The marketing terminology you will read here is not so unique to the web. You can find a definition of a trend line most anywhere. I am tweaking these tools however and combining them with other tools to fit my system. I will attempt to define those terms here.
Actionable - A place that technically speaking could be used as a point on a chart to make a trade. These could be bottoms or tops, or places of support and resistance. When price reaches a point that is actionable, expect an update in the opportunities tab on the website to explain putting on a position.
Bull Flag - A technical analysis tool used to project a target price in the future. In this example below, the bull flag in the green box that began on January 11. It does not take a lot of imagination to picture what looks like a flag with a pole. For it to confirm as a bull flag, you simply measure the distance from the bottom of the pole to the top of the flag, and measure the distance. You take that distance and add it to the price level of where price broke out. In this example, I copied the bull flag in the green and pasted it with a red box to show where the measurement should take the price to. Low and behold, it takes price exactly to $7.77. The pole is .485 cents in height. The price +broke out of the flag at $7.295. $7.295 + .485 = $7.78
Actionable - A place that technically speaking could be used as a point on a chart to make a trade. These could be bottoms or tops, or places of support and resistance. When price reaches a point that is actionable, expect an update in the opportunities tab on the website to explain putting on a position.
Bull Flag - A technical analysis tool used to project a target price in the future. In this example below, the bull flag in the green box that began on January 11. It does not take a lot of imagination to picture what looks like a flag with a pole. For it to confirm as a bull flag, you simply measure the distance from the bottom of the pole to the top of the flag, and measure the distance. You take that distance and add it to the price level of where price broke out. In this example, I copied the bull flag in the green and pasted it with a red box to show where the measurement should take the price to. Low and behold, it takes price exactly to $7.77. The pole is .485 cents in height. The price +broke out of the flag at $7.295. $7.295 + .485 = $7.78
CCI - Commodity Channel Index - You will often see a smaller chart at the bottom of my charts with a squiggly green line. This is the commodity channel index. It is an oscillator I use to help determine when commodities are over bought or over sold. It tends to mark major turning points in trends, and are common at intermediate cycle bottoms. Buy signals occur when the price crosses below the -200 line then cross back above it and sell signals occur when the price crosses above the =200 line then crosses back below it. It quantifies the relationship between the asset's price, a moving average of the assets price and normal deviations from that average.
Cycles - Please refer to the cycle page to learn more, however there are daily, intermediate, yearly, 3 year, and grand super cycles. Most of what I speak of is the intermediate cycle.
Daily Cycles - These cycles are tracked on daily charts. Generally, they run 5 to 6 weeks.
Intermediate Cycles - They normally run 32 to 44 months. These are important as they mark key areas for farmers to stake a larger position of their marketing.
Yearly Cycles - Usually run 9 to 13 months. Catching an intermediate cycle at the beginning of a yearly cycle gives you quite a ride!
Coiling- Coiled markets often arise when the market has been held down artificially. This happens in commodities markets, such as gold and silver. Investors looking to capitalize on coiled markets will use both fundamental and technical analysis to identify markets or specific equities that exhibit the characteristics of a coiled market. The origins of this term relate to the physics of a coiled spring: the more it is compressed, the greater the rebound will be.
Fibonacci Retracement - is a very popular tool used by many technical traders to help identify strategic places for transactions to be placed, target prices or stop losses. After a significant price movement up or down, the new support and resistance levels are often at or near these lines.
Open Interest - Volume measures the pressure under behind the price trend, but open interest measures the flow of money. Clearly, money is flowing into wheat. The relationship between the prevailing price trend, volume, and open interest can be summarized by the following table.
Cycles - Please refer to the cycle page to learn more, however there are daily, intermediate, yearly, 3 year, and grand super cycles. Most of what I speak of is the intermediate cycle.
Daily Cycles - These cycles are tracked on daily charts. Generally, they run 5 to 6 weeks.
Intermediate Cycles - They normally run 32 to 44 months. These are important as they mark key areas for farmers to stake a larger position of their marketing.
Yearly Cycles - Usually run 9 to 13 months. Catching an intermediate cycle at the beginning of a yearly cycle gives you quite a ride!
Coiling- Coiled markets often arise when the market has been held down artificially. This happens in commodities markets, such as gold and silver. Investors looking to capitalize on coiled markets will use both fundamental and technical analysis to identify markets or specific equities that exhibit the characteristics of a coiled market. The origins of this term relate to the physics of a coiled spring: the more it is compressed, the greater the rebound will be.
Fibonacci Retracement - is a very popular tool used by many technical traders to help identify strategic places for transactions to be placed, target prices or stop losses. After a significant price movement up or down, the new support and resistance levels are often at or near these lines.
Open Interest - Volume measures the pressure under behind the price trend, but open interest measures the flow of money. Clearly, money is flowing into wheat. The relationship between the prevailing price trend, volume, and open interest can be summarized by the following table.
SMI _ Simple Moving Average - It is the horizontal green line that follows the trend. I mostly use 150 and 200 day simple moving averages on the charts, depending on which one tends to correlate most closely.
Swing High and Swing Low

This is an important signal which refers to a peak (swing high) and bottom (swing low). They form when the high and low price exceed the price bars that surround it. They are important because a series of high bars or low bars dictate a trend. Traders use them to identify possible areas of support and resistance which are useful for determining the optimal place for stop-loss orders. When accompanied by a trend line, or a moving average, or the CCI, it becomes a rather reliable of a reverse in price.
Symmetrical Triangle - A symmetrical triangle is generally regarded as a period of consolidation before the price moves beyond one of the identified trendlines. A break below the lower trendline is used by technical traders to signal a move lower, while a break above the upper trendline signals the beginning of a move upward. As you can see from the chart above, technical traders use a sharp increase in volume or any other available technical indicator to confirm a breakout beyond one of the trendlines.
The sharp price movement that often follows a breakout of this formation can be captured by traders who are able to identify the pattern early enough. |
Translated Cycles - Left Translated and Right Translated
Cycles can take two forms, left or right translated. In the chart below I give and example of both. When I say a cycle is left translated it means that it tops out left of center. Left translated cycles tend to produce the worst declines in total percentage terms. Right translated cycles top out right of center and tend to produce waterfall type declines but smaller percentage losses. I’ve marked the half way point of the two intermediarte cycles with the blue line. Since I’m mostly concerned with the intermediate
term cycle, I want to be aware of any intermediate cycles that are
left translated. Since the average duration is 38 weeks, any cycle that
tops in 18/19 weeks or less would be considered a left translated cycle. Both examples below are extreme, but you get the idea.