From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

This week I've seen a chart of High Yield relative to Investment Grade Bonds floating around with various conclusions, but I wanted to use this to highlight some things to consider when using Bond ETFs as a proxy for what's happening in the market it's meant to track.

One of the most important concepts we talk about in Technical Analysis is confirmation.

Whatever thesis we have, we need price to confirm it before we can act...and if it doesn't then we need to respect that and get out of the way.

Risk management is our main priority and two simple charts do a great job of highlighting why we wait for confirmation.

From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

On July 23rd the NY Chapter of the CMT Association had the pleasure of hosting Tony Dwyer, Chief Market Strategist at Canaccord Genuity.

Tony provided an interesting perspective to our Technical-oriented group because while he focuses on Macroeconomic and Fundamental data in addition to Technicals, he emphasized that his approach is always data-based, not opinion-based.

He performs Technical Analysis of Fundamental data.

This is a podcast about Technical Analysis and its practitioners. I think we've done a good job of bringing in some of the top technicians in the business, and in some cases, some of the best that ever did it. My goal when I first started this was to talk to people who bring different perspectives on the subject and on the markets in general. We've had Portfolio Managers, Analysts, Traders, Authors and Psychologists come on regularly over the past few years. Today I am thrilled to invite Riley Rosenberger to the podcast to get his point of view on Technical Analysis and what it feels like to start a career as a trader. Riley interned for us last year after spending some time training with SMB Capital in New York City. "Riley The Intern", as he's known in some circles, brings a unique perspective that we haven't heard on this podcast before. When he first decided that he wanted to learn about trading, his High School teacher in Colorado told him to think about doing something else. She said he didn't have the pedigree for that. I love that he ignored her and I...

If you're familiar with our analysis, you've probably noticed that Fibonacci Extensions and Retracements play a vital role in our process.

From setting upside objectives to identifying areas of potential support and resistance, Fibonacci is a versatile tool.

As with any tool, there are times when it works better than others. And while we don't want to get into every intricate detail of how and where we use it, we did want to share a great example of Fibonacci in action.

One question that I get a lot comes from new investors, "Hey JC, I'm starting to get into the market for the first time, any advice?"

For me, I'm convinced you have to get kicked in the stomach, at least once, but likely even more than that, to finally understand the importance of Risk Management. But if you can somehow figure out a way to just take my word for it, and eliminate your emotionally driven decisions completely, I believe it puts you way ahead of 99% of market participants around the world.

From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

Two weeks ago I was scheduled to film two segments for Real Vision and the experience brought up a good topic that I've been meaning to write about using my personal experience; Perfectionism.

The night before I was supposed to film the segments I didn't get much sleep, hadn't exercised in a few days, and just wasn't feeling 100%. Needless to say, these were not the conditions I'd prefer for important filming.*

Regardless, I'd agreed to do it and I needed to show up and do the work.

Now that I've had time to reflect, let's see what perfectionism, failure, and fear of "shipping" have got to do with that experience.

Monday was our Members-Only Conference Call for both India and the US (see JC's video here) and the most overwhelming theme was that Equities are not trending, so what does that mean for us as market participants?

From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

Every few weeks I get a message from someone asking a question along the lines of "Should I enroll in the CMT Program?" As with most things, the answer is it depends on your individual situation.

While I can't offer personalized advice to everyone, I can discuss my experience and the key benefits now that I've completed the process.

This post is going to be split into two parts; one where I explain my answer to the question that prompted this post, and the other where I summarize my actual experience in the program.

About eight months ago Patrick Dunuwila from The Chart Report introduced me to a new data visualization platform called Koyfin. Two month's later I met Rob, one of the co-founders, at Stocktoberfest West. He walked me through the product and what they were doing and I was sold.

A few months later we had the opportunity to invest and we jumped at it. We loved the product and the team, so it seemed like a natural fit.

Today, Koyfin is an irreplaceable tool that I use alongside Optuma as my main tools for charting and analysis.

I get a lot of questions about how I use it, so I wanted to write a post answering just that.

Today we sit down with the newest (and likely youngest) Chartered Market Technician (CMT) Mr. Tom Bruni live from Washington Square Park in New York City. The CMT program is different today than what it was 12-13 years ago when I first went through it. I wanted to pick Tom's brain about his experience and what advice he has for others thinking about sitting for the exams.

From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

I couldn't help but see many of the same folks who were happy about Trump's "Trade Deal" tweets when they drove the stock market higher complaining as his tweets sent Futures lower on Sunday night and again today after the bell.

I thought this might be a good time to remind ourselves of something.