A Review of VectorVest Trading Software
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The Fusion Trader’s Secret Weapon
A Review of VectorVest Online Stock Trading Software
By Matt BlackmanTraditionally, the gap between fundamental and technical traders/investors has been more gulf than line. Each group views the other with skepticism more akin to enemy troops rather than members of the same profession.
Technical analysts believe that all they need to know about a stock can be found in its price chart. By the time the market knows about key fundamentals, they have already been priced into the stock. One only has to look at the approach of a value or buy-and-hold investor for an example of this, they claim. A value investor buys stocks when the price drops since the cheaper the price, the greater the value. This approach with stocks like Enron and WorldCom resulted in colossal losses for those who used it.
Fundamental analysts, on the other hand, charge their technical counterparts with using past data to make future stock buying and selling decisions. Such an approach, they claim, is tantamount to driving along the freeway relying only on what you see in the rear-view mirror.
But there is a third group that effectively combines both techniques – the fusion trader.
Let me explain. In a bear market, investors discount good news and react to the bad – in other words good news, bad action (or reaction). In bull markets the opposite occurs. At such times, stocks remain unrealistically priced for extended periods. As one market guru once quipped, the market can remain irrational much longer than someone on the wrong side of it can remain solvent. How efficient is that?
If the efficient market hypothesis were true, great traders like T. Boone Pickens, Steve Cohen, Paul Tudor Jones and Dan Zanger (to name but a few) would not make as much money as they do. Those at the top of their game win consistently by looking at the market in a different way than the majority. The very best traders are masters of the technical and fundamental; they utilize statistics, quantitative analysis and rely on a variety of factors from macro-economic to micro-technical. In short, the fusion traders use whatever works and do not limit themselves to any single field of market study.
So why are there so few stock charting and analysis programs that do an effective job of handling fundamentals and technicals together? Most utilize one technique thereby requiring the trader/investor to master a number of programs. But is this absolutely necessary?
Cost – Subscription based. $645USD/year U.S. version. $545USD/year Canadian version. Both, $745 USD/year.
Recommended System Requirements
A PC-compatible computer.
Windows 98, NT 4.0 (SP6 or higher), 2000, Millennium or XP.
A minimum 300 MHz processor, 500 MHz. or higher preferable.
A minimum of 64 MB of RAM, 128 MB recommended.
Requires 200 MB of hard disk space.
Internet Access with 56k Modem or faster. (DSL/Cable Modem recommended)
Monitor and video card supporting 800x600 or higher resolution.
Internet Explorer 5.5 (or higher) or other browser with ActiveX capability.
Getting Up and Running
When you receive the package containing the VectorVest manual, installation CD and two-day seminar training CDs, follow the directions in the VectorVest Quick Start Guide. Install time will depend on computer speed but took less than 20 minutes with the subject computers. Users had access to 8,053 U.S. stocks and 2,434 Canadian stocks (VectorVest Canada) at time of test in May 2006. It is recommended that you listen to the two-day seminar to get up to speed to take advantage of the greatest number of program features from the start.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 29 March 2007 )