Investools Big Charts Alternative

[dand1231]

I was reading Phil's Blog today and he again mentioned the Investools Big Charts as a tool that we are missing. I have read about big charts and know what it does, but I can't seem to find a good alternative on any financial website. Has anyone found anything? It needs to track institutional money over a long period of time for sectors.

[Sparty]

Good question. I have done similar research on investools. Another similar question would be, does anyone on this board use the investools big charts, and how do they like them?

Phil Town has said you can farm with a tractor or farm with a stick, one costs more and is easier, one way is harder and takes more work. I am always looking for an easier way, but until I can make some money using these methods, I am not ready to jump in and pay $1500 a year for the first year of investools.

[tombrown1]

http://www.prophet.net./explore/sect...alse&period=3m

I believe this is similar.

[dand1231]

The prophet charts seem to just show the relative performance of the sectors, which is useful, but I think it's different from Big Charts. As far as I can tell, Big Charts tracks the amount of institutional money flowing into the sectors. We need someone with Big Charts to compare the two and see if they are the same. I think we still haven't found it though.

[Sparty]

I noticed Phrophet.net says they are "An Investools Company". I wonder how many similarities there are. I have been poking around on the free 'Basic' membership and it seems pretty good.

[tombrown1]

http://www.roicommunity.com/forum/fu...phet+big+chart

There a couple of other threads about this as well, but this seemed to be the biggest one.

There is a lot of information in the archives of this forum. Be sure to perform searches.

[dand1231]

It seems that all of the information that's been posted is at dead ends. If a free version of big charts is out there, it is difficult to find. If anyone has any luck, be sure to post it.

[tombrown1]

Sorry I couldn't be of any more help.

On a side note - as far as technical analysis (of which the Big Chart is a part of) I haven't been able to figure out how anyone could make money using Phil's tools. If anybody here on the board has done really well consistently using his tools then please chime in, but I don't think they work so well. I have had much more luck using the building blocks of TA which are trendlines.

Here is how I view Phil's tools:

In a huge uptrend: His tools will pare down your gains, but still do pretty well - not as good as buy and hold.

In a sideways trend: His tools will whipsaw you and you will get hurt - not as good as buy and hold.

In a downtrend: You will get whipsawed on the way down, but miss the major drops - better than buy and hold.



If you accept the premise that stocks can do 3 things (go up, down, or stay the same), and buy and hold is better than his tools on two of them, then............

Use different tools or buy and hold. I choose to use different tools.

Just my 2 cents. I'll let you know if I find any info on the big charts. I do think that Prophet will get you headed in the right direction though.

[dand1231]

I'm just getting started with Rule 1 type investing. (I've been covered call writing with consistent small gains) It would make sense that if you had a truly wonderful company then you couldn't go wrong if you follow Phil's rules. However, Big Charts is obviously a crucial piece of the puzzle. In fact, I'm hesitant to put a significant amount of money down until I have a better feel for institutional money movement

TomBrown1, when I find some time (Hopefully next week), I'm going to start backtesting Phil's tools (Taking MOS into account) with Multicharts on known rule 1 stocks. This would not take into account insider trading nor institutional money movement. I'll post what I find. In the meantime, lets find those Big Charts!

[Sparty]

Phil said, if you made a mistake, and the company you owned was not wonderful, the tools would help you get out ahead of a big drop. That is where I have been helped by the tools.

I had previously purchased AAPL and MELI. On AAPL, I purchased at $190, and after reading Phil's book, it was at $120. I wanted to sell, sell, sell, and find wonderful companies. BUT, the technicals said it might be time to buy. I brought my cost basis to about $151, and the stock has shot up to $150-$160. I sold at $155. I was very happy.

With MELI, same story. I bought at the top, and even though I wanted to sell and start over, the tools kept me in it. I still have it and I am almost even again. I haven't been brave enough to buy more, I just want to get out with as little loss as possible.

I don't belive the tools are perfect. I agree, you will get out after the tops, whipped around in flat conditions, and saved before major drops. (look at what the tools said for Bear Stearns, National City, Homebuilders, etc.) Rule #1 is Don't lose money. I am more concerned about the big drops than the 5% I may miss on the tops. I am going to let the MOS take care of the upside.