Basics Of Technical Analysis

There are two primary methods used to analyze securities and make investment decisions: fundamental analysis and technical analysis. Fundamental analysis involves analyzing a company’s financial statements to determine the fair value of the business, while technical analysis assumes that a security’s price already reflects all publicly-available information and instead focuses on the statistical analysis of price movements.

[ If you're looking for a self-paced video course to help you learn technical analysis, Investopedia Academy has a 5-hour course taught by an experienced Chartered Market Technician. Learn more about the Technical Analysis course.

Technical analysis may appear complicated on the surface, but it boils down to an analysis of supply and demand in the market to determine where the price trend is headed. In other words, technical analysis attempts to understand the market sentiment behind price trends rather than analyzing a security’s fundamental attributes. If you understand the benefits and limitations of technical analysis, it can give you a new set of tools or skills that will enable you to be a better trader or investor over the long-term.

In this tutorial, you will be introduced to technical analysis and develop the foundation needed to understand more advanced concepts down the road.