OCTOBER: This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in. The other are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February, Mark TwainThere are two times in a man's life when he should not speculate: when he can't afford it and when he can, Mark Twain
Tradition technical analysis, a discipline full of moving averages, stochastics, relative strength, chart patterns, and volume, is largely inconsistent and opinion driven. Bull and bears attempt to enter the trend through interpretation that's as much opinion (art form) as discipline (experience and skill). Successful trading/investing focuses solely on discipline through the study of price, volume, and time. Price, volume, and time define the message of the market.
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Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), the parent company of Google, entered consolidation (Consol) and bearish divergence (DIV) in the secondary trend on 8/7. Google's tendency to lead the technology, a sector that's been leading the stock market higher, could be a short-term anomology or the start of broader weakness. Misalignment in other market leaders such as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) would define a broadening of the consolidation. Smart money ignore the headlines and follows the tape.