Only joking!!! Now that I have your attention let me address this to those of us that find the millions of combinations, permutations and flirtations of T/A a little more than slightly confusing, here are a couple of thoughts.
You have to be a geek (and I mean that in the nicest possible sense) to delve into the bowels of T/A. You have to be dispassionate about the composition of the stock market and divorce yourself of any superfluous information such as CPI, inventory levels of gold etc. You concentrate solely on the maths. What may be seen as a slight contradiction is that I believe success is not possible for those that have not worked in the industry, you need experience to know which indicators will perform under current conditions. Understand that you have to compete against the smartest and most disciplined traders to be successful and make a dollar. Backtesting won't give you the answer. Real live action is all that counts.
Simple T/A combined with simple F/A will give you a well rounded view of the market and will allow you to hone your skills. You will lean to T/A or F/A after a while, depending on which fits your style, but should always use the other for confirmation prior to investing.
F/A is for the research nuts, always looking for an angle. Find a sector that fits with your area of expertise (you may work in the medical industry) and interest and do your research. Hopefully you will see which are the better opportunities in that sector. If number crunching is not your area, learn it. Research managements' history of achieving targets and milestones. Too many companies offer blue sky, never deliver but the exec's line their pockets along the way. I believe F/A can offer many opportunities to invest early into potential growth stories that all too often become evident years later. You are not competing against the might of intelligence of the funds, because they are restricted on their investments into smaller stocks and don't put a whole lot of effort into them until they come up on the radar. You have an advantage in this area.
T/A, you are behind the eightball. F/A, you have a genuine competitive advantage.
You have to be a geek (and I mean that in the nicest possible sense) to delve into the bowels of T/A. You have to be dispassionate about the composition of the stock market and divorce yourself of any superfluous information such as CPI, inventory levels of gold etc. You concentrate solely on the maths. What may be seen as a slight contradiction is that I believe success is not possible for those that have not worked in the industry, you need experience to know which indicators will perform under current conditions. Understand that you have to compete against the smartest and most disciplined traders to be successful and make a dollar. Backtesting won't give you the answer. Real live action is all that counts.
Simple T/A combined with simple F/A will give you a well rounded view of the market and will allow you to hone your skills. You will lean to T/A or F/A after a while, depending on which fits your style, but should always use the other for confirmation prior to investing.
F/A is for the research nuts, always looking for an angle. Find a sector that fits with your area of expertise (you may work in the medical industry) and interest and do your research. Hopefully you will see which are the better opportunities in that sector. If number crunching is not your area, learn it. Research managements' history of achieving targets and milestones. Too many companies offer blue sky, never deliver but the exec's line their pockets along the way. I believe F/A can offer many opportunities to invest early into potential growth stories that all too often become evident years later. You are not competing against the might of intelligence of the funds, because they are restricted on their investments into smaller stocks and don't put a whole lot of effort into them until they come up on the radar. You have an advantage in this area.
T/A, you are behind the eightball. F/A, you have a genuine competitive advantage.
