Investors are distinguished basically by their time scale for watching the market.  We service three distinct classes of market watchers:  Long-Term, Monthly, and Weekly.  Which type of Market Watcher are you?

The long-term market watcher is associated with the buy-and-hold approach.  Long-term investors may evaluate their investments rarely, and reallocate only once every year or many years.  They tend to have a more laissez-faire attitude toward their investments, relying upon the "efficient market" model to produce the optimum results if left alone.  This type of market watcher pays attention to the long-term fundamentals when making investments, and once committed is willing to overlook cyclic fluctuations and to ride out down markets.  The buy-and-hold investor employs a version of market timing that is based upon the assumption that by maximizing the time invested, the chances of seeing an optimum gain in the value of the investment will also be maximized.  These investors tend to feel that the value of an investment account (unlike the number in a bank account) is not real until the asset is sold, and that there is no reason to sell until one can make a profit.  The long-term market watcher needs to visualize historical market trends averaged on a semiannual (120-day, meaning 120-trading-session) ,or annual (250-day, meaning 250-trading-session)  time scale.  Chart products for the long-term investor are collections of 120-day-average charts, updated monthly, or 250-day charts, updated bimonthly.  They are identified by a prefix consisting of  "H" or "A" and a second character that indicates the type of averaging, e.g., "M" indicates monthly updating while "W" designates weekly updating. 

The monthly market watcher is more attentive than the long-term, buy-and-hold investor.  Monthly market followers may evaluate their investments and/or reallocate several times a year, often doing reseach, evaluating, and making decisions on the basis of their quarterly or monthly statements.   They have more of a "show-me" attitude toward their investments, but require a substantial period for proof of high or low performance before passing judgment on either the success or the failure of an investment strategy.  This type of market watcher pays attention to the medium-term momentum in markets as related to the fundamentals of business, finance, and the national and global economies.  Rather than depending upon the long-run, the monthly investor is mindful of the need for periodic interaction with the market, as implied in the admonition of a famous economist that, "in the long run, we are all dead."  In order to stay ahead of the market, the monthly market watcher needs to visualize current market trends averaged on a monthly (20-day, meaning 20-trading-session) time scale.   Chart products for the monthly investor are collections of 20-day-average charts, updated weekly.  They are identified by a prefix consisting of  "M" and a second character that indicates the type of averaging, e.g., "D" indicates daily updating while "W" designates weekly updating, and "M" denotes monthly updating. 

The weekly market watcher is much more aggressive, often doing reseach and making decisions over the weekend.  This may simply be a more continuous check on the safety and allocation of the longer-term investments (glacier watch).  It could also be part of a much more aggressive approach to tactical market timing seeking higher average yield by avoiding losses during downward legs of the more extreme short-term cycles.  The weekly market watcher may develop much more of a trader's mentality.  In this paradigm, a specific timely circumstance or event  (e.g., anticipation of a change in monetary policy, economic downturn, business or political event, social patterns, war or peace, etc.) is the basis for a stronger-than-average expectation that an investment position in a specific market will or will not be profitable in the short run.  The weekly market watcher needs to see market trend data averaged on a weekly (5-day, meaning 5-trading-session) basis.  Chart products for the weekly investor are collections of 5-day-average charts.  They are identified by a prefix consisting of  "W" and a second character that indicates the type of averaging, e.g., "D" indicates daily updating while "W" denotes weekly updating