Press Releases & Latest Developments

14/07/2007
AutochartistUniversity.com goes online»

20/03/2006
Forex.com to Launch AutochartistFX to Entire Customer Base in April »

17/01/2006
Autochartist Launches New Satellite Server Architecture »

14/06/2005
New Windows Application for Delivering Autochartist Analysis »

01/10/2004
Websites For Traders: Prophet Patterns In Prophet.net (Stocks & Commodities Magazine) »

28/02/2003
New Prophet Patterns™ Reveals Potential Trading Opportunities by Scanning Thousands of Stocks for Promising Chart Patterns »

25/01/2003
Autochartist.com technology undergoes enhancements »

19/05/2002
The financial charts can read the future »

01/05/2002
Autochartist.com Launched for the Johannesburg Stock Exchange »

14/07/2007
AutochartistUniversity.com goes online

Autochartist University dedicated to educating traders and investors about chart pattern trading and the AutoChaartist program will go online in July 2007.  This project is the culmination of feedback from users as well as historical pattern research to enable chart pattern traders to better choose set ups and utilize the features of Autochartist.

Autochartist University has also designed the INTRO series for trial subscribers so that these users have quality training while trying the Autochartist program.

A PRO curriculum is also available.

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20/03/2006
Forex.com to Launch AutochartistFX to Entire Customer Base in April

An agreement was concluded with Gain Capital (www.forex.com) during February 2006 through which they would become the first international forex broker to provide the Autochartist service to their entire user base.

In an email campaign sent out to Forex.com users, the service is labelled AutochartistFX and is described to the recipients as follows:

AutochartistFX combines traditional Technical Analysis with innovative web-based technology to bring Forex.com clients a revolutionary new trading tool.

AutochartistFX continuously scans the market to identify Chart Patterns like Triangles, Channels, Head and Shoulders and Wedges and automatically alerts account holders to new trading opportunities.

Features of AutochartistFX include:

Customizable alert parameters based on currency pair, time interval, pattern type, pattern strength and more.
Currency pairs that are monitored on various timescales for new pattern formations.
Patterns are recognized as they emerge - giving you an early indication of potential trading opportunities.
Pop-up alerts provide real-time updates of new results in a non-intrusive manner, notifying you but not interrupting your work.
Easy click-through to the FOREXTrader platform when the user is ready to place a trade.

When combined with all the benefits of FOREXTrader, such as integrated charting tools, proprietary daily and weekly research, intraday forex commentary as well as a host of basic and advanced order types, AutochartistFX may be the final ingredient in the recipe for success. Forex.com clients may access AutochartistFX at no cost, subject to terms and conditions..

A major launch is expected towards mid-April and following that, a number of smaller press releases and marketing campaigns.

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17/01/2006
Autochartist Launches New Satellite Server Architecture

The vision for Autochartist has always been to give exceptional service to a growing client base across all parts of the globe. The uptake in Autochartist services has been rapidly increasing, and in order to be able to give their clients the world class service they intend, the company had to come up with a global strategy for delivering results to its user base.

The solution is a distributed architecture that allows for the addition of light-weight servers to a virtual network. This new satellite server architecture was designed and implemented by Autochartist engineers, and it delivers almost infinite scalability to the Autochartist network.

A remote satellite server can be hosted anywhere around the globe. It is a web server that brings the service to Autochartist clients in their own geographic location. The server contains a database that comes with a sophisticated replication mechanism for getting the latest pattern results from a central recognition engine.

The benefits of having a satellite server is that it is very fast to set up and install, and relatively cheap to maintain. They can be set up with a very short turn-around time, as user demand requires more resources. For example, large institutional clients can have their own satellite servers, hosted on their own network. This gives them some control over their capacity to serve their own clients.

In future months some minor enhancements will be made to the internal workings of the satellite server, but this architecture is expected to carry the Autochartist distribution network well into the next decade.

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14/06/2005
New Windows Application for Delivering Autochartist Analysis After having delivered

After having delivered Autochartist results through numerous platforms and integrations, the developers of the product took the lessons learned and user comments to heart and built a new distribution mechanism for delivering chart patterns to end users.

