Here’s Who You’ll See:

• Robert Prechter, author of the two-book set Socionomics, presented the just-released paper “Social Mood, Stock Market Performance and US Presidential Elections,” one of the top ten most-downloaded papers on the site, SSRN.com.
• Terry Burnham, author of the acclaimed Mean Markets and Lizard Brains and former equity fund manager, spoke on “The Neural and Emotional Basis of Herding in Financial Markets.”
• Managing Director of the MarketPsych Group and board-certified psychiatrist Richard Peterson presented on “Greed, Fear, and the Predictive Power of Financial Emotions.”
• Macroeconomic researcher and strategist at Paineiras Investimentos Jose Carlos Carvalho offered insights in his presentation, “Brazil’s Socionomics: From Basket-Case to Superstar.”
• Leena Ilmola, senior researcher at the Advanced Systems Analysis program of International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Vienna, presented on the qualitative “Social Mood Indicator” she and her Extreme Events team developed for the European Ministry of Defense.
• Financial services expert and 25-year market veteran Peter Atwater spoke about “Horizon Preference: How Changes in Social Mood Affect Decision Making.”
• Plus, the Socionomics Institute’s Matt Lampert, Euan Wilson and Mark Almand presented on various topics.

What is Technical Analysis?

Technical analysis is a means of examining and predicting price movements in the financial markets, by using historical price charts and market statistics. It is based on the idea that if a trader can identify previous market patterns, they can form a fairly accurate prediction of future price trajectories.

It is one of the two major schools of market analysis, the other being fundamental analysis. Whereas fundamental analysis focuses on an asset’s ‘true value’, with the meaning of external factors and intrinsic value both considered, technical analysis is based purely on the price charts of an asset. It is solely the identification of patterns on a chart that is used to predict future movements.