DJIA 11/20/08 MAJOR SUPPORT LEVEL GIVES WAY

Friday, November 21, 2008

DJIA 11/20/08 MAJOR SUPPORT LEVEL GIVES WAY

PRICE AND VOLUME TURNOVER
Close 7,552.29
Change -444.99 -5.56%
Volume 2.4B

TECHNICALS
* PRIMARY DOWNTREND
* INTERMEDIATE DOWNTREND
* SHORT TERM TREND BREAKS OUT OF 6-wk CONSOLIDATION AND RESUMES DECLINE
* SUPPORT 7368(Oct02) | RESISTANCE: Prior 9794 - Potential 7773/8500
* MACD Downtrending | Accelerating
* MA Downtrending | Steady
* Volume action during the range and today's spike confirms bearishness
* Price objective of the triangle formation 6500

MARKET OUTLOOK
The market lives up to the technical rules we pointed out in the last entry. While the index meandered between the 7773/9794 for the past 6 wks (a) the 2 larger trends remained declining, (b) the short term consolidation came off a prior downtrend, and (c) volume was expanding during the troughs. I said that taken together, they all point to a southward break. Today, the Dow exhibits a 2.8% penetrating close below the important support level of 7773. Retrospectively, it is now 11% below the 5wk triangle formation 4 days after the pattern trendline support gave way indicating a potential 2000 pt drop from 8500 for a price objective of 6500. The drop below 7773 ensures a lower low and the downward trend resumes in a big way. The unprecedented lows could trigger a new round of selling by hedge, mutual and pension funds and other traders whose trading strategy is to frontrun them. Notwithstanding any silver lining that optimists or bottom seekers can conjure up, the market obviously has not found a bottom for now. SELL.

NEWS
AP Stocks tumble for second day; Treasurys surge Thursday November 20, 6:12 pm ET
Stocks Plunge, Leaving Dow Below 7600 By Cindy Perman, CNBC.com | 20 Nov 2008 | 05:19 PM ET.
If Stocks Are So 'Cheap,' Why Are They Still Going Down? Posted Nov 20, 2008 12:01pm EST by Aaron Task

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Whipsaw's Library

* CYCLES: A TRIBUTE TO J.M.HURST by Brian Millard

* ELLIOT WAVE PRINCIPLE: KEY TO MARKET BEHAVIOR by Frost and Prechter

* FIBONACCI APPLICATIONS & STRATEGIES FOR TRADERS by Robert Fischer

* FORECASTING FINANCIAL MARKETS: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SUCCESSFUL INVESTING by Tony Plummer

* JAPANESE CANDLESTICK CHARTING TECHNIQUES by Steve Nison

* POINT & FIGURE COMMODITY & STOCK TRADING TECHNIQUES by Kermit Zieg Jr.

* PROFIT MAGIC OF STOCK TRANSACTION TIMING by J.M.Hurst

* TECHNICAL ANALYSIS EXPLAINED by Martin Pring

* TECHNICAL ANALYSIS OF STOCK TRENDS by Edwards and Magee

* TECHNICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FINANCIAL MARKETS by John Murphy

* TECHNICAL ANALYSIS: THE COMPLETE RESOURCE FOR FINANCIAL MARKET TECHNICIANS by Kirkpatrick and Dahlquist

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS EDUCATION

(Excerpts from J.Murphy)

BASIC PREMISE OF TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
1. Market action discounts everything.
2. Prices move in trends.
3. History repeats itself.

"The technician believes that anything that can possibly affect the price - fundamentally, politically, psychologically, or otherwise - is actually reflected in the price of that market. It follows, therefore, that a study of price action is all that is required. All the technician is actually claiming is that price action should reflect shifts in supply and demand. If demand exceeds supply, prices should rise. If supply exceeds demand, prices should fall. This action is the basis of all economic and fundamental forecasting."

"The concept of trend is absolutely essential to the technical approach. The whole purpose of charting the price action of a market is to identify trends in early stages of their development for the purpose of trading in the direction of those trends. There is a corollary to the premise that prices move in trends - a trend is more likely to continue than to reverse. Another way to state this corollary is that a trend in motion will continue in the same direction until it reverses. " (p.3)

"Much of the body of technical analysis and the study of market action has to do with the study of human psychology. Chart patterns, for example, which have been identified and categorized over the past one hundred years, reflect certain pictures that appear on price charts. These pictures reveal the bullish or bearish psychology of the market. Since these patterns have worked well in the past, it is assumed that they will continue to work well in the future. They are based on the study of human psychology, which tends not to change."

BASIC TENETS OF THE DOW THEORY
1. Averages discount everything.
2. The market has 3 trends.
3. Major trends have 3 phases.
4. The averages must confirm each other.
5. Volume must confirm the trend.
6. A trend is assumed to be in effect until it gives definite signals that it has reversed.

TREND FOLLOWING
"The whole purpose of charting the price action of a market is to identify trends in early stages of their development for the purpose of trading in the direction of those trends."

SPOTTING REVERSALS
"The most difficult task for a Dow theorist, or any trend follower for that matter, is being able to distinguish between a normal secondary correction in an existing trend and the first leg of a new trend in the opposite direction." (p.29)

REVERSAL SCENARIOS (p.29)
1. Failure swing
2. Non-failure swing

CLASSIFICATION OF TRENDS
1. Major (or primary)
2. Intermediate (or secondary)
3. Near term (short term or minor)

TRADING TIME HORIZON
"As a general statement, most trend following approaches focus on the intermediate trend, which may last for several months. The near term trend is used primarily for timing purposes. In an intermediate uptrend, short term setbacks would be used to initiate long positions." (p.54)

THE ELEMENTS OF SUCCESSFUL TRADING
1. Price forecasting
2. Trading tactics
3. Money management

TRADING TACTICS
1. Tactics on breakouts
2. The breaking of trendlines
3. The use of support and resistance
4. The use of % retracements
5. The use of gaps

MONEY MANAGEMENT
1. Maximum loss limit per trade
2. Risk reward ratio
3. Fund allocation

PROTECTIVE STOPS
"For purposes of placing protective stops, support and resistance levels are most valuable." (p.401)

BUILDING BLOCKS OF TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
1. Support and resistance
2. Trendlines and channels
3. Percentage retracements
4. Speed resistance lines
5. Gaps
6. Reversal days

(Excerpts from M.Pring)

ONE AND TWO-BAR PRICE PATTERNS
One and two-bar patterns reflect changes in psychology that have very short term influence on prices.

1. Outside bars
2. Inside bars
3. Two bar reversal
4. Key reversal bars
5. Exhaustion bars
6. Pinocchio bars

Friday, November 21, 2008