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Reprinted from Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine. © 2003 Technical Analysis Inc., (800) 832-4642, http://www.traders.

com
INTERVIEW

The Charts Know It All

Chart Patterns, Trading,


And Dan Zanger
Trader Dan Zanger of Chartpattern.com first hit the media spotlight in December No other bands replicate them that I
2000 when he was featured in a Fortune article. The article, entitled “My Stocks know of. Bollinger Bands come close in
Are Up 10,000%!” discussed how he had turned $11,000 into $18 million in 18 some ways but not others.
months (with a return of 164,000%), an unofficial world record for trading stocks
(with the tax receipts to prove it). Not mentioned in the article was that in 23 Some traders use volume and price as
months, the total grew to $42 million. well but also employ support and resis-
Also not mentioned except in passing was much detail about Zanger’s trading tance levels and moving averages to
techniques, indicators, and philosophies or an outline of his typical trading day. trade. Do you use Fibonacci or sup-
He uses chart patterns to find high-volatility (“frisky”) stocks. The article piqued port/resistance levels?
the interest of many readers about the art of technical analysis and provided Support and resistance yes, but Fi-
insight into what is possible for those with the skill and dedication. How is he doing bonacci rarely; but I do use them more
more than two years later? How does he trade and what motivates him? STOCKS often in bear markets/corrections and
& COMMODITIES contributor Matt Blackman caught up with Dan Zanger by certainly on the leading averages during
telephone on April 23, 2003, at his home in Florida. pullbacks. As I mentioned, I have 400
stocks that I look at every night. I view
them every day and have a feeling for
their personalities and behavior. They

W
hat indicators do you use? major secular bull market that started in are my buddies. It’s very important to
Do you use momentum or 1982. All my learning was to the upside get to know your stock’s personality. I
other indicators with your and knowing when to step aside when don’t use any intraday charts, but I do
chart patterns? the charts predicted a correction was refresh and check daily charts every
I use absolutely no indicators what- about to start. It took at least seven hour during the day and scroll through
soever. I simply rely on chart patterns, months for me to get the hang of the stocks that look particularly inviting or
price, and volume. Who has time to charts for a bear market, and other items have good action. I highlight those to
look at so many indicators when you’re took over two years. Even with the focus on when I look at the daily chart
scrolling through 400 stocks a night? I chart knowledge I learned, news stories after the market closes.
look at daily bars intensely and dissect and interest rate cuts would and could
them and then add in the volume bars to and did rocket stocks right out of the
come up with sort of a pressure factor bear patterns. It was brutal, but a great I use absolutely no
that tells me what the stock wants to do learning experience. indicators whatsoever.
next and when it wants to do it. Is it
ready now or does it need more time? What trading tools have you found to I simply reply on chart
That’s the job at hand every day. be most useful? patterns, price, and
As far as trading tools are concerned,
You use price volume and chart pat- I like AIQ’s proprietary moving aver-
volume.
terns and that’s it? age trading bands. When a stock breaks
That’s 100% of what I use. out of a base or pattern and if it blows Do you use money flow at all?
through the upper trading band, that No. I have not found a way to make it
How have you found trading chart tells me it’s a very strong stock. That work effectively. I have seen it fail so
patterns over the last few years during also tells me I need to sell half or all of many times and in no way will this
the current bear market? my position on the second or third day indicator highlight or pinpoint the big
Like most people in the market to- above the trading band. AIQ bands em- movers in the market. Again, I use only
day, I learned about trading with the ploy moving averages over a long time. chart patterns and volume.
Reprinted from Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine. © 2003 Technical Analysis Inc., (800) 832-4642, http://www.traders.com
INTERVIEW

Do you prefer candlesticks or bars? How have you been doing in the last to-1 margin you can double that. The
Bars. I look for patterns on daily couple of years? big money is in a bull market. There are
charts using daily bars. However, I do The bear market has been brutal. This no two ways about it. You play the bear
understand what candlesticks are all is my first true bear market, and we market just to hang around so that when
about and use that knowledge in view- must learn from our mistakes. How- the big move finally does come, you’re
ing and interpreting my daily bars. ever, starting in October 2002 since the there.
market bottomed, I’m up about 60%.
I’m still leery about the market and have How did you get started in your trading
jumped out far quicker than I would career?

