Charting and Technical Analysis

Fred McAllen’s Charting and Technical Analysis is a concise yet powerful guide that strips technical trading down to its most essential elements—price, volume, and market structure. Designed for traders who are tired of indicator overload, this book explains how to read a chart the way professionals do: through the natural rhythm of price action itself. McAllen builds a step-by-step foundation, teaching how to recognize accumulation, markup, distribution, and decline phases without the distraction of lagging tools.

This book is ideal for those transitioning from theory to practice—it demonstrates how price patterns, breakouts, and retracements reveal the psychology of market participants. Rather than offering a rigid system, McAllen provides a framework for understanding what the market is communicating at each stage, helping traders refine timing, manage risk, and think like a chart reader, not a signal follower.

Core Concepts:

At the heart of McAllen’s method is the belief that price never lies. The book outlines the principles of trend formation, support and resistance, and the interplay between demand and supply that drives every movement. You’ll learn to identify genuine breakouts from false signals, interpret consolidation patterns, and understand why the market moves the way it does.

McAllen simplifies the technical landscape—no overreliance on oscillators or exotic indicators—focusing instead on reading pure price dynamics. Each section reinforces disciplined observation: drawing trendlines correctly, spotting reversals, and gauging momentum through candlestick structure. The emphasis on clarity, structure, and confirmation prepares readers to act decisively instead of reacting emotionally.

Inside the Chart:

Every chart in this book tells a lesson. McAllen dissects real price charts bar by bar, explaining what professionals see versus what most retail traders miss. Readers follow how breakouts evolve, how retracements find strength, and how trendlines confirm continuation or reversal. The examples are simple yet revealing—ideal for both swing and intraday traders who want to connect theory with live-market application. Through consistent chart analysis, McAllen instills the habit of seeing market patterns as probabilities, not predictions.

Author’s Edge:

Fred McAllen’s teaching stands out for its clarity and trader realism. He avoids academic abstraction and focuses entirely on what works in practice. His ability to communicate complex concepts in plain language makes this book invaluable for self-taught traders. McAllen’s unique advantage is his unwavering focus on reading price action as the language of the market, showing how consistent observation and patience create mastery far more reliably than any indicator or shortcut.

Charting and Technical Analysis By Fred McAllen