XJO Weekend Charting and Chat - 09 Feb 2018, page-72

I've been fiddling around in the market for around 40 years.

My history is probably like most people's.

I started reading the papers. Then I graduated to buying a tip sheet.

In the early 80's I had an epiphany when I was at my broker's office and saw a flyer with a chart for gold. It showed a descending triangle and analysis of what would happen at the "pointy" end along the horizontal axis. Technical analysis dawned on me.

I then started buying books on the subject. I still remember clearly a new concept I learnt from the first book - negative divergence on Stochastic. The use of Stochastic was a new development at that time.

I started doing my own hand-made charts. I used to go to the library of the Queensland Stock Exchange and buy two-months data for 20cents. And then enter the close-of-day data on a line chart.

All that seems so basic now compared to what we can get instantaneously on the internet, but back then it was pretty sophisticated. I also learnt not to trust tip sheets.

From then on I've been on a learning trip - still learning. And still experimenting. Actually, I think I was a slow learner - and very much hampered by high anxiety when entering trades. I've learnt to control that and really don't feel much at all when I do trade - just stay pretty cool. Age and experience has its benefits.

I've made up some indicators of my own in the past 20 years, entering data into excel charts.

In some cases, I re-invented history. For example, I have a price/volume oscillator which is very close to Jim Elders Force Index.

It also helps to be OCD - the complex kind. (Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder).