Stock Charting & Technical analysis are critical tools that can save you money when making investing decisions. But these powerful techniques can be hard to understand. This presentation explains the basics.

1. LEARN THE BASICS OF STOCK
CHARTS & TECHNICAL
ANALYSIS FOR INVESTING
by Matthew Formica, CEO, MF Software
http://www.mfsoftwareonline.com

2. AGENDA
• What is Technical Analysis?
• What are Candlestick Charts?
• Simple Moving Averages, Support, & Resistance
• RSI Indicator
• MACD Indicator
• Final Thoughts

3. BUT FIRST...
• What is MF Software? We’re a small software company specializing
in mobile Finance apps for iOS.
• Our Stock TickerPicker app lets you do powerful stock charting on-
the-go.
• iStockpicks helps automate the analysis.
• RateWatch gives you broader economic data.
• Check us out online or email at mformica@mfsoftwareonline.com!

4. WHAT IS TECHNICAL
ANALYSIS?
• Technical analysis is the evaluation of a stock’s price movements over time, looking for
patterns of past movement that can help indicate future price movements.
• It involves looking at a stock chart and various indicators designed to help show a stock’s
momentum and tendencies
• Technical analysis is the opposite of fundamental analysis, where the company underlying
a stock is evaluated on its fundamentals - cash flow, profits, etc.
• Both styles of analysis have their place, and once you pick a stock for fundamental
reasons you can use technical analysis to evaluate when the right time to buy in is.

5. WHAT ARE
CANDLESTICK
CHARTS?
Candlestick charting was invented by the
Japanese around 1850 for trading rice.
Candlestick charts get their name from their
visual representation of stock price
movements, which look sort-of like
candlesticks.
Candlestick charts, unlike mere price
movement charts, contain lots of info for a
given time period (5 minute, 30 minute or
daily): the open, high, low, and closing price
during that time period.

6. CANDLESTICK high
close
CHARTS
CONTINUED... open
low
If a stock closes the period higher than
its open, the candlestick body is
hollow, the “lower shadow” is the low high
of the period, the bottom of the “body”
is the open, top of body is close and open
the top of the “wick” is the high.
If the stock closes lower than its open,
the candlestick is filled. close
low

7. SIMPLE MOVING AVERAGES
• A Simple Moving Average (SMA) is a rolling period average of the
stock’s price movements over a period of time (20-day, 50-day and
200-day SMAs are common). This is charted on the stock chart as a
line. SMAs often represent support and resistance points, the
key concepts of technical analysis.
• Support is a stock price at which enough buyers will step in that
the price will no longer keep falling.
• Resistance is a stock price at which enough sellers will step in
that the price will no longer keep rising.

8. RSI INDICATOR
• Measures the speed and change of price movements over a period of
time, typically 14 days
• Ranges from 0-100, where 100 is sustained/large gains and 0 is
sustained/large losses
• RSI readings less than 30 indicate the stock is oversold and you
should look for an entry point.
• RSI readings greater than 70 indicate the stock is overbought and
you should look for an exit point.

9. MACD INDICATOR
• Uses two moving averages together to create a momentum
oscillator, which fluctuates above/below the zero line (the
point where the two moving averages are equal)
• A “signal line” 9-day exponential moving average is also used
• Crossovers, when the MACD line crosses above/below the
signal line or the zero line, indicate bearish or bullish signals

10. FINAL THOUGHTS
• Thank you for your time. Hopefully this has proven helpful.
• Now that you know a little about technical analysis, why don’t
you stop by our blog to learn more?
• Have an iOS device? Buy Stock TickerPicker to do powerful
investing analysis on-the-go for iPhone & iPad! The money you
save from using technical analysis will more than pay for the
app almost immediately.
• Questions? Email me at mformica@mfsoftwareonline.com