Dear ~~first_name~~

In this Blast! edition you can see the following, with links for an easy and speedy go-to to the relevant section below:

• ATAA National President's Update for this month, and an Executive Summary from the recent board meeting, to help keep members informed of what the board has been doing.
• The latest ATAA Website Resource Library updates for the latest month, including uploaded speaker presentation slide decks, and video recording of the presentation.
• Trading Expert Series update (formerly known as the National Speaker Series) of online presentations - we've already had four over the last year, and recordings are up in the ATAA Resource Library. See more details below.
• Updates from the ATAA Chapters and SIGs: Included below are updates for some Chapters and SIGs, noting that the Brisbane chapter recently  changed their meeting venue. Information below also includes the RealTest Coders Online Workshop, and some chapters including: Canberra, Melbourne. Thank you to: Mark (Canberra) for your ongoing contributions.
  
• IFTA information update: In case you missed it last month, the latest information from IFTA including details about the IFTA Journal that is available to download - a monster edition jam packed with a lot of useful information. 
• TECHNICAL ANALYSIS article - This month we have an article discussing the topic of "Stock Universe", including the pros and cons, and how to create one. Can you benefit from the tips therein? Read about it in this month's TA article below.
• And another thing - Beware the spam emails.
• Detailed benefits for ATAA members. Just in case you are missing something with your membership.

• The ATAA Board met online on Tuesday 3 March to review current initiatives and discuss priorities for the coming months.
• Membership trends and retention continue to be a focus for the Board. Recent developments were reviewed and a number of initiatives are being explored to better understand member engagement and support future growth.
• The Board also discussed ways of strengthening the pathway from event participation to membership, including approaches that may make it easier for interested attendees at conferences and meetings to join the Association.
• Digital presence and content strategy were also considered, including how existing educational and presentation material might best be used to increase awareness of the ATAA while continuing to provide strong value for members.
• Several operational initiatives are continuing to progress. These include work on improving email deliverability for member communications, development of contingency and disaster-recovery planning for the Association’s operations, and ongoing updates to the ATAA Board Policies framework.
• The Board also received updates on a number of ongoing projects and working group activities, which will continue to be developed over the coming months.
• The next Board meeting will be held on Tuesday 7 April 2026.

• November Trading Expert Series:
  • Edwin Cornelissen - Building a Portfolio of Strategies That Work Together.
• Thursday 11 December - Melbourne Chapter Hybrid meeting
  • Alan Clement- "Global Markets Quarterly Technical Outlook"
  • Alan Oliver - "W.D.Gann trading tools and strategies".
• Tuesday 18 November - STANZ Online Meeting
  • Brent Robinson - "Trading with the Use of Combination Plays or "Layering".

• Invaluable networking (or "common gossip") from 5.15pm to 6pm (including free finger food),
• The interactions in the room during the broadcast session 6-8pm, and
• Further networking and guest speaker mingling over dinner after 8pm.

Robert Brain
ATAA Melb Chapter President and interim Secretary
(for the Council team: Paul Ash, Jim Haralambidis, Keith Mundy, Tony Hambling, Tony Leonard, Robert Grigg).

• Adelaide Chapter generally meets in-person on the third Wednesday of the month.
• Perth Chapter generally meets on the third Thursday of the month.
  
• Brisbane Chapter generally meets... second Saturday of the month.
• Sydney chapter - TBA.
• MetaStock Users SIG - Contact Jerry Bongard, jerry.bongard@ataa.asn.au
  
• RealTest Coders Workshop (sub-group of the Quant SIG) - Meets online, generally on the second Monday of each month at 8:00 pm. EST (to give members in western states a better chance of attending). SIG Coordinators: Chris Meakin and Robert Grigg.
  
