Editor’s note: This was originally posted at All Star Charts and is republished here with permission.

This week [April 3-5, 2013] was the Market Technicians Association’s annual symposium. It’s easily my favorite event of the entire year. I’ve been going to this conference annually since 2006. Just when I thought that it can’t get any better, the Association creates the best one yet. If this is something that you haven’t attended in the past, I strongly suggest coming next year. Some of the top technicians on the planet come together in one place to share insights, strategies, and market wisdom. You can’t beat it.

It’s impossible for me to share everything from the week, but I will try and highlight some of the ideas and moments that stood out to me. Hopefully it will give you some idea of just how awesome the event was.

This year marks the 40th anniversary

Editor’s note: Matthew is the creator of Market Analyst software and made a brief presentation at the Symposium. This article expands on some of his ideas.

In 1998 I attended an ATAA (Australian Technical Analysts Association) meeting in Canberra and heard Ray Barros speak on Market Profile. He explained its construction and how the zones and the shape of the bell curve can be used to help a trader in making trading decisions. The only problem was I thought that the tradition of placing a Market Profile on yesterday and having it dictate my decisions today would be an issue if it was neglecting what was happening today. Many years had passed and I often thought back to that presentation and thought that there must be another way to get the same benefits and have those benefits adapt as the market trades.

In this paper I would like to take you through

A search for the term “Investing” on Amazon.com yields over 139,000 results. Each title is presumably about a strategy to beat the
market, or at least profit from it. The types of styles advocated vary from high frequency trading to long term trend following to deep value investing and everything in between.  Some books focus on fundamental analysis while others rely on technical patterns. Most books infer that the author was able to use the prescribed strategies to successfully navigate turbulent markets and generate attractive returns.  However, very few books describe in detail the author’s level of success as an investor; the reader is left to assume that success has in fact been achieved. Sifting through 139,000 titles to separate the wheat from the chaff can be a challenging exercise for those looking to find helpful advice on investment strategy and tactics.

How