The Heretics of Finance: Conversations with Leading Practitioners of Technical Analysis

Chapter 11. Alan R. Shaw

Smith Barney had an elite, well-known, and well-respected fundamental research department in 1976, but it had no one doing technical analysis, so the merger with Harris Upham & Company was perfect. I was privileged to sit on the prestigious investment policy committee. The technical analysis discipline had just as strong a voice on this committee as any of the other disciplines, and I think this was a first for Wall Street.

Alan R. Shaw spent forty-six years on Wall Street in various research roles, specializing in technical research analysis. At the time of his retirement in April 2004, he was a managing director in the technical research department at the brokerage firm Smith Barney. He currently serves as consultant emeritus for Louise Yamada Technical Research Advisors, an independent research source in New York.

Shaw joined the brokerage firm Harris Upham & Company in 1958, after attending Susquehanna and Adelphi universities. He began his career as a fundamental securities analyst, and in the early 1960s he became actively involved in practicing technical market analysis. He served as research director at Harris Upham before its merger with Smith Barney in 1976 and was appointed to the firm's prestigious investment policy committee, where he offered often quite vocal input, right up to his retirement.

A member of the New York Society of Security Analysts, Shaw was a founder and the first president of the New York Society of Junior Security Analysts. He ...