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hat do you use as your have before. The fear factor of things I started in about 1976 watching The
market proxy? breaking down is so embedded in me Business Channel in Los Angeles on
When the market rallies, now, it will take time to change that. I UHF. They would have guys coming on
I focus on the leading in- will say, though, that this market is talking about technical stuff. Sherman
dex at the time, be it the Philadelphia acting like one of the great bulls of McClellan used to come on once a week
Semiconductor Index (S OX) or the yesteryear. I’m pretty thrilled to be up and talk about the McClellan oscillator.
Biotech Index (BTK) or whichever in- 60% at this point. Other people talked about cycle analy-
dex is leading the market. Right now, sis. You could see what they were doing
it’s the Goldman Sachs Internet Index Have you been playing some of the and how it worked on the market. So I
(GIN) that is leading this market move. bear rallies from the end of September learned at a very early age how techni-
BTK looks interesting, and so does the 2001? cal analysis was an important factor in
Biotech Holders Trust (BBH), with its I played it in October 2001 and oth- the market.
long tight channel base. ers, but they came and went lightning There was a guy named Gene Mor-
fast. Just when you thought it was going gan, who every day at 1:30 pm would
So you’re still playing the techs? to continue, it ended. I grew up in a come on with his show called “Charting
Yes, and I will continue to do so until secular bull market. It was a period of the Market,” in which he would show
something becomes more volatile. But higher highs and higher lows on the charts that were marked up manually —
really, I go with what is moving in the long-term charts with an occasional they didn’t have TelePrompTers or digi-
market the most. It used to be cellular break, but the market would pick up and tal stuff then. He’d show parabolic
phone stocks in the 1980s and then head higher again. It was an 18-year curves and explain that here was a stock
health maintenance organizations bull market. I never lived through a bear that went parabolic. Then he’d show a
(HMOs) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. market and never learned bear patterns cup and handle formation, and he’d
In the early 1990s you couldn’t give a or bear analysis. It took me two years to explain the growth that the stock would
semiconductor stock away. Then all of learn, and now that I’ve learned bear have out of that pattern. Then he’d show
a sudden they became stock darlings in market tactics, the bear might be over a pennant formation or a flag or a falling
1996–97, as did networking stocks and with, at least for a year or two. wedge and how they would forecast
telecommunications stocks. It’s what- price movements. I was absolutely as-
ever the market chooses to play, be it How is your website, Chartpattern.com, tounded and it changed my life.
biotechs, chips, networks, fibers, going? Have you been playing some of
Internet — you’ve got to go with what the shorts in this bear market? What did it inspire you to do?
the market is going to push up the most. Things are going well. We have a lot We had no personal computers back
I scan through my 400 stocks and I of members and many leading institu- then to help us plot charts, so I would
can tell you in 25 minutes which are the tions and hedge funds. Business is down watch the tickertape and buy stocks that
strongest groups and the fastest stocks because the market has been brutal, but would light up the tape. I bought one
and the ones to own and play with. overall I’m very pleased with what I’ve stock at a buck and sold it a couple of
accomplished with the site, and doing weeks later at $3.90. I was hooked.
You don’t use automated scans to help the newsletter four nights a week keeps That’s how I started.
you? me very focused. Then in 1983 I got a chart book. I’d
No. Because then I have to look As far as shorting goes, people say look through it for cup and handles,
through the stocks that the scans spit out that you’re going to make a lot of money pennants, and flags. I’d be looking at
as well as my 400 stocks, and scans are because you have a lot of great shorts on cheap stocks that I felt I could afford, but
not going to get all the movers the way I the site. Shorts only go down by 15– I couldn’t pick out anything. Cheap stocks
will on a manual scan. The charts tell you 35%. Rarely will a stock go from $80 to rarely have good patterns to identify and
everything you need to know about the $0 like Enron. In a bull move, you can to tell you the truth I couldn’t identify
stock. If a stock is lying dormant, no scan get stocks going from $10 to $40 or $20 any pattern back then. So I basically gave
will tell you it’s time to go before it goes, to $60 or $80 over several months or a it up for the time being. But I always
but viewing the chart manually will. year. That’s a 400% move, and on a 2- picked up the financial papers and fol-
Reprinted from Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine. © 2003 Technical Analysis Inc., (800) 832-4642, http://www.traders.com
INTERVIEW

lowed stocks. I did predict the crash in now give a very advanced charting semi- which is what these terms are normally
1987 the day before it happened, for nar about twice a year. applied to, but I do understand how they
what that’s worth, and that cemented my work. Daily bars work the same way but
calling to be in stocks full time. Who were your other mentors? don’t have fancy names, the way the
Gene Morgan, host of the Charting candlesticks do.
What tipped you off about the crash? The Market show.
I used to go to the gym every night at

