On Price, Time, and Volume
Price, Time, and Volume are the three market characteristics most often quantified, massaged, tortured with sharp indicators, and poked with red hot formulas, until these demonic instruments inflict enough pain to make the data confess. Obtained under duress, these confessions are fraudulent.
The data will confess to whatever the analyst is looking for. If the analyst is a random walk adherent, the data will confess that its market parents are guilty of a disorderly life style. During periods of extreme volatility the data will accuse the market not only of being disorderly, but drunk and disorderly. Proponents of order will squeeze the data until it confesses that crimes of passion occasionally occur when two androgynous cycles of equal length are found lying next to each other, albeit toe to head. Prolonged prodding may elicit a confession that the market is the consummate efficiency expert, able to ingest and interpret billions of bytes of information and instantaneously display its prowess in the valuation department. Too many types of data mixed together, too many indicators, and too many analysts with preconceived agendas, will produce too many conflicting conclusions. It doesn't have to be this way. It doesn't have to be this hard!