Kirkpatrick’s Investment and Trading Strategies: Tools and Techniques for Profitable Trend Following

8. Cycles and the Forward Line

When I was first involved in technical analysis in the 1960s, looking for patterns in the price charts was the basic means of analyzing stocks or any freely traded security. I learned point-and-figure first from books from Abe Cohen¹ and from Earl Blumenthal² on three-point reversal charts, and about one-point reversals from Alexander Wheelan.³ I learned about bar charts from William Jiler in his 1962 book, How Charts Can Help You in the Stock Market⁴ and from Edwards and Magee.⁵ Because there were only hand-operated adding machines for calculators in those days, and no spreadsheets, I cranked through rolls of paper with moving-average calculations of breadth figures and index prices, but never seemed to get anywhere ...