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Technical Analysis Vs Stocks…is There A Connection?

By Jesse Profit | July 16, 2008

by Jesse Profit

To determine what worldwide stock markets will do as far as fluctuations in price, involves first determining which school of thought will be utilized regarding the analysis of companies and the investment prospects they pursue. The most widely used school of thought which has proven reliable over multiple decades is the school of fundamental analysis.

Fundamental analysis views not only the financial opportunities of a company, but also the likelihood of accomplishing these goals in respect to their competitors. Technical analysis, on the other hand, has been successful in use, but not very structured or scientific. Thus, the question again arises, what is the connection between stocks and technical analysis?

Technical analysis is the study of past market trends to help forecast what future stock prices will be. However, this doesn’t explain the entire connection between technical analysis and stocks. Needless to say, what makes people conclude that the price of a stock is determined by looking at just data and not take into consideration of the overall condition or financial state of a company?

Some of this stems from technical analysis being used by market analysts who can downgrade stock or anticipate higher earnings. Trading stock is influenced not only by the markets daily swings or isolated events, but actually how markets move with time and the fallout from some of these events are cumulative, therefore experienced over time periods.

As a result, technical analysis utilizes tons of data including old stock quotes, trading volume charts, and a host of other data, to develop charts and graphs that work to determine exactly how long the impact of a move in a company will persist and impact the stock market trading of a particular issue.

When compared to each other, fundamental analysis and technical analysis of the same stock market gives much different results. Fundamental analysis is considered a long term or \”long\” predictor in markets. Technical analysis is considered a short term or \”short\” predictor in markets.

Due to complexity of the language and terminology used technical analysis can be quite off putting to laypeople who may not understand this verbiage. Since graphs and trend lines involve this terminology and it can sometimes be ambiguous. Many different terms can be used to denote the same trend on a graph and this can cause confusion of the typical investor who may want to invest. For example, a shoulder or an elbow can denote the same thing in a trend on a graph. Talking about leveling and drops in regard to market fluctuations can be quite intimidating to a general investor.

Overall, those who are familiar with investing still question, \”Technical Analysis vs Stocks…Is there a connection?\” in regard to how can these types of analysis can be used everyday. Honestly, the fact that technical analysis is very subjective to the person who uses it, including being a bit imprecise brings concern. Fortunately, since it has been successful on the whole, this tool is still arguably a good one to use for market analysis.

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Topics: Investing |

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