How To Take Your Technical Analysis On The Go

When you think about technical analysis, portability is probably not the first thing that comes to mind — in fact, it seems quite contradