I recently read a book called “Tribe” by Sebastian Junger and it got me thinking about similarities between tribal behaviors, the importance of shared meaning and the technical analysis community. Yes, I know that looks strange, but keep reading.

The book talks about our strong instinct to belong to small groups defined by clear purpose and understanding, i.e. tribes. This tribal connection has been largely lost in broad modern society, but it exists in pockets that thrive. According to the author, regaining it may be the key to our psychological survival. 

Here’s where I see the relevance to our profession:

• We have meaning and importance in our shared understanding. For us it would be the discipline of technical analysis and market behavior. Think about how we circle the wagons when the doubters start hating on what we do. Think about keeping disciplined in up markets, but more importantly in down markets!
• We value being

The Minneapolis TAN Association Chapter’s September meeting took place at Ralph Acampora, CMT’s farm, and it was a really great event.  Ralph’s barn records the entire history of the stock market in the United States, starting with the Cowles Index in 1871 and then the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) in 1895.  We were inspired by the breadth and depth of market history on display as we walked around the barn.

The exterior south wall of the barn starts with 1871, and ends with the Roaring Twenties (DJIA – 1928). 

The exterior east wall of the barn begins with the Great Depression starting in 1929 and ends with the Dow’s first push over

Professional trading legend Linda Bradford Raschke drew in a large crowd when she came to the TAN Association’s Chicago Chapter September 5 meeting. Despite the Bears-Packers game and the horrific traffic that came with it, people were clearly eager to hear what Linda had to say.

In addition to our regular meetings, the Chicago chapter hosts a book club several times per year. With Linda’s new book “Trading Sardines” having been recently released, we thought it would be great to invite her so we could ask her a few more questions.

Linda was visibly relieved to not be sitting in traffic anymore. Throughout the meeting, she was extremely lively, telling story after story with enthusiasm and humor. She is truly a force of nature!

Co-chair Matt Nygaard started things off with a few questions of his own, and then we followed up with questions from the audience.

Linda offered her explanation for why she

On Thursday, October 3rd the New York Chapter hosted Todd Sohn, CMT, Director of Technical Strategy at Strategas Research Partners. Todd’s presentation was entitled “Perception vs. Reality” and covered a market roadmap for Q4 2019, surprising facts about the current backdrop, an outlook for bonds and commodities, global trading opportunities in Europe and emerging markets, and stocks the sell-side hates.

His view was a great follow-up to Tony Dwyer, who joined us in late July to provide a macro perspective by performing technical analysis on fundamental data. Seeing a global perspective from a purely technical angle offered our members the ability to compare and contrast the fundamental and technical points of view on the market’s recent events.

Todd introduced his presentation by listing the plethora of things that market participants are worried about today: trade, China, inverted yield curves, Brexit, 2020 election, and more. With that as the backdrop, he then went

Please tell us what you do professionally.

I am now a semi-retired technical analyst and advisor publishing a monthly 60-page piece for institutional and retail (broker and individuals) clients. Before that, I was Chief Technical analyst with Smith Barney.

How did you get there?

It was a convoluted route to get there. My Masters in Science is in early childhood education from Bank Street College of Education in NYC, which held me in good stead on Wall Street! I then taught nursery school at Horace Mann Nursery Years on 90^th St in Manhattan for several years. 

I was a single parent with no income so I was selling items and sending the money to a broker. I watched the prices go up and come down again and asked how does one know when to sell?  He sent me some Technical Analysis newsletters. 

That sparked my interest so I went to the Finance Institute downtown

Membership

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

• David Keller, CMT, Chief Market Strategist at StockCharts.com, Inc.
• Mohanad Yakout, Managing Partner at Economic Alpha Foundation
• Sam Levine, CFA, CMT, Adjunct Professor of Finance and Finance Career Coach at Wayne State University
• Tyler Yell, CFA, CMT, Senior Treasury Analyst, Treasury & Investment Desk at Toyota North America
• Sean Naismith, CMT, VP, Decision Services – Head of Decision Services CoE at TransUnion
• Joe Farrell, CFA, CMT, Quantitative Technical Analyst at Industrial Alliance Securities

CMT Registration

Standard registration is open until October 21, 2019.  If you need assistance registering for the exam, please reach out to admin@cmtassociaiton.org, or call the office at 646-652-3000, and we will be happy to assist you. 

CMT

To the affiliate members who passed the June 2019 TAN Level III exam, don’t forget to apply for Member Status.  Do you need help with the process or finding sponsors?  Contact Chelsey Clevenger at