  

• Information about the upcoming IFTA National Conference 9-10 October in London.
• Highlights from the 2025 IFTA Conference in Frankfurt, Germany.
• Traders' Roadshow Seminar (in 2025).
• CFTe education sessions and qualifications.
• Information about the IFTA board members (including Zoe Bollinger as Vice President Americas).
• A key topic from the 2025 Conference – Mastering Loss as the Path to Market Edge (a 5+ page article).
• Article: Why Stock Prices Don't Reflect Real Value.
• The IFTA White Paper Competition.
• IFTA Journal Call for Submissions (deadline 31 May).
• A list of the 23 IFTA Member Societies.

1. One or more "stock universe" lists – Prepare a list of their own "stock universe". And they might have more than one list, in which case there would be a separate trading strategy that describes how to use each list. For example, one list of speculative stocks might be traded with just a small portion of the investment capital and key selection criteria, while another list of large-cap blue chip stocks might be used for longer term and more stable investment returns, such as in a superannuation (SMSF) portfolio.
2. Separate strategies – Have a separate strategy that describes exactly how an investment would be made in a stock within each stock universe. Each stock universe would potentially have a separate strategy to guide the investment. The difference might be the holding time, or the level of risk.

• It will help you to stay focused on the investing/trading activities.
• It will be easier to prepare a trading/investing plan that is suitable for a specific stock universe, because the strategy might be a little different for a different stock universe.
• It will help to avoid distractions. Many investors/traders are happy to read the latest news and announcements about their "favourite" stocks. But if we invest in potentially any stock in the market, then there is too much news to read. By having a stock universe, it will help us to decide which news to read, and which news to skip over.

1. Large-caps – The stocks in a particular large-cap index For example, the XJO ("Top 200") index in the Australian market, or the S&P500 in the US market. These tend to have somewhat stable share prices over the short term - ie. less volatility.
2. Mid-caps – A selection of mid-cap stocks.
3. Small cap stocks – Smaller cap stocks (eg. the Small Ordinaries index in Australia, or in the US market the stocks in the Russell 2000 index).
4. Sector specific – The stocks in a particular market sector (eg. Health Care, or Technology), or make a conscious decision to ignore the stocks in a particular market sector (eg. Materials, or Energy sectors).
5. A manual selection of stocks based on market cap – This can be done using appropriate stock selection tools (more notes below).
6. Stock liquidity – You might choose to invest (or trade) only in liquid stocks. That is, the stocks that have enough turn-over on the market each day so as to increase your chances of getting into a position, or exiting one, quickly and without moving the market. See a discussion about Stock Liquidity. This topic is also to do with Risk and Money Management.

1. The so-called "top 200" stocks - the XJO index (S&P/ASX 200). [ps: Don't forget that the so-called "Top 200" stocks are NOT the top 200 stocks on our market by market cap. It is a selection of stocks from about the top 460 stocks - using the S&P/ASX index eligibility criteria.]
2. The so-called "top 500" stocks - the XAO index.
3. The stocks in the mid-cap 50 index (XMD).
4. The stocks in the Small Ordinaries index (S&P/ASX XSO).
5. See more information about the local market indexes here.

• Blue chip stocks:
  • Many investors think that they would like to invest in blue chips stocks. That is a good aspiration.
  • However, there is no clear definition of the term blue chip, and therefore there is no list of blue chip stocks to work from. 
  • See the latest definition of the term blue chip at the ASX website, and note that this definition wording has changed a couple of times since the GFC in 2008.
  • Any broker or financial advisor that has a list of blue chip stocks is using their own criteria to compile the list.
  • In truth, at various stages of the economic cycle, blue chips can disappoint.
  • If you are looking for a definitive list of blue chip stocks, then good luck.
  • (You can read Robert's views about the so-called blue-chip stocks here.)

• Large cap stocks:
  • These tend to have a market capitalisation in the order of $10 billion or more (subject to change).
  • These are analysed by the research analysts, and recommended by the brokers.
  • There tend to be many buy/hold/sell recommendations for these stocks
  • Of the 2000+ stocks on the Australian market, only a small number of them are large cap stocks and watched by the research analysts. The conclusions and recommendations of the research analysts do influence the opinions and purchase decisions of many investors. You might choose to consciously follow the crowd and consider their views, or you might decide to avoid these stocks.
  • The Australian XTL index (S&P/ASX 20) comprises just 20 large cap stocks.