In short, it is a Windows-based application that mimics the functionality of MSN messenger. No more than a small tray icon is visible on the user's desktop while the program is running, and the minute a new pattern is found, the user us notified by a small popup window which fades away very much like the email notification of Outlook 2003.

The aim was to provide a non-intrusive mechanism that would bring alerts to users without them having to open any windows, but at the same time not disturbing their work. The user can manipulate the settings of the alerts and only be notified of events that is of interest to them.

The application is also flexible in its appearance in that it can be decorated with any corporate logo or look-and-feel. The ability to white-label the application has also opened new potential marketing avenues to potential clients, because there is no integration necessary with existing client software whatsoever.

It also serves as a great mechanism for testing user acceptance of the service before launching the service as an integrated utility in existing analysis software. Thus the risk associated with the development effort is minimised, and users are introduced to the concept of automated chart patterns through a phased approach.

Viewing this application as a delivery mechanism of not only chart patterns, it becomes clear that there is potential for it to become a powerful marketing channel for future Autochartist services.

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01/10/2004 -
Websites For Traders: Prophet Patterns In Prophet.net (Stocks & Commodities Magazine)

Stocks & Commodities V. 22:10 (89-90): Websites For Traders: Prophet Patterns In Prophet.net by David Penn

There is an irony in trying to introduce Prophet Patterns, which is one of the newer modules in Prophet.net - aka the "complete technical analysis suite in a browser" - developed by Prophet Financial Systems. That irony lies in the fact that it is difficult to talk about one component of this "suite" - such as Prophet Patterns - without talking about its relationship to other components in the suite.

That’s not to say that these components are dependent upon one another. While each component - JavaCharts, MarketMatrix, or Linked WatchLists - is impressive in and of itself, the greatest efficiency and usefulness with Prophet.net comes to the trader or analyst who is able to move seamlessly from component to component.

With that, consider yourself introduced to Prophet.net’s Prophet Patterns (Figure 1). Prophet Patterns helps traders spot 12 of the most commonly traded chart patterns in both daily and intraday time frames. Using a variety of proprietary algorithms, Prophet Patterns not only locates ascending and descending triangles, upward and downward channels, falling and rising wedges, head & shoulders tops and bottoms, triangles, rectangles, triple bottoms, and triple tops; the program also lets traders know the direction of the price movement, the anticipated advance or decline in the stock, and - vitally - the time frame during which this movement is expected to occur.

For the full version of this article please visit http://store.traders.com/stcov228wefo1.html

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28/02/2003
New Prophet Patterns™ Reveals Potential Trading Opportunities by Scanning Thousands of Stocks for Promising Chart Patterns.

Online Trading Expo, New York 7th Floor, Booth #1800–1802 New York, New York / Palo Alto, California — February 28, 2003

Prophet Financial Systems, innovators of Web-based financial applications, today introduced Prophet Patterns, a new chart scanning service that helps active traders identify potentially profitable chart patterns throughout the trading day.

Available at the Prophet technical analysis Web site ( www.Prophet.net ), Prophet Patterns uses state-of-the-art pattern recognition algorithms to scan the market for emerging short-term trading opportunities. Using real-time market data, Prophet Patterns scours more than 3,000 of the most liquid U.S. equities for 14 proven chart patterns and generates bullish and bearish signals throughout the trading day.

Using simple Web-based controls, traders can customize the scan parameters for their individual trading styles. Dynamic “star ratings” are calculated daily and help traders understand the risk-reward profile for each pattern.

Additionally, Prophet Patterns automatically places support and resistance lines in the interactive JavaCharts at Prophet.Net. These lines serve to identify the pattern and help the trader visualize the chart pattern as the system “sees” it. From there, the trader has access to more than 130 technical studies and drawing tools to further assess the opportunity.

“It would be impossible to visually scan thousands of intraday charts,” says Tim Knight, Prophet’s president and CEO. “Prophet Patterns gives the active trader a powerful competitive advantage for uncovering new trading opportunities. Using this sophisticated tool, a trader can quickly hone in on promising trades and evaluate them using the charts and real-time monitoring tools at Prophet.Net.”

