Technical Analysis: The Complete Resource for Financial Market Technicians

Authors: Charles D. Kirkpatrick and Julie R. Dahlquist

Publisher: Pearson Education (Upper Saddle River, NJ)

ISBN: 0-13-153113-1

Technical Analysis: The Complete Resource for Financial Market Technicians is a 672 page, hardbound book.  It contains an acknowledgments section, a brief biography of the authors, a bibliography and an index.  This 23 chapter book is organized into 8 parts or sections, and Part IX includes sections on basic statistics and trader terminology.

            Academics researching and publishing market studies and engaged in accounting, finance and economics disciplines may find that this book is an excellent choice for their personal/professional reference library.  I fall into this segment of the target market or audience for this book.  As this group or audience will already know, TA is based on the weak form or level of market efficiency.  Whether a proponent of TA, or fundamental analysis (FA), an advocate of weak, semi-strong or strong forms or levels of market efficiency, those conducting market studies are likely to maintain a reference library on all three forms or levels.

            College graduates with undergraduate accounting, finance and economics degrees, or those with non-business or non-quantitative backgrounds, but possessing relatively superior quantitative skills will also find this book to be palatable and of value as a first and last book or choice on the topic of TA.  This is not an introductory level book, though those with a technical and/or quantitative skill sets or aptitude will not find it onerous to read, digest and apply.

Generally, an introductory level knowledge of descriptive (and, to a lesser degree, inferential) statistics is all that is necessary to benefit from this book.  A brief review of this material is contained in Appendix A, along with an introduction to modern portfolio theory, likely to be covered in an introductory finance or investments course at the undergraduate level.

            I found the brief coverage of the history of TA contained in chapter 3 of particular interest (p. 21-), and am pleased that the author’s chose to include this coverage.  Market efficiency and the efficient markets hypothesis (EMH), as well as the role of information (information theory) and rationality, are addressed in chapter 4.  Chapters 6 and 7 (Part II) address Dow Theory and sentiment.  These topics are likely to be of interest to any investor, whether using TA, FA or both.  Temporal patterns (chapter 9), or what some might prefer to refer to as “seasonals,” are also addressed in the second part or section of the book.  Chapters 11 through 18 provide coverage of trend and chart patterns and analysis (Parts III, IV and V), in earnest.  I particularly enjoyed reading Part VI, which provided coverage of other technical methods (e.g., Fibonacci).  Finally, Parts VII and VIII provide the reader with guidance on trading selections through risk management.

            This is the only book on technical analysis (TA) that I have selected to retain in my permanent library.  This is not to say that there may not be other, superior books on the topic, but it does say that I have yet to see one.

The above review was contributed by:  Anthony (A.J.) Cataldo II.    Dr. Cataldo holds a PhD from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University , MAc ( University of Arizona)  unofficial minor in Marketing , BSBA  (University of Arizona). He is a Certified Management Accountant and a Certified Public Accountant:  Click Here to view Anthony's Reviews