Updata Technical Analyst

What makes a perfect system

Since joining forces with Updata, Jeremy du Plessis, founder of Indexia, been busy working with the Updata team developing the system he has spent years dreaming about. Here he outlines what makes Updata Technical Analyst the system you must have if you are at all serious about your charts.

Jeremy du Plessis is Head of Technical Analysis at Updata with over 20 years experience in the subject. He is an associate member of the British Society of Technical Analysts and a member of the American Market Technicians Association. He is the only person in the UK to hold the Chartered Market Technicians (CMT) designation.

There are 1000’s of ‘so called’ Technical Analysis systems available worldwide, but what distinguishes one from another and what makes a perfect Technical Analysis system?
A perfect Technical Analysis system is one that Technical Analyst can use with confidence owing that it has all the essential charts and tools for good Technical Analysis and that these arts and tools are not only presented in the correct way, but are calculated correctly. The key is that there should be no difference between a Technical Analysis system written for a professional Technical Analyst and one written for a beginner. They are one and the same cause they are both serious about what they trying to achieve, but at no time should either category of user ever feel uncomfortable using the system. The system must be quick d easy to use without ever being tedious with II keyboard support and emphasis on click minimisation. So how it does it, is just as important as what it does.

The problem with software is that it is written by programmers or software developers without any experience of what the product is designed or and no comprehension of how the product will be used by the customer. And nor should hey have this experience. A developer is an expert programmer. They cannot be expected to be a Technical Analyst as well. Their responsibility is simply to produce the end product in the quickest way possible with no regard as to how the end result is achieved unless instructed otherwise. The company sketches out what the product must be able to do without ever specifying how it should be done. In the majority of cases, the developer is left to research the application of the product themselves and make assumptions about various details. The developer’s brief is therefore to produce a program that matches a list of features. The result is a program that has all the features but is full of errors and is a nightmare use.

So it is with nearly every Technical Analysis system on the market. They have been developed ‘on the fly’ matching feature for feature with the competition without any regard for accuracy or useability of charts and tools, or to be more precise, without any regard for the end user.

When we at Updata set out to produce the Perfect Technical Analysis system, we started ith a clean sheet of paper. And before any developer was involved, our team of qualified Technical Analysts specified exactly what charts and what tools should be in the system but more important, exactly how we expect each chart and tool to operate. The result was detailed 75 page document. Only once this document had been approved by the technical analysis team, were the development team called in to discuss every aspect of the document and modify where necessary to finally agree on the program specification and methodology.

So what makes a perfect Technical Analysis system?

First and foremost a Technical Analysis system must be exactly that — a Technical Analysis system. It must not be a ‘dumbed down’ charting program using terminology and charts that are inconsistent with Technical Analysis theory. It must contain every chart type that is essential for good Technical Analysis. This may sound obvious but presenting Technical Analysis charts, especially Point & Figure charts in the correct way seems to have been ignored in the past in the rush to get a ‘charting system’ out quickly. These vital charts are either ignored in commercial charting systems or presented so badly, that it would have been better to have excluded them.