Prophet Patterns can be added to any Prophet.Net membership for an introductory price of just $29.95 per month. Memberships include advanced charting, streaming quotes, and other services that allow traders to make the most of Prophet Patterns ; membership prices range from $9.95 per month to $34.95 per month.

Prophet Patterns is powered by the Autochartist pattern recognition engine, developed by an international technology firm specializing in technical analysis systems for worldwide currencies and futures markets. Built on Prophet’s proprietary MarketMaker real-time data platform, Prophet Patterns harnesses the power of the Autochartist engine, bringing its advanced capabilities to the U.S. equities markets. Institutional clients interested in licensing Prophet Patterns for on-site use and customization may contact partners@prophet.net for additional information.

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25/01/2003
Autochartist.com technology undergoes enhancements

MDIO Software releases a major new version their Autochartist stock chart pattern recognition engine. The Autochartist recognition engine is designed to identify predefined price chart patterns such as head and shoulders, channels, wedges, and triangles in stock price movements.

The new release of the software is capable of scanning over 1000 charts every 5 minutes (on standard Intel based server hardware). This speed enhancement gives Autochartist the ability to monitor global markets in a semi-real time environment, thus providing invaluable chart pattern information to the more active investor that is looking for intra-day signals.

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19/05/2002
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2002/05/19/business/money/money02.asp
The financial charts can read the futureThe financial charts can read the future
By JEREMY THOMAS

Advocates of fundamental analysis, which requires a thorough working understanding of accounting procedures, are prone to look down their noses at chart-watchers.

To them, crunching the numbers to determine a company's value - in relation to its trading environment - will clearly reveal its prospects. What possible use could studying the seemingly random past movements of a share price have in the buying or selling process?

Ilan Azbel is used to hearing such heresy. "The methods used by technical analysts to predict future price movements are not always easily understood, making it seem like some form of black magic," he says. The beauty of the technique is that it allows investors to analyse a vast amount of stock price data very quickly - an impossible task for a painstaking fundamentalist.

Azbel says the key to successful charting is to identify predefined patterns emerging over time - for example, head-and-shoulders, channels and wedges. The patterns are formed between "support" and "resistance" lines, which are imaginary barriers that the price stubbornly refuses to cross .

"A support line can be explained as a price level at which most people in the market would buy the share, resulting in the price never going lower than that specific level. Conversely, a resistance line is a price level at which few people are still willing to buy. They would rather sell at that level, rendering the price incapable of climbing any higher."

Azbel is the editor of a new website, Autochartist.com, which scans all companies listed on the JSE Securities Exchange, unit trusts, precious metals, commodities, JSE indices, international indices and major foreign currencies. More than 1 500 price charts are scrutinised daily for any one of 14 different patterns.

Of four wedge patterns, three have a prediction reliability of more than 75% over the past two years, he says. On average, Azbel claims his patterns will correctly predict the direction of the market two out of three times.

Before rushing out to trade based on this apparently foolproof system, the novice trader would do well to find guidance at long-established US technical sites such as raptorgroupresearch.com or sandspring.com. Locally, moneytech.co.za and its partner site sawarrants.co.za offer excellent research and advice.

For his part, Azbel says there is a definite trade-off between finding three or four extremely well-formed patterns among 80 stocks, and finding 30 possibly well-formed patterns among 1 000 stocks.

"In the former case, you would need a certain level of experience and at least an hour or two in time. In the latter case you would need basic knowledge of chart patterns, and less than an hour to decide which of the 30 possibilities you would invest in."

Every pattern found by Autochartist.com includes two further conditions that highlight the strength of the pattern found: Start and Volume.

"The Start condition indicates whether or not the pattern that has been found conforms to theoretical trends prior to pattern formation. The Volume condition indicates whether or not an increase in the volume existed when the pattern crossed the support or resistance lines."

In theory, both Start and Volume conditions - if confirmed - increase the reliability of the pattern and so improve the trader's chances of making the correct call on a stock or index's movement.

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01/05/2002
Autochartist.com Launched for the Johannesburg Stock Exchange

If financial analysis were done during medieval times, the technical analysts, particularly “chartists”, would probably have been burnt at the stake. Their methods of successfully predicting future price movements are not always easily understood, making it seem like some form of black magic. Even today the science of charting is reluctantly called a ‘science’, more commonly referred to as an ‘art’. Yet it is a fast growing method of analysing the increasing amounts of stock price data globally available.

