With the 47^th Annual Symposium approaching, and the early registration pricing deadline looming on Wednesday the 18^th, we’ve compiled a few highlights from previous interviews with longtime members featuring personal stories and testimonies about past Symposiums.

“I found the conferences especially valuable in meeting other technicians and as learning experiences,” said Richard Dickson, recounting Association benefits he most enjoyed.

Les Williams, CMT, told a story of one experience he remembered from a gathering in 1987:

“Prior to introducing each speaker, the MC would announce the current Dow reading. The first reading was down 125. I thought he meant down 1.25. I had gone 100% to cash on the Thu. before and thought I had blown it.

“Speakers came to the podium all bent out of shape. During the day, fewer and fewer attendees remained. One speaker, I’m pretty sure was Alan Shaw, came to the podium, threw his papers in the air and

Recently, longtime CMTA member Ken Tower introduced a group of us to the website http://tabellmarketletter.com. The pages contain a treasure trove of historical materials and exemplify what market technicians can and should do to preserve the history of our discipline.

Tabell Market Letter is an internet archive of 48 years of weekly stock market technical letters written by Edmund W. Tabell (1904-1965) and his son Anthony W. Tabell. Father and son wrote over 2,700 letters from December 2, 1944, to August 7, 1992.

The first letter was entitled Technical Market Action and stated that the opinions of price trends and occasional buy and sell recommendations would be based “simply on the writer’s interpretation of their technical market action, as shown on charts” of the market averages and securities. The Tabells adhered to this philosophy. The December 1, 1948 issue showed the name that would thereafter be used, Tabell Market Letter.

Edmund Tabell

Please tell us what you do professionally.

I currently serve as Program Director of the TAN Program here at the TAN Association.  The curriculum and the exams fall under my purview.  Of course, I don’t do all that in a vacuum.  In addition to my colleagues on staff, three groups of members are essential to this process.  The Curriculum and Test Committee has oversight responsibility for the curriculum and the exams.  The subject matter experts write and review exam materials.  And the exam graders pore over each Level III exam paper as part of the scoring process.  Their contributions are at the heart of the credentialing program, but it also means that a significant part of what I do is coordinate their efforts.

How did you get there?

My career in markets and on Wall Street (literally, the street that runs from Broadway to the East River) seems like a blur

This is the third installment of a rerun of a periodic series chronicling the history of the street. The series originally ran in Technically Speaking beginning in September 2000.

Here is the first of two Manhattan melodramas for your consideration. It’s a story of an out-of-towner who, after showing up in Manhattan, has his only form of transportation burned to the ground, is forced to live in the streets and is then sued for negligence. The second is a story of a fast-talking city slicker who sells real estate he doesn’t own to gullible foreigners. Common stories? Both take place in the 1600s!

Our first saga begins with one Adrian Block, Captain of the Dutch ship, Tigre. Captain Block set sail in 1613 to establish a fur trade for his sponsors. Not reaching New York harbor until the fall of that year, Block decided to spend the winter on the island the

The sixth edition of Perry Kaufman’s Trading Systems and Methods was published by Wiley in November. This book, which has been used as a definitive reference on trading systems for more than 30 years, garnered significant praise upon its latest release. Portions of Kaufman’s work are included in the TAN Program curriculum and may appear on the exams.

Trading Systems and Methods, Sixth Edition is “[p]robably the most comprehensive guide to trading systems ever written from one of the foremost experts in the field,” according to Jack Schwager. “This is an invaluable reference work for anyone with an interest in trading systems.” Other editorial reviews offered similar praise.

“This is a remarkably insightful book about the ins and outs of the futures market. In his usual inimitable style, Perry does a wonderful job of showing the beginner and the experienced person what it takes to build and use a successful trading system,”

Members on the Move

The TAN Association would like to congratulate the following members on their new positions:

Robert Varghese, CMT, EVP, Portfolio Strategy & Management at Banyan Investment Group

Dan Shkolnik, CMT, Director, CPMS Sales (Equity Strategies) at Morningstar

Joshua I Wilson, CMT, Chief Executive Officer at Lake Point Advisory Group

Charles Kubiak, CMT, Software Crafter at 8th Light

Updating Your Profile

Have you recently joined the TAN Association and did not provide your address?  Please login to the website and enter your address as we use this information to determine which and how many test centers are needed for a test administration or an upcoming one.  This information is also used to produce reports on the exams.

To update your profile, login to the CMT website and under My CMT select My Account.  On the following page, under My Account select Edit My Information.

Your cooperation is greatly appreciated!

CMT

The TAN Association would like to congratulate the following