Don't Expect the News to Tell You Where EUR/USD Is Going Next"