Charting refers to technical analysis that is done through the painstaking investigation of share price data to identify predefined patterns emerging over time; for example, ‘head-and-shoulders’, ‘channels’ and ‘wedges’. Chart patterns form the foundation of technical analysis as it is known today. The formation of such patterns in stock charts help predict the future trends of the stock prices.

The patterns are formed between ‘support’ and ‘resistance’ lines, which are imaginary barriers that the price stubbornly refuses to cross during the lifetime of the pattern. A support line can be explained as a price level at which most people in the market would purchase the share, resulting in the price never going lower than that specific level. Conversely, a resistance line is a price level at which few people are still willing to buy – rather they would sell at that level, rendering the price incapable of climbing any higher.

Despite the fact that every book written on technical analysis speaks of such patterns, and that these patterns form the foundations of technical analysis, charting remains a manual task that requires a human to visually inspect every chart, looking for any of a variety of predefined patterns.

Using human analysts to look for chart patterns among hundreds of price charts remains an expensive and time-consuming route to follow, and it has its drawbacks. For one, a person is not equally cognitive of all patterns at the same time – they might notice a ‘Channel’ while failing to also see the ‘Rising Wedge’. Furthermore, the time it takes for one person to analyze one chart is too great to make analysis of entire markets viable.

Yet, many investors are very comfortable using chart patterns as they offer an easily understood set of signals that are well documented in technical analysis literature. There is a large overlap amongst different views on charts, which form the basis of the technical analysis knowledge known by the public.

Recently a South African company has come up with their own technology for automating the technical analysis process. Their web site, jse.Autochartist.com, offers daily reports on chart patterns that were found by the software application that they had spent the last two years developing. It currently scans all JSE listed companies, unit trusts, precious metals, commodities, JSE indices, international indices, major foreign currencies, futures, bonds and warrants. A total of more than 2500 price charts are scrutinized daily for any one of 14 different patterns – a task that would take human analysts weeks to complete.

A full description of each pattern is available for quick reference from any report, and a graphic image of the price chart is presented for each pattern, with the support and resistance lines highlighted on the image. This presents the investor with enough information to decide whether they want to invest in the stock or not.

Autochartist.com’s primary offering is in the time it saves investors from not having to manually find chart patterns. Having a summary of anything that could be interpreted as a pattern allows the investor to focus on the interpretation of the pattern, rather than on finding it. There exists a definite trade-off between finding three or four extremely well-formed patterns among 80 stocks, and finding 30 possibly-well-formed patterns among 1000 stocks. In the former case, you would need the cognitive ability of a human with a certain level of experience and at least an hour or two in time. In the latter case you would need basic knowledge of chart patterns, and less than an hour to decide which of the 30 possibilities you would invest in.

Although Autocartist.com monitors over 2500 price charts for 14 different patterns every day, not all these patterns are equally reliable in their predictions. Furthermore, every pattern found by Autochartist.com has two further conditions that highlight the strength of the pattern found; these are a Start condition and a Volume condition.

The Start condition is an indication whether or not the pattern that has been found conforms to theoretical trends prior to pattern formation. The Volume condition is an indication whether or not an increase in the volume existed when the pattern crossed the support or resistance lines.

Despite the fact that charting theory stipulates the necessity of an increase in volume for a definite pattern completion signal, the developers of Autochartist.com are doubtful to the usefulness of this condition, but emphasize that the existence of a Start condition (initial trend of the pattern found) increases the reliability of the pattern tremendously.

For beginner users of Autochartist.com, or beginners to Charting, one should keep a close eye on the four different Wedge patterns that are found. Of four wedge patterns, 3 have a prediction reliability of over 75% over the past two years. On average however, statistics on the site indicate that the patterns detected by Autochartist.com correctly predict the direction of the market at least 2 out of 3 times - proof that the age-old art of charting has much to offer in terms of reliability.

Autochartist.com offers a fresh new look at traditional technical analysis techniques and should prove to be an invaluable tool in the hands of any serious investor.

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