Robert Newgrosh

The primary chart type that I use is Point & Figure. Over 20 years in the business has convinced me that this is the most powerful charting method, and I've seen most of them. Naturally I use other techniques as well - bar charts and a few indicators - but the first thing I look at each day is the P&F chart. I would say that my success in calling the major moves is mainly due to having very good Point & Figure technique; without it I would not have been able to make most of those forecasts.

There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that the correct use of charts in the last few years has been the most accurate way to call the medium-term moves in the key stockmarkets. I don't tend to use fundamentals - to be honest I think my track record is far better than those who do. Often the fundamentals just get in the way and confuse things. I know lots of people who won't go into the market at the moment because they think the fundamentals are still poor. I can tell you that by the time they like the look of the fundamentals, they will have missed a large part of the move. My best ever trade, which captured 5,600 points on the Nikkei a few years ago, was made when the fundamentals were still ambivalent. However, the chart was superb and I backed it and did very well indeed. If I'd listened to the fundamentals and the economists, I'd never have taken the trade, which by the way used a fund within my personal pension.
 
But of course I don't always get it right, and it's much easier to say what a market will do than when. This means I'm more likely to be wrong when trying to make short-term forecasts. So I try to avoid the short-term and stick to medium-term views where my accuracy is much higher.
 
I also focus very much on the bigger picture which is invaluable for putting corrections into context. Often a bull market will have sharp but not severe corrections, i.e. fast but limited in size, and these can feel scary when they are happening. The only way to keep your perspective here is to look at the move in the context of the bigger picture and see if the overall trend has been broken. You can't do this if you focus purely on the immediate short-term movement. Stepping back and seeing corrective moves in context is a key skill, and there nothing better than a Point & Figure chart for doing this.

My focus in the reports will be the key markets, especially the main UK & US stockmarket indices. Quite simply, if you can get the direction of these right, you've got the direction of most shares right.