A slight detour – betting on Barclays

For classic Elliott wave and Fibonacci concepts to work when spread betting, they need to be applied to markets that are as 'free' as possible - major stock indexes, gold and oil, for example. But some very large cap stocks are suitable too. John C Burford explains with a trade on Barclays shares.

When I set out writing these short articles on trading, I specifically limited myself to the very large markets of stock indexes, FX, gold, and crude oil. That was one of my rules. One reason is that these markets have shown themselves to be as close to 'free' as is possible in today's politically-driven markets, and therefore amenable to analysis by classic Elliott wave and Fibonacci (EWF) concepts.

But, of course, some very large cap stocks, although not as 'free' as the large indexes, can, at times, be analysed using EWF methods. I have noticed recently that Barclays (LSE: BARC) has been conforming closely to EWF. This is a share owned by a lot of people, either directly, or in pension and other funds. Also, unlike other major UK banks, Barclays did not receive a bail-out loan from the government, which means its finances reflect more of a free market entity than do the other major UK banks.

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John is is a British-born lapsed PhD physicist, who previously worked for Nasa on the Mars exploration team. He is a former commodity trading advisor with the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and worked in a boutique futures house in California in the 1980s.

 

He was a partner in one of the first futures newsletter advisory services, based in Washington DC, specialising in pork bellies and currencies. John is primarily a chart-reading trader, having cut his trading teeth in the days before PCs.

 

As well as his work in the financial world, he has launched, run and sold several 'real' businesses producing 'real' products.