Today, a word first of all about 'Market Makers' - those shadowy figures to whom I allude in the manual, suggesting they play at the very least an interesting role in the day to day manipulation of all the sheep who mill around in the markets, constantly seeking direction.
As more and more of you become more and more experienced in your own trading, one of the first things you discover, is that all the FTSE100 stocks, and most of those in the FTSE250, are no longer at the mercy of marketmakers, but are traded electronically - ie, sellers and buyers are matched up with no 'middleman' involvement.

"Aha", you say. "That's great news, because things will be much more efficient as a result, and I'm a bit surprised that Williams never mentions this in all his ramblings."

Ah well, that's because there's just the tiniest bit of method in my overall insanity. First of all, many of the shares in which TTEW is interested, are still at least partially - in many cases still fully - 'controlled' by marketmakers, and secondly, within the manual it's pretty easy to use the existence of such people to point out to you how markets can so often be
manipulated, without unnecessarily complicating your life at such an early stage.

Yes, I'm guilty of gross oversimplification, for which I make absolutely no apology!

The mere fact that so many of you have now pointed this out to me, shows you're doing your own research, so well done on that score.

So once all share buyers and sellers are electronically matched, will markets no longer be capable of being manipulated by humans? Hmmm, let me think about that one for a second. Ah yes - computers are programmed and operated by people (at least I think they are, though judging by the way some programmes are set up, sometimes I have my doubts.)

So if it's still people ultimately who operate the buying and selling systems, could there not be the potential still for a bit of jiggery pokery?

I wonder.....let's take a wee look this weekend at a couple of charts, and since I'm in the mood, let me tell you a story first of all, just to set the scene - I promise I'll keep it nice and short........

Once upon a time (about two weeks ago), a few chums gathered after work in a pleasant little wine bar not far from Liverpool Street station.
"So how's business, people?" came a quiet voice from a dark corner of the room.
"Gosh" commented Rupert over a nicely chilled Muscadet, "I'm a bit concerned, actually - I've got the firm pretty exposed long in the FTSE100 and it's not looking too healthy, quite frankly. With options expiry looming in a few days, I'm getting awfully nervous about what's going to happen. I was just SO sure we were in for a strong push upwards beyond 5080 by now and I just don't know how the firm's going to react if all these options expire worthless!"
Rupert stared morosely into his now empty glass, to a murmur of sympathetic agreement from his chums, who were equally exposed but just didn't want to air their concerns so publicly.
"Hmm", murmured the quiet voice from the corner. "I suppose it would be good if the index COULD rise on Friday, just before all your options expire?"
"I wish!" came a heartfelt chorus from Rupert's little group of City traders.
"Miracles sometimes happen", came the quiet reply, but when Rupert turned to look at the stranger, there was no -one there, although a curious smell of brimstone wafted past him from the open doorway.

And do you know what? This little story had a happy ending for Rupert and his chums, because somebody bought loads and loads of BP shares on the 17th of June, just before options expiry time, and since BP is the very biggest of all the FTSE100 constituent companies, all that sudden buying not only pushed the price of BP up to 600, it pulled the FTSE100 in its wake and Rupert's options all made the huge profit he had so much hoped for, and everyone lived happily ever after. Well, except for all the poor souls who had taken the other side of the trade, I suppose, but who cares about them anyway?

No more marketmakers = no more manipulation, eh? Ha! Call me a cynical old S.O.B if you want, but take a look at the BP and FTSE100 charts below anyway.

Moving on, but still on the FTSE100 theme, I can see a drop back now to about 5000 before a fresh attack on recent highs, with more potential upside than I would really have expected by this early stage of the coming recession. It just shows how strong is the 'denial' emotion that I've touched on a few times.

The USA, as I have suggested before, is a bit ahead of Europe in terms of the imminent breakdown, and although I reckon we'll see a bounce back up after last week's big drops - possibly some buying ahead of the 4th July holiday - I suspect any rally now will be short lived and followed by a steady overall decline.

As regards TTEW 'lessons', I have previously mentioned Brambles Industries Plc as being on my 'watch list'and the chart is below - the 'lessons', if any, are 'resistance' and 'patience'.

The other chart (of Shell) is once again to reinforce the fact that 'channels' are always worth watching - I mentioned Burren Energy in WICS of 8th May in that context and it was gratifying to see that one develop so well too. Modesty precludes my putting up its most recent chart here. Oh well, if you insist.....

Another couple of items today - first of all, in the last couple of WICS I mentioned the difficulties surrounding email addresses ending in ntlworld.com and tesco.net.
Only two of those affected, have sent me alternates so far, and I just want to remind you that the WICS password will be changing on 30th June. If you don't receive the new one because you're still using either of the above email addresses, you'll know why!

The other matter is that of finding a decent charting package to cover the likes of USA and mainland European markets etc as well as those in the UK, and in that context, there's a link below for you to investigate.
The people concerned have an excellent product, in my opinion, and the really good thing about it, is that the 'end of day' data is completely free of charge.
I'm talking to them about other potential benefits for TTEW subscribers, and initially they want to identify how many of you might start to use their services, so please use the link below if you are at all interested. I might add that they are NOT paying me to recommend them, just in case you're becoming as cynical as I am!

Only one thing - PLEASE don't ask me to guide you through the mechanics of using their charting facilities, because I simply don't have the time to do so.
Here's the link:

http://www.prorealtime.com/common/partner.phtml?page=main&language=en&from=tradingtheeasyway

That's about all for this weekend - you'll know from last weekend that this offering has been delayed till Monday 27th - and I'll talk to you again next Sunday.

All the best till then,
Ian.

PS: Spreadex have let me know they're offering a bottle of Bollinger to those TTEW students opening new spread betting acounts with them - just the thing for a warm summer's evening!
Anyway, I know you'll check them out to see if they might suit your trading needs, and you won't open an account purely on the basis of free booze - in any event, you'll need to have completed a couple of trades with them before your bottle arrives, which of course is fair enough. Overall, I find they are pretty good. Here's the link if you're interested:

'IMPORTANT NOTICE: These WICS charts are for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. They represent only MY understanding of what is happening in the market for any particular share, stock, commodity or index. In NO circumstances should they be construed as recommendations to trade. If I choose to trade what I see, that is MY decision. YOU must, in turn, come to YOUR OWN conclusions about what action, if any, YOU might choose to take'.