Many investors have become gun shy investing in equities because of the high levels of volatility in the stock market, but for many seasoned investors this spells opportunity. With the right tools you can follow simple market timing signals to dramatically improve your trading success.

Now is the time to be selective and focus on targeted timing of equity investments. There are literally hundreds of market timing signals and tools an investor can use to time the stock market, here are 7 of the most popular tools for generating tradable market timing signals:

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
Using technical analysis is probably one of the most popular market timing signals investors use to time their trades. There are literally hundreds of specific technical analysis formulas and tools one can follow, but they all fall within a few categories of focus. In a nutshell, technical analysis studies the movement and change in a stock price and its volume. Hundreds of formulas have been developed that measure velocity, momentum, and price change averages, and charting of these tools is an easy way to visualize these market timing signals. The most simple and popular technical analysis tool is the 200-day moving average price of a stock or index. If the price of a stock is above its 200-day average it is considering in a long-term uptrend.

FUNDAMENTAL ANALYSIS
More popular with the Wall Street crowd, fundamental analysis deals with researching the financial health of a company in relation to its stock price. Again, hundreds of formulas and ratios have been developed to analyze stocks, and many of these can be used to screen, filter, sort and time your equity investments. One of the most popular fundamental signal tools is the P/E ratio, which is a stocks price divided by its earnings per share.

ECONOMIC REPORTS
The release of economic data moves the market, and learning how to read these economic data points and to anticipate trends in economic data can give you an edge with your market investments. The Yield Curve is one of the most popular economic signals investors can use to time the markets on a long-term basis. The Yield Curve is the slope of the spread between 3-month interest rates and 10-year treasuries and is one of the most powerful and predictive market timing signals for upcoming crashes and recessions.

SENTIMENT TOOLS
Sentiment timing tools gauge the level of fear and greed within the investment community and also analyze overall market breadth trends. Popular sentiment tools you can use to time the market include NYSE Advance Decline Line, McLellan Summation Index, and the Volatility Index (VIX).

SEASONALITY
Statistical analysis of seasonality trends and cycles within the stock market can also help with your trading success. Certain months of the trading calendar have a statistically higher probability of gains than other months.

SOFTWARE
There are many great software solutions available that can help with your stock market trading success. Many stock charting programs offer graphing and analysis of popular market timing tools and indicators right out of the box. Most also offer custom programming options so that you can create your own custom timing indicators, and have the ability to back test trading results.


SCREENERS
Screening tools and filters are a great way to quickly develop a potential list of trading candidates. There are hundreds of stock screeners available and you can screen by fundamental data, valuation data, technical analysis readings, and just about any type of market timing data point you can imagine.

CONCLUSION
We’ve just scratched the surface explaining 7 of the most popular categories of market timing indicators you can use to improve your trading results. Within each category you can find literally hundreds of types of investment timing tools. For those that want more in-depth information on how to learn market timing strategies that work, we suggest you start reading and researching those types of timing strategies that appeal and fit with your natural trading style.

Author Bio: Anthony S. Smith is a freelance writer, contributor, and editor of the 101 Market Timing Signal and Investment Timing Strategies Report and regular contributor to the Sector Timing Report ETF Market Timing Newsletter which reports on ETF market trends in the stock market.

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Keywords: finances,investing,investment,stock market,market timing signal,market timing