I
the time, and everyone there would be What did you do to learn after that? t took a while to learn, I
talking stocks and how much money I read Edwards and Magee. I looked would imagine.
they were making in the market. Then more at the charts than reading the text, I remember getting ham-
one Friday the market took a 200-point though. But really, from then on it was mered on a market correction
hit, but markets usually have their big the school of hard knocks. We got into a more than once and saying I’ll never do
drops on Mondays. I told my mother — strong bull market in early 1991. I made stocks again and walking away. After a
who was the person who got me into a lot of money right after the first Gulf few months of my not paying attention
stocks in the first place — to wait until war and then gave it all back during the to the market, it was taking off again,
Monday, as that would be the big day. I summer with the very first correction and I was missing the move because I’d
didn’t watch the market since I was [at because I didn’t know what a correction walked away. Worst of all, I’d missed
work], but on the way home that Mon- was. I didn’t know you could go broke or the new winners because I was asleep at
day the evening news announced that close to it because I believed that my the wheel instead of watching the mar-
the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) stocks were so good that they couldn’t go ket during the correction like I should’ve
had dropped 508 points. I had friends down in price by 30% or 50%. been.
who went broke that day, but I was
elated because I’d called it. My predic- Famous last words! What did you learn from that?
tion had come true and I felt connected When you think that a company is too I realized I’d been wiped out in a
to the markets for good. good and the earnings are too strong for market correction but if I decided not to
it to go down, that’s when you’ll have go back, I would have never gotten my
What made you make the transition your head handed to you. That’s exactly money back. At that point I realized you
from trading the ticker to learning to what happened to me. A lot of these could never, ever turn your back on the
trade chart patterns? stocks came back, but when there is a market. You have to be there every
My mother passed away and left me 35% to 40% correction and you’re on 2- single day. Then you’re ready to go
$100,000. I took a seminar by William to-1 margin, you’re close to broke. There when stocks make their move out of a
O’Neil, who showed us a few chart was something going on that I didn’t correction. You have to be there every
patterns and his CANSLIM formula. I know about. That’s when I got serious, day in a bear market and every day in a
spent the next six months to a year went back, and studied my mistakes. correction. You have to anticipate the
taking chart patterns that he gave us and And I did this many times. correction as well and be ready to go to
trying to find them in the charting books I didn’t understand that corrections cash when it comes.
and on my new ultra-fast 286 PC. I could last two to four months or even It took me six years at 50–60 hours
would overlay a chart pattern over stock longer. I didn’t understand how to spot per week to finally put it all together. I
charts and do this every evening and for the next winners. I realized that I didn’t was in the construction business back
about six hours every Saturday and Sun- know anything. You just have to keep then, and the severe housing market
day until I finally found one. I would going back over and over again until downturn during the early 1990s when
keep doing this over and over for thou- things sink in. the construction market came to a
sands of hours until I could identify the screeching halt allowed me to devote so
cup and handles. So you did a post-mortem on your much time to learning everything that I
Then I got pretty good at it and real- trades? know today.
ized that there was a lot more to it than Pretty much. A lot of it was that at
the cup and handle or channel patterns first, I believed in stocks instead of So let me get this straight. You got
that he’d taught us. So I called him up believing in trends, trendlines, and ris- started in 1976 and then got into trad-
one day because he had a weekly TV ing trendlines, and when a trendline is ing more seriously in 1989 and then
show back then and asked him if he had broken after a stock has been rising for gave it all back in 1991?
an advanced course. He said that was some time, it needs to be sold, period. Yes, that’s about right, I gave it all
the advanced course. I realized I was on Other items that took years to learn how back several times. I gave it all back
my own and spent the next six years to identify were several reversal pat- three or maybe four times. My aggres-
learning everything I could about terns or reversal bars such as a spinning sive 2-to-1 margin style took years to
trendlines, daily bars, reversal patterns, top or a bearish engulfing day after a big learn, and getting in and out and under-
how to spot a correction and so on. I runup in price. I don’t use candlesticks, standing money management is key. If
Reprinted from Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine. © 2003 Technical Analysis Inc., (800) 832-4642, http://www.traders.com
INTERVIEW