• Small cap stocks:
  • These tend to have a market capitalisation in the order between about $300 million and about $2 billion (subject to change).
  • The companies that are considered to be small cap stocks, tend not to be watched by research analysts, nor recommended by lots of brokers. You might decide to ignore these, or to follow these stocks.
  • Small cap stocks tend to be less liquid than the larger cap stocks. So be careful about the stock liquidity.

• Mid-cap stocks:
  • These tend to have a market capitalisation in the order between about $1 billion and $5 billion (subject to change).
  • This category comprises stocks that have a market capitalisation in between the large cap category and the small cap category. 
  •  These stocks tend to be less well followed by analysts and brokers. You might like this idea, or not like it.
   
• Micro cap stocks:
  • These tend to have a market capitalisation in the order between about $50 million and about $300 million (subject to change).
  • Micro cap stocks have an even smaller market capitalisation than the small cap stocks, and are often even less liquid than the small cap stocks.
  • These stocks tend to have even smaller share price values, which can be volatile.

• Low share prices ("penny dreadfuls")
  • The share prices of companies (on the Australian market) can vary from as high as $100+ all the way down to less than 1 cent (ie. to fractions of a cent). The stocks with a share price of just a few cents or less are often referred to as the "penny dreadfuls" of the market. The penny dreadfuls do not usually include any blue chip stocks, so some people avoid them.
  • It is true to say that share prices above about $10 are unlikely to double or triple in price, whereas share prices of less than a dollar or so can double in price. You might decide to have one strategy that focuses on low share prices (these stocks can be riskier), as opposed to focusing on the higher priced shares.
   
• Fundamental metrics
  • Debt to equity ratio – Companies with a debt to equity ratio of about 50 percent or more are more likely to be stressed when the economic cycle turns and it is harder to borrow funds to finance company operations. So choosing companies with a low debt to equity ratio can mitigate this risk.
    
   
• Liquidity
  • The notion of stock liquidity is important for a couple of reasons.
  • Hundreds of stocks on the Australian market have very low daily trades, and/or low daily volume or turn-over.
  • Without realising it, many investors eventually exclude illiquid stocks from their stock universe at some stage during the daily or weekly search for stocks.
  • Many investors and traders will filter their list of investment candidates to exclude the stocks with a very low level of liquidity.
  • See more information about stock liquidity.
   
• Sectors
  •  You might have a view that info-tech stocks are likely to have the best candidates at the current point in time. So you might choose to focus on the stocks within the info-tech sector. Likewise, for the healthcare sector, or one of the other sectors.
  • Some investors consider some types of sectors to be "old world" as opposed to "new world". For instance, the technology sector stocks are considered to be companies that are more likely to be more valuable in the long term. This notion is discussed in Nicholas Darvas's book How I Made $2,000,000 in the Stock Market.
  • Here is one key point to bear in mind about sectors. The sector indexes (eg. XIJ, XHJ, etc.) are only comprised of stocks from the XJO (S&P/ASX 200) index. If you want to know what other stocks across the market are considered to be in the same GICS sector, then you will need to look at a list of stocks grouped by GICS industry group code. See more about the GICS coding system.
  • See more information about the Australian market sectors, including downloadable information sheets.

• Learn how to protect your hard-earned capital - using wise stock selection, and money and risk management ideas;
• Invaluable education opportunities (with discounts for members);
• Huge and extensive Resource Library (access for members);
• Networking opportunities - meet with like-minded peers for trading and investing discussions;
  
• Special Interest Groups (SIGs) (only for members) - there are several;
  
• News and information;
• Online Forums;
  
• Annual ATAA Conference (discounted for members).