Technical Markets Indicators: Analysis & PerformanceRichard J. Bauer, Julie R. Dahlquist
ISBN: 978-0-471-19721-8
448 pages
November 1998

DescriptionThe use of technical market indicators has long been a controversial subject, highly regarded by some and treated with great skepticism by others. Yet, the number of indicators-and the number of individual investors and finance professionals using them-continues to grow. Now, more than ever, there is an urgent need for objective testing to determine the validity of these indicators.

Technical Market Indicators is a unique study of the performance of many of the most widely used technical analysis indicators. The authors explore in an unbiased, rigorous manner whether these indicators consistently perform well or fail to do the job. They explain which indicators work best and why, providing a clear picture of what the investor is likely to experience when using technical analysis.

Unlike other books on the subject, Technical Market Indicators provides a comprehensive testing of indicators that uses a large sample of stocks over a twelve-year time period, encompassing varying market conditions. Instead of using the traditional technical analysis charts, this detailed analysis takes a different approach, calculating numbers based on various relationships and letting the numbers dictate the decisions. This allows the investor to use technical methods without ever consulting a chart.

From an objective standpoint, the authors address both the pro and con arguments of using technical analysis and attempt to shed additional light onto the controversy through their systematic testing. They also alert the investor to the many different issues that must be addressed when using technical indicators, including performance measurement criteria, consistency of results, combining indicators, portfolio considerations, and leveraging.