you want this lifestyle and the rewards ing the day. I want to know how institu- stocks like Amazon leaping from $120
it can bring, it will take time and heart- tions are treating the stock and do that by to $200 on the day it split 3 for 1, or
ache before you can put it together. And watching price and volume action. CMGI running up from $118 to $305 in
spotting a correction and being ready to just two days on its way to splitting 2 for
go to cash is top priority to surviving. Are you looking for price and vol- 1, or QCOM running up from $256 to
ume breakouts and chart patterns nearly $800 in eight weeks and selling it
that you like? the day it split 4 for 1, $5 off its all-time

D
o you think it’s necessary to Yes. But I want to see how the insti- post-split high of $196. Then there was
give it all back a few times tutions are treating the stock as well by National Discount Brokers (NDB), which
before you finally get it? Is watching the ebb and flow during the has since been bought out, which ran
it necessary for someone day. I watch bid, ask, and volume as from $32 to more than $85 in a few days,
starting out today to go broke before well as price change throughout the day or UBID as it ran from $63 to $180 in four
they become successful? and I watch how they run through it on days. Just to name a few that I was in.
It’s not necessary, but I’m not sure volume spikes. I watch to get a feel of
you are going to be able to do it unless the stock on the quote screen. On vari- What else? Good days and bad days?
you get hammered a few times, and you ous chart patterns, stocks should be do- There was also the time one day after
won’t fully understand the seriousness ing certain things at certain times. When the market topped in March and the
of the market until you do. And it also the stock is acting right, volume should market had come down from 5132 to
depends on your style. I’m a type-A come in and do certain things. If it 3200 where I covered my shorts and
personality kind of guy. I enjoy the doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do, went long on margin 2 to 1, only to
adrenaline rush. To get that thrill, I have when it’s supposed to do it, then some- watch the market soar on some ridicu-
to be on 2-to-1 margin and that keeps thing isn’t right and I’ll pass on that lous news story. The market soared
my interest in the market. I’m the racecar stock until the time is right. A stock something like 200 points that day and
driver doing 180 MPH around the course might suddenly go limp or it may be I made around $5.2 million in one day.
inches from the wall. And that’s what I very hot for a week and then volume just It was a good day at the office.
like. If you aren’t like that, then you disappears. Whoever was playing with The worst day was in October 2000
have to adjust yourself and your risk the stock is gone and if they’re gone, when fiberoptic stocks were the rage
factors accordingly. That’s how I turned then so am I. If it’s no longer the stock and almost every fiber stock was set up
$10,775 into $18 million in 18 months it was last week I’ll just walk away until to break out and run on earnings news
and ultimately went to $42 million in 23 it gets frisky again. from each company as it reported. By
months. I would own the one or two this time I had so much cash it was
fastest stocks of the week during the What would be a typical size of your mind-boggling. Even worse, with that
bubble, and I would know exactly when trades today? kind of money leveraged on 2-to-1 mar-
to buy it on 2-to-1 margin and be out It depends on the volume. If a stock gin, it’s very tough to buy stocks as they
within a few points of the top and com- trades six to 10 million shares a day, I break out. I had to start buying stocks
pound my money weekly, swing trad- can be happy owning 100,000 shares. If during basing periods, which is what
ing these lightning-fast moving stocks the stock trades only one million shares institutions do, and why you get the
leaping $10 to $25 a day or more. I a day, then owning no more than 20,000 base patterns you get.
would be so glued to the computer screen to 30,000 is about my max. I was in just about every hot fiber
you would almost have to peel my eyes stock at the time from Corning (GLW) to
off the monitor with a spatula. You set a record in turning $10,775 into Juniper Network (JNPR), Broadcom
$18 million in 18 months. Are you aware (BRCM), and Newport Corp. (NEWP),
What do you watch for during the of anyone else who beat that record? just to name a few. Wouldn’t you know
trading day? No one has come close, as far as I it, I had just loaded up on these and other
I’m watching the heartbeat of the know. There was someone trading on the very high-beta stocks on 2-to-1 margin,
stocks. I’m watching the action. I have CBOT who turned $50,000 or $100,000 when Nortel Networks (NT)
five screens, but focus on one main into $100 million or something like that, preannounced a short fall in revenue
monitor running MyTrack with a backup but that was commodities or futures and and earnings after the close of trading
on another monitor using eSignal. I have the time frame was longer. No one has one day. Since it was the sector leader of
a Level II, which I use rarely, on another done it trading stocks that I am aware of. the group at the time, the news caused
monitor, but it also has my stock posi- every fiber and fiber-related stock to
tions; I have AIQ on another monitor and What were your single best and worst gap down anywhere from $15 to $20 in
LiveWire on another. I don’t watch fu- days in the market? after-hours trading. Things got worse
tures or any of that other stuff. I don’t There were so many wonderful days the next day, with stocks such as NEWP
have time. I just watch the chart, the price for me during the bubble that I can’t list getting whacked as much as $45 or a
action, and the volume of the stock dur- them all. I could go on and on about third of its value during the day. Good
Reprinted from Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine. © 2003 Technical Analysis Inc., (800) 832-4642, http://www.traders.com
INTERVIEW

