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Technical analysis is the examination of past price movements to forecast future price movements.
Technical analysts are sometimes referred to as chartists because they rely almost exclusively on charts for their analysis. Technical analysis is applicable to stocks, indices, commodities, futures or any tradable instrument where the price is influenced by the forces of supply and demand. Price refers to any combination of the open, high, low or close for a given security over a specific timeframe. In addition, some technical analysts include volume or open interest figures with their study of price action. At the turn of the century, the Dow Theory laid the foundations for what was later to become modern technical analysis.