Technicals of stocks

[earthtodan]

Jim, I think a clarification of terms is in order. Generally when people talk about technicals, it means analyzing past price movements to read patterns and predict future price movements. It is a mix of a deep understanding of underlying market mechanisms and voodoo, in what proportion I do not know, but it is not concerned with analyzing the company itself. In its pure form, there are people who scan price charts for technical indicators who probably don't know and don't care what the name of the company is behind the ticker symbol, let alone what they do or whether they make money. What you, and the rest of us are after is fundamental analysis. The numbers involved in fundamental analysis are "technical" in the sense that they require some understanding of financial and mathematical concepts, but in market terminology, technical and fundamental analysis are at opposite ends of a spectrum.