It never ceases to amaze me how price movement is so intricately related to itself. Here, I would like to present one of my own geometric approaches (Relative Charting) in a step-by-step procedure which outlines the S&P 500’s rather steadfast up trend since the major low of 666.79 on the week of Mar 2, 2009, as well as ties together the last 18 years. These perspectives will be offered from the previous large uptrend from the major low of 768.63 on the week of Oct 7, 2002 to the all-time high of 1576.09 on the week of Oct 8, 2007. (Notice the 60 month cycle which repeats this October.)

STEP 1: Calculate the Vector Ratio

Every trend can be mathematically quantified by its exact low and high. In this case, the market moved 807.46 points (from 768.63 to 1576.09) over a period of 261 weeks. This is an average movement of 3.0937

Editor’s note: MTA members can maintain blogs under the MyMTA section of the MTA web site. The length and detail provided in the blogs varies but offer valuable information. Two short blog posts are shown below, offering an example of the high quality work found under the blog section of MyMTA.

Discretionaries Outperform Staples: Is The Risky Trade Returning?
by Robert Palmerton Jr., CMT

Staples and other conservative, higher-yielding stocks have outperformed the broader market since May. The chart below shows the S&P500 as the horizontal black line, with Staples (orange) and discretionaries (purple) either outperforming or underperforming the S&P500 (depending on whether the orange or purple line is above or below the black S&P500 line).

Discretionaries peaked in April and have underperformed vs. Staples until recently. Staples peaked in mid-July. In mid-August, we

How would you describe your job?

I currently own a software consulting firm but still find time to trade. I became interested in the markets while working at Microsoft in the late nineties and have stayed involved with them in one form or another. I have traded full-time in the past and have built software for Wall Street firms in the market making and proprietary trading arenas.

What led you to look at the markets you currently trade instead of another tradable?

I have traded options and futures, but as of late, mostly ETFs and in particular the SPYDERs. I love its stability, liquidity and low cost. I do not use any fundamentals, except in avoiding the markets during announcements and important reports. Due to a busy schedule, I don’t trade much on a discretionary basis anymore, but instead through automated systems. I think getting an automated trading/testing platform, where one can try

The MTA Educational Foundation (MTAEF) awarded its second CMT Scholarship in late August to Tanner Moore, a senior at the University of Arkansas. Tanner is in the honors program at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at U of A. In the past year he had an internship at a foreign exchange brokerage firm and was involved as an aerospace analyst with the student-run Rebsamen Trust. After graduation in May 2012 Tanner plans to begin a career path in investment banking.

The MTAEF has had a long and successful relationship with the Walton College of Business and the Garrison Financial Institute, which is organized within the Sam M. Walton College of Business to advance financial education and knowledge through practice. Together with these organizations, the MTAEF is able to support the teaching of technical analysis on campus. The Foundation addresses a select