I have discussed in past articles how volume and open interest can be used to help identify and confirm market situations and trading opportunities. I'll take open interest one step further in this column by examining the Commitments of Traders (C.O.T.) report, issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

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Before we discuss this topic, let me give you some important background information. I tend to think of trading systems by the distribution of R-multiples that they generate. And the average R (or mean R) of the system's R-multiple distribution is the expectancy of the system. It tells you what

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I have discussed in past articles how volume and open interest can be used to help identify and confirm market situations and trading opportunities. I'll take open interest one step further in this column by examining the Commitments of Traders (C.O.T.) report, issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)....

Before we discuss this topic, let me give you some important background information. I tend to think of trading systems by the distribution of R-multiples that they generate. And the average R (or mean R) of the system's R-multiple distribution is the expectancy of the system. It tells you what...

"When it comes to planning, many traders can be compared to the German army during World War II--in that the invasion of Britain was planned but never executed, while the Battle of Britain was executed, but never planned," said John C. Tirone, senior technical analyst for Chase Manhattan Bank in

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The first variable in the snow fight metaphor was the wall of snow. If the wall is gone, you have no protection from the snowballs. Hopefully, all of you figured out that the wall stands for the equity in your account. And generally the bigger your equity, the safer you

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"When it comes to planning, many traders can be compared to the German army during World War II--in that the invasion of Britain was planned but never executed, while the Battle of Britain was executed, but never planned," said John C. Tirone, senior technical analyst for Chase Manhattan Bank in...

My ideas for educational feature topics usually come from readers' suggestions or from tidbits I have gleaned from many years of studying and trading futures markets and stocks. I also get educational topic ideas from discussing markets with my peers in the newsletter and trading advisory services industry. For this

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