- Futures Perspective - TrendTrader and Trading Systems Overview

Page F-62 (AGR/FIN): Market Movers Calendar

Page F-63 (FIN): TrendTrader and Trading Systems Overview

CRB TrendTrader

The CRB TrendTrader is a technical trading system developed by Commodity Research Bureau (CRB). It is based on mathematical calculations of price movements such as moving averages, volatility and oscillators. The computer model was originally tested on a 1960-1970 database, and has since been monitored regularly. Although modified for weekly use, the data displayed in the table are taken from CRB's comprehensive daily service, the TrendTrader. The Daily TrendTrader provides position entry and exit levels for None, Long and Short positions as well as daily price ranges, moving averages and relative strength measurements. Position changes occur as follows: 1) Long position to None on close below sell stop. 2) Short position to None on close above buy stop. 3) No position to Long on close above buy stop and No position to Short on close below sell stop. TrendTrader can be utilized as a trading system on its own or as a check on other methods of price analysis. Its greatest advantage lies in the fact that it is a pure mathematical approach, and thus rules out emotion.

Trading Systems Overview

The Trading Systems Overview provides the buy/sell/hold signals indicated by various popular trading systems. The Short, Medium and Long term indicators are grouped together and calculated separately for their groups. The overall indicators includes all 13 studies listed on the page.

To produce the signal for short, medium and long-term signals, we assign a buy 1 point, a sell –1 point, and a hold 0 points. We then add up the total for each group and divide the number of the number of studies in the group, finally converting this to a percentage. If the total is greater than zero then this is a buy, if the total is zero then this is a hold and if the total is less than zero then this is a sell.

The Trading Systems Overview can be found daily on our sister company’s web site at www.barchart.com by typing in the commodity symbol, clicking enter, and then clicking the "Opinion" button on the left menu bar. Please consult the www.barchart.com web site for a daily update and for futures contracts not covered here. For a further explanation, please see http://www2.barchart.com/support/technicals.asp#opinion.