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What is technical analysis?

Technical analysis studies price and volume charts to spot trends and levels, assuming price history contains information about the future.

The classic tools: moving averages, support and resistance, chart patterns (head and shoulders, double bottoms), indicators like RSI and MACD. The core idea is that investor psychology repeats and leaves recognizable traces on charts.

The academic evidence on its effectiveness is contested: it works mostly as a common language among traders and for managing entries and exits, less as a crystal ball. For long-term investors, fundamentals matter more.

Concrete example

The "golden cross" — the 50-day moving average crossing above the 200-day — is considered bullish: sometimes it works, sometimes not, and you only know afterwards.

How you see it in InsiderFlow

On InsiderFlow these concepts come alive on real data: what big funds and insiders are buying, explained every day.

Frequently asked questions

Does technical analysis work?

The debate has run for decades: used alone it rarely beats the market; as a risk-management discipline it can help.

Technical or fundamental analysis?

For the long run, fundamental; many traders combine both: fundamentals for the "what", technicals for the "when".