If you are like most people, you associate a "cup with handle" with your morning coffee. TD Ameritrade wants to change that.
A "cup with handle" is also a chart pattern that can signify a potential upward trend for a particular stock. "Cup with Handle" and its other seemingly oddly-named peers like "Head and Shoulders," "Channel Up" and "Double Bottom" are all well-known chart patterns that investors can use to develop potential trading ideas.
To help investors better understand, monitor and research these potential opportunities as a means to make more educated and confident trading decisions, TD AMERITRADE has launched Pattern Matcher, available for free to all of the Company's retail brokerage clients.
Pattern Matcher shows more than the simple bullish (up) and bearish (down) movement of a stock. Investors can browse a pattern library, which includes educational content that explains the relevance of each chart pattern. If an investor is interested in a particular pattern, a click of the mouse cues Pattern Matcher to search the markets for securities showing similar price movement patterns and deliver those results within seconds for further research or possible action, if appropriate.
"We've taken concepts that some may view as technical and complex and packaged them in a tool that, with just a few clicks of the mouse, is intuitive, educational and easy-to-use," said Jay Pestrichelli, managing director of TD AMERITRADE's Trader Group. "Specific stock price patterns can reveal potential opportunities in the markets, but many of us lack the capacity, time or expertise to scan the entire universe of stocks to look for them."
Features
Investors can utilize the tool's Pattern Match function to find securities that match well-known patterns, or they can screen for securities that correlate to the charting pattern of a particular security using the Symbol Match function. Additional points of differentiation allow users to:
- Identify pricing characteristics sus such as duration, volume and target to interpret a chart's data and the potential mamarket opportunities that may exist;
- Specify searches for completed or certain emerging patterns;
- Filter searches by time period to capture patterns;
- Apply additional filters such as average volume and trading range;
- Scan securities in a watch list, or add symbols from search results to new or existing watch lists; and
- Link results to other TD AMERITRADE tools in its Command Center 2.0 platform for additional research and monitoring, such as a Streaming Chart or Level II quotes.(a)
Customization and Choice
Pattern Matcher follows in the TD AMERITRADE tradition of providing a wide array of products, tools and services to retail investors of all activity and experience levels. Pattern Matcher is free to all TD AMERITRADE retail clients, is completely customizable and is easily accessible from the Command Center 2.0 tool suite. An online Quick-Start Guide is available to help new users walk through the tool's functionality step-by-step.
(a)Access to market data in Pattern Matcher is conditioned on acceptance of the exchange agreements. Professional access differs and subscription fees may apply.