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The FT Adviser published the following piece on TimeToTrade on the 15th of March 2007 edition:

Investment Clubs in the UK can benefit from a UK online club management system. The Time to Trade system, from software developers Sensatus, is a professional investment tool that enables investment clubs to manage accounts, receive ongoing alerts and improve collaboration between members. There are currently 12,000 investment clubs in the UK which pool cash in order to share knowledge and experience between members.

In the world of technical analysis, Leading indicators such as the Stochastic, or RSI oscillators, are used to try and predict price movement.

Leading indicators are typically used to provide an indication as to how ‘overbought’ or ‘oversold’ an equity is. The basic premise associated with using leading indicators is that when an equity is considered oversold it will re-bound and when it is considered overbought it will pull-back. Leading indicators are best suited to establishing entry and exit points based on price pivot points within an established trend, however for higher risk investors they can be used to try and identify price pivot points where a trend is potentially about to change direction. Lagging Indicators on the other hand are best suited to establishing the direction of a trend.

Consider the following General Electric (GE) charts that represent the 2 year price and corresponding Stochastic charts based on a weekly interval period:

In this example the Stochastic indicator works well as a leading indicator when GE was bouncing between highs and lows between October 2005 and the end of 2006. On each occasion when the stochastic was heavily oversold i.e. at or near 0, it corresponded with a price low and when the stochastic was heavily overbought, i.e. at or near 100 it corresponded with a price high.

You can use TimeToTrade to notify you when Stochastic and RSI investment conditions are met using the alert triggers beside each chart. For example you can set up an alert that will notify you when the Stochastic falls below 20% follow by a crossover whereby the green line (%k) rises above the red line (%d). When your investment conditions are met, you can be notified by email, text message to your mobile phone or instant messenger.

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TimeToTrade was selected as website of the week by Money Week in the 16 March 2007, Issue 324 edition of the magazine.

“Investment clubs should check out www.timetotrade.co.uk, a handy tool whereby the club portfolio can be uploaded and viewed by all club members”

The following abstract was published on Wednesday 14 Mar 2007 on the Village Albourne website:

Investment Clubs join the 21st century with the launch of the UK’s first web-based club management system, designed by Investment Clubs, for Investment Clubs.

TimeToTrade has launched a new suite of free professional investment tools that enable investment clubs to manage their club accounts, receive alerts when investment conditions are met and collaborate on investment decisions. The tools can be accessed by individual club members and private investors from any web browser at www.timetotrade.co.uk

The initial TimeToTrade investment club features include:

· A private club forum for posting news, research notes and collaborating on investment decisions

· An account management system that allows every club member to track their unit holdings and investment performance

· A simple to use accounting feature which allows easy management of all club transactions, member subscriptions, and generates UK Inland Revenue Form 185(new)

· All club members have access to price, volume and technical analysis charts for UK and US stocks

· Point and click price and technical analysis alert creation, which will notify club members via mobile phone, email or instant messenger when investment conditions are met

· Completely innovative is the ability to manage investment accounting in multiple currencies, with multiple brokers and margin accounts

After working with Investment Clubs in the UK and Ireland for the early beta trials, TimeToTrade is now on general release to all investment clubs.

Dary McGovern, managing director of Sensatus, the developers behind TimeToTrade said: “When we set up our investment club last year we searched for software that would enable us to manage our accounts. We wanted a solution that all club members could access, which would support UK and foreign investments, a variety of investment strategies such as long, short and option positions and manage our tax returns. There was no such software available, so we decided to develop it ourselves. It has been really exciting working with other investment clubs to develop a solution that is unique to the UK market.”

To quote Liam Curtis of Slaney Slickers investment club, who has been involved in the development of the TimeToTrade application, “TimeToTrade has completely changed the way we work as a club. Keeping club members involved and informed in the day-to-day running of our investment club is a no longer a challenge. TimeToTrade lets club members post research, check their unit valuations and portfolio performance online without having to bother the treasurer for updated spreadsheets or reports.”

To create a free investment club account visit www.timetotrade.co.uk or for more information email: club@sensatus.com

Lagging indicators typically are more effective when the underlying equity is trending i.e. when the price movement is consistently setting higher highs and higher lows while in an upward trend, followed by a period when the price movement is consistently forming lower highs and lower lows and so on.

Lagging indicators are not effective when used in market conditions where the underlying price movement of the equity is trading sideways or without a definite trend, such as being tightly range bound between support and resistance levels or trend lines.

For example lets take a look at Walgreen using a 50 day Exponential Moving Average.

When Walgreen was trending the moving average produced ‘clean’ buy and sell signals. However in early 2007 when Walgreen started to trade sideways, the moving average indicator started to produce ‘noisy’ or ‘false’ buy and sell signals. As with the MACD indicator, you can use TimeToTrade moving average triggers to notify you when the price rises above or falls below the moving average.

You can use the TimeToTrade Moving Average triggers to notify you when the Price rises or falls below its moving or exponential moving average, or for example when one moving average crosses another.

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The following article was published in the 9-15 March 2007 edition of Investors Chronicle.

