It will come to no surprise to anyone that I am bullish on the CMT. I am bullish on the growing global interest we are receiving, especially from Europe and India, I am bullish on our SRO success and psych metrically valid uniqueness and I am very bullish on where the CMT is heading over the next 5-10 years. However, too often, as is the case with many organizations, the key players who more than volunteer their time and energy get lost in the shuffle. That is not going to happen with this administration and I therefore wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the tremendous work that has been done over the years on the CMT by so many, but specifically Les Williams, Phil Roth, Barry Sine, Jim Balchunas and Mark Cremonie. I have mentioned David Krell, Ralph Acampora and John Kirby, without whom, we would not have had

J. (James) M. Hurst was born in Salina, Kansas on September 2nd, 1924 and died in his sleep on August 18th, 2005 in Roseville, California, just weeks short of his 81st birthday. It is safe to presume that virtually everyone who has pursued a serious study of cycles in the stock market over the past 30 years or so was in some way inspired to do so by Hurst’s 1970 classic, “The Profit Magic of Stock Transaction Timing.” That was certainly true in my case. After graduating from college and law school and passing the bar exam in Massachusetts, I decided to pursue a musical career, motivated by my lifelong love affair with music.

I moved to Hollywood, California in pursuit of that career. There is a lyric from a Jimmy Webb song called “Evie” that says, “Sometimes a single moment changes all the ones that follow…” Almost surely that “single

The Canadian Society of Technical Analysts (CSTA) is hosting the 18th Annual IFTA Conference this year in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Entitled Digging for Gold Vancouver 2005, it will be held at the world-class Pan Pacific Hotel and Convention Centre on the waterfront November 3 – 5, 2005. The main theme of the three-day event is New Strategies for Profiting in Volatile Markets.

Digging for Gold Vancouver 2005 will feature two events. The first is the three-day conference for professional traders, analysts and brokers. There is also a one-day event entitled Trade Like the Pros for the retail trader and investor on Saturday, November 5th. Register early and save. There is a discount for MTA members and affiliates. 

For more information or if you have any questions, please go to http://askthemarketexperts.com/

Here is

Placement of the initial protective stop is as much of an art as it is a science. Too close and you will almost surely guarantee yourself a loss as the “noise” of the market will stop you out. Placing it further away will increase you chances of a winning trade should the trend resume, but obviously increases your risk if it doesn’t.

When trading pullbacks, the low of the pullback is the obvious place for a protective stop. However, because this is common knowledge, it becomes a target for market makers. Therefore, I like to use a somewhat looser stop (especially if the low of the pullback is fairly close), taking into consideration the volatility and price of the stock (higher priced/more volatile stocks require a looser stop).

The following table is a general guideline for where initial protective stops could be placed (from the entry) based on the price of the

I would like to introduce and welcome new Technically Speaking Contributing Editor Mohan Turaga. Mohan, who is from India, adds a little international perspective to our Newsletter, which I think is terrific. As Jordan Kotick mentioned earlier in this month’s TS, the MTA and technical analysis is receiving a lot of interest from India, so we’re especially glad to have Mohan with us. His bio and his perspective on the usage of technical analysis is included below.

John Kosar

I am a Chemical Engineer and a Petroleum Refiner by profession. I worked 20 years for Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and voluntarily separated from IOC with a liberal retirement package at the age of 46. Now I am 51 years of age. I developed an interest in the stock market while I was employed but did not have the opportunity to learn it in a