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The markets are fairly behaving ahead of the Europe and U.S. interest rate announcements. There’s nothing too specific in the charts to write about, so I’ll take this time to share a little from the Traders Expo in Chicago that I attended this week.
If you haven’t heard of it, the Traders Expo is part of the Money Show Expos that are held around the country throughout the year. The events are held in different cities and typically have different investment themes. The Chicago Expo is targeted for traders. It’s free to attend, so if you have a favorite technical analysis author, newsletter writer, or just want to learn more about technical analysis, this is a great place to learn a meet fellow traders.
I started off Sunday morning in a Master Class presented by the very humorous Phil Flynn of Price Futures speaking on the oil market. Mr. Flynn is a Senior Market Analyst in energy, author of The Energy Report, and a TV market commentator. In class, he covered the history of oil in the U.S., which news items and indicators to focus on, then finished with opinions on the different energy sectors. Speaking with him after class led to meeting with him the next day at the Chicago Board of Trade where I visited our traders and watched Mr. Flynn do his oil recap at market close from inside the S&P Futures pit. It was a very fun experience overall indeed.
Another Expo segment that I attended included revisiting Elliott Wave Theory with Todd Gordon of TradingAnalysis.com and a TV market commentator. It was a good refresher course for me. He pointed out a few things I hadn’t noticed on longer term charts, so was pleased that I attended. Another great speaker to say the least!
One of my favorite seasonal teachers and authors was also there, Jake Bernstein. I was pleasantly surprised this year that at least four sessions I attended touched on the Commitment of Traders report. I regularly use that report when analyzing the markets, and find it to be a very useful tool.
Having the Expo during a Chicago Summer is ideal. Chicago has a deep trading history and I like visiting the Chicago Board of Trade, seeing the architecture and taking in the sites. Even though I’ve walked past the statues dozens of times, I just learned that the two statues on display near the side entrance of the CBOT are the Statue of Agriculture and Statue of Energy from the 1883 Board of Trade building.
Another historical item that I have seen time and again without giving it much thought is “Chicago’s Most Famous Bell” which is in the lobby of the CBOT. This 800-pound bronze bell from city hall was damaged in the 1871 Chicago Fire. It was recast in 1873 and given to the Chicago Board of Trade where it hung over the trading floor for 55 years.
I plan on attending next year if the Expo comes to Chicago again. I highly suggest it to anyone interested learning more about trading and the markets.