“Running an investment club could soon become a lot simpler. A newly launched set of internet-based tools will enable clubs to manage their holdings, exchange ideas and research, track performance, and even generate a club’s tax return. It is capable of managing both long and short positions, the use of options, as well as multiple currencies, and broker accounts. The facility, available for free at www.timetotrade.co.uk, also provides price charts, volume data and technical analysis tools.

The following article was published in Volume 9, Issue 10, 08-14 March 2007 edition of Shares.

An ever-wider range of technical analysis is becoming available at the click of a mouse. Nick Sudbury picks some packages that can help punters make hard cash with software.

Timetotrade

Timetotrade from Sensatus is a web-based charting and alerting service for people who use price movement and technical analysis to judge when to buy or sell stocks. Subscribers can use the charting features on the website to develop their strategies and then create rule-based alerts that, when triggered, are sent instantly to their mobile phones, emails or instant messenger accounts.

Alerts can be based on price movement, volume or more advanced triggers incorporating technical indicators such as RSI or MACD crossovers. This enables them to monitor their existing UK and US shareholdings and potential trades while away from their computers.

Dary Mc Govern, MD of Sensatus, says that Sun Microsystems provides a prime example of how this type of approach can work. He had identified the shares as a good long-term investment but wanted to wait for a suitable entry point. ‘In April 2006 Sun started to pull back towards it long-term trendline.

A Timetotrade alert was set up to provide notification of a positive MACD crossover using a one-week interval period, the idea being to buy into an established upward trend after a recent low, ideally at a support trendline or level,’ he says.The alert was triggered on 31 July 2006, when the shares were trading in the $4 range. At the time, Sun had pulled back to test the support trendline and then rallied. Since that point, the company has made a series of positive announcements and has now returned to profitability. The shares are currently trading in the high $6 range with a Timetotrade alert monitoring for a change of trend, which would signify the exit point.

Timetotrade operates a free basic account but, for those who want the premium features, the swing trader package costs £9.99 and the day trader option is £19.99 a month, see www.timetotrade.co.uk for more details.

New software for investment clubs

Timetotrade has just launched a free application for investment clubs. The web-based software enables members to manage their club accounts, receive alerts when investment conditions are met and collaborate on investment decisions. To create a free investment club account, visit www.timetotrade.co.uk or for more information email clubs@sensatus.com.

In the world of technical analysis, trend following indicators such as the MACD or Moving Average are examples of ‘lagging’ indicators. Trending indicators are indicators that help you establish the trend of the underlying price movement. The buy and sell signals derived from the use of trend following indicators typically lag the price pivot point at which the trend changes direction.

The use of Leading and Lagging indicators is not limited to technical analysis and there are a variety of economic indicators, such Wage, Inflation, Employment or Consumer Confidence produced by the bodies such as the UK National Statistics office, the US Department of Labor, or the Consumer Confidence Board; as with the technical analysis indicators, these indicators are used to try determine future market direction. In this series of blog entries we will focus on lagging technical analysis indicators and their associated characteristics.

Consider the following Walgreen (WAG) charts that represent the 1 year price and corresponding MACD charts based on a weekly interval period:

In this example the MACD works well as a trending indicator i.e. when the price is in a negative trend the MACD is trending lower and when the price is in a positive trend the MACD is trending higher as illustrated by the red arrows on the Walgreen chart above. A positive MACD crossover is formed when the green line, rises above the red line and this is an indication of a change from a negative to a positive trend. A negative MACD crossover is formed when the green line drops below the red line and this is an indication of a change from a positive to a negative trend.

The MACD crossovers do not provide an indication of a change in trend until after the event has occurred, hence the term ‘lagging’ indicator. This typically results in traders entering late into an established trend and exiting after the trend has reversed, however traders that use lagging indicators consider this strategy to be of lower risk as opposed to using leading indicators to try and determine the exact pivot point at which the trend changes.

You can use the TimeToTrade MACD triggers to notify you when there is a positive or negative MACD crossover as illustrated in the above image.

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I was recently asked, “Where do the names Bull and Bear market come from?”.

Starting with the basics, a ‘Bull Market’ is a term used to describe a stock market that is increasing in value. It is characterised by optimism, investor confidence and expectations of continued growth. A ‘Bear Market’ is a term used to describe a stock market that is decreasing in value. It is characterised by periods of pessimism, lack of investor confidence and general feelings of doom, gloom and despair about the future of the stock market.

The term Bull Market is derived from how a Bull attacks an opponent. When a Bull attacks it does so by thrusting its head & horns upward and in doing so throws its opponent into the air. By doing so the Bull’s opponent rises into the air, hence the term ‘Bull Market’ to describe a stock market that is increasing, or rising, in value. When a stock increases quickly in value, its price movement is described as ‘bullish’.

Frankfurt Stock Exchange

The term Bear Market is derived from how a Bear attacks an opponent. When a Bear attacks it does so by rising up on its hind legs and attacks its opponent by pulling it to the ground using its claws and body weight. By doing so the Bear’s opponent is either thrown to the ground or crushed in to the ground, hence the term ‘Bear Market’ to describe a stock market that is decreasing, or falling, in value. When a stock decreases quickly in value, its price movement is described as ‘bearish’.

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