What is an Investment Analyst?

This occupation provides services to investment brokers, banks, pension funds, investment banking firms, investment management and counseling firms, and also to insurance companies. The investment analyst is often referred to as a Securities Analyst or a Financial Analyst and they work in the field of investment securities. An investment analyst is hired to makes assessments of the economic performance of individual firms or whole industries and to make investment recommendations. The financial analyst will read company financial statement and analyze commodity prices, sales, costs, expenses, and tax rates in order to determine a company’s value and to project a company’s future earnings.

The financial analyst if often divided into two basic types of investment analysts. There are those that work on the “buy” side and those that work on the “sell” side. Analysts that work on the buy side generally work for companies that have a lot of money to invest.  These are typically institutional investors and they include investing in mutual funds, hedge funds, insurance companies, independent money managers, universities, hospitals, and charitable organizations. The investment analyst works to develop investment strategies for a company’s strong portfolio. On the other side, you have your analyst that works on the “sell” side.  This analyst helps securities dealers to sell their products and typically include investment banks and securities firms.

The investment analyst will typically focus on a specific industry, type of product or a region. For example, an analyst may focus on the oil industry, South America, or even options markets.  Experienced analysts are often called portfolio managers and their job is to supervise a team of analysts to help guide the company in selecting the right mix of products, industries, and regions for their investment portfolio. There are other analysts who may manage mutual fund investing and hedge fund investing and they are typically referred to as fund managers. There are also risk managers who are responsible for creating portfolio diversification for their clients through maximizing profits and hedging.

Another type of investment analyst is a personal financial advisor. They are responsible for recommending financial investment options to individuals.  They assist individual investors with determining and reaching their short term and long term investing goals.  They may assist with retirement investment choices, college funding for children, and estate planning.  Their job is to develop a comprehensive financial plan that identifies problem areas, provide recommendations for improvement, and to select investment options that are compatible with the client’s needs and their expectation for a return on investment.

The investment analyst is consistently delegated additional responsibilities and typically advances.  They are typically able to remember details and have an intense motivation for seeking out obscure information. They have the ability to gain national recognition by becoming a specialist in one industry if they are really good, and some become so familiar with an industry that they are offered management positions within the company.  The success of the investment analyst is measured by the ability to evaluate stock market trends accurately, and the better they are, the more unbelievable opportunities will arise.

The benefit of a Doji/Spinning Top signal is the easy analysis of what can follow. What is the simple rule for a Doji? The direction of the trend will usually move in the direction of how they open price's following a Doji. A positive open tomorrow would confirm the day of indecision. A lower open would indicate the continuation of the current down trend. These rules are not set in stone but they do provide a high probability indication. If you always keep in mind, the candlestick signals are created by the possible change of investor sentiment. Confirmation of that sentiment is very easy to see. Having knowledge of what will be probable outcomes after potential reversal signals allows investors to participate in new price trends immediately without having to wait for confirmation.

DOW

Commodity Traders - The Candlestick Forum has many requests for more information about how to trade commodities using candlestick signals. You may have noticed a very low profile from Mr. Bigalow in that regard for the past few months. There has been a very good reason. Come join us in the chat room tonight as Mr. Bigalow starts laying out trading rules that make commodity trading a highly profitable endeavor.

Candlestick signals and commodity trading go hand-in-hand. Candlesticks were developed while making fortunes in one of the most basic commodities, Rice. Stephen W. Bigalow has been utilizing candlestick analysis for over 20 years. He teaches investors the very basic premise of candlestick analysis. The signals are in existence today because they produce high probability signals of what is occurring in investor sentiment. This information can be applied to any trading entity that involves investor fear and greed.

Successful investing in commodities involves two very simple functions. First, an investor needs a trading format that produces consistent results. That has been proven with candlestick signals for centuries. Using candlestick signals correctly can produce huge profits in the commodity markets. The qualifying term in that statement is "correctly."

The second function for investing profitably is maintaining discipline. Discipline involves a number of facets. It is sticking with the game plan and establishing stop losses. It is maintaining trading procedures that do not fluctuate during the trading sessions. It is maintaining the emotional perspective for established trading procedures. Steve Bigalow has been teaching investors how to use candlestick signals and utilize a common sense trading program.

He also professes that one should practice what they preach. A major benefit of candlestick signals is the established assumption that they perform profitably. This is proven by the results of Japanese Rice traders that not only became wealthy trading off of candlesticks signals, they became legendarily wealthy. Like any other performed activity, investing requires practice. Practice of the correct procedures. Mr. Bigalow has not instigated any extensive promotion of his trading program. He wanted to make sure all his investment procedures were in place, both mechanically and emotionally. After being away from commodity trading for a few years, while he was teaching investors how to use candlesticks for trading stocks, he wanted to make sure he had the right procedures in place.

The past six month of his trading program did require clearing out some bugs. The probabilities incorporated into candlestick results allow an investor to analyze price moves with a fairly high degree of accuracy. When a trading program is not working properly, an investor should step back and analyze the mechanical and emotional aspects of their trading. After successful trading in the early stages of the commodity trading program this past summer, Mr. Bigalow experienced some significant losses. He took the account from $20,000 down to $5,800, a 70% loss. This might have been devastating to most investors, even  savvy  professional traders. Again, the advantage of candlestick analysis is knowing the system works. When losing money, the trading procedures and mental attitude need to be analyzed. This is what Mr. Bigalow did. He realized he had stepped out of his trading program. Once he put the disciplines back in place, he quietly produced consistent returns. Over the past four months, he has taken the $5,800 balance back up to a $34,000 balance, a 70% gain.

Should he have ever let the account get down so low? Definitely not! And he will be the first person to tell you that is not how to trade successfully. But a person can have confidence in the candlestick signals. With that confidence and the proper trading procedures, big gains can be produced. A 75% gross profit may not be dramatically impressive. However, the results of the trading program, from when the proper procedures were firmly established, has resulted in almost a 600% return. Mr. Bigalow is the first to admit that these types of returns are not the norm. But the capability to produce inordinate returns is easily achievable. There is nothing secretive about candlestick investing, it is purely common sense investment practices put into a graphic depiction.

The same chart patterns that work successfully in stocks work as well in commodities. Being able to analyze the longer term chart pattern can produce big profits.  Those same patterns work as efficiently on the one minute and five minute charts, creating excellent opportunities to make big profits intraday.

Wheat

Soybeans

Chat session tonight 8 p.m. ET- open to everybody.  Learn which stocks are holding up well in current market conditions.  Also, learn some of the intricacies of successful commodity trading.  Invite your friends. Click here for instructions.

Good investing,

The Candlestick Forum Team

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