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The Dow Theory: The Dow Theory

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The Dow Theory
The Dow Theory was established from a series of Wall Street Journal editorials authored by Charles H. Dow from 1900 until the time of his death in 1902. Today even after 110 years they remain the foundation of what we know today as technical analysis. Dow never published his complete theory but several of his followers compiled his works and that has come to be known as "The Dow Theory”.

The Dow Theory has six points:
The stock market discounts all news
The Dow Theory suggests that all information be it of the past, present or future is factored into the prices of stocks and indexes. It includes all micro and macroeconomic factors ranging from inflation to earnings.
It also includes events that are expected to happen and could happen. New information that has not been factored into get factored in as soon as they are available.

A market has three trends
The Dow Theory identifies three trends within the market- major, intermediate and minor. A major trend may last from less than a year to …show more content…

In case of a bull market the accumulation phase is the start of an uptrend. It is where the informed investors are actively buying stock against the general opinion of the market. Here a sort of price consolidation takes place after a strong sell off. In the public participation phase the general opinion of the market turns bullish. The business conditions look better. As the good news starts coming in, more and more investors participate. As a result the markets keep moving higher and higher. The final stage is the distribution phase where there is rampant speculation. However sensing that the Bull Run is approaching its end the smart investors who entered in the accumulation phrase start selling off their holdings. Finally the speculation creates a bubble which bursts and leads to the end of the

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