CANSLIM act the way they do if you can deci- to the market where all the action is.
pher these cycles. You have to know This is truly exciting stuff!
William O’Neil founded Investor’s the various cycles and combine them
Business Daily. CANSLIM is an acro- with patterns and then you’ll really Thank you, Dan.
nym for the seven criteria that he
get a boost to your trading. There are
considered most important in finding
winning stocks.
many cycles, from very short term to Matt Blackman is a trader, technical
long term to very long term. The analyst, software reviewer, and content
C Current quarterly earnings per nine-month cycle and the Presiden- provider for technical trading/invest-
share: Should be accelerating. tial cycles are two of the most power- ment websites. He is an affiliate mem-
ful in the market today. ber of the Market Technicians Associa-
A Annual earnings increases:
Look for meaningful growth. tion (MTA) and Canadian Society of
We’ve got to wrap up here. You men- Technical Analysts (CSTA).
N New products, new manage-
tioned that you have to watch the markets
ment, new highs: Buy at the
right time.
every day. When do you take time off? SUGGESTED READING
For me, every day in the markets is a Berentson, Ben [2002]. “Breakout For
S Shares of common stock
vacation. If you’ve ever worked in the Royal Gold?” Forbes, September 11.
outstanding: Keep it small.
construction business like I did for 20 http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/11/
L Leader or laggard: Find an years you’d understand this. If the mar- 0911chartroom.html
industry’s leaders, not laggards. kets are open, I have to be here. There is Edwards, Robert D., and John Magee
I Institutional sponsorship: A nothing more exciting and enjoyable. It [2001]. Technical Analysis Of Stock
little goes a long way. is the passion and love of my life. I’m so Trends, 8th ed., W.H.C. Bassetti, ed.
M Market direction blessed to be doing what I want to do Saint Lucie Press.
—MB and get paid to do it. It doesn’t get any Lee, Clifford [2000]. “My Stocks Are Up
better. There is nothing I’d rather do. 10,000%!” Fortune, December 18.
Every day is different and your brain is http://www.chartpattern.com/news/
thing I wasn’t 100% invested in fibers being taxed and you have to figure out fortune.html
and luckily had a few shares of some the puzzle. Do you hold ’em or fold O’Neil, William J. [1988]. How to Make
software stocks, which didn’t take the ’em? What’s going to happen next? It Money in Stocks, McGraw-Hill.
hit that the fibers did. I lost about 32% doesn’t get more exciting that this. I do Penn, David [2001]. “He Knows Inves-
of my total portfolio in just one day. take time off every 18 months or so, but tors’ Business, Daily: William
I can’t think of anything I’d rather do O’Neil,” interview, Technical Analy-
You made a comment about Royal Gold than trade and watch the markets. When sis of STOCK & COMMODITIES, Vol-
(RGLD) in Forbes. Do you trade gold I’m on vacation I can’t wait to get back ume 19: October.
stocks as well? S&C
I trade whatever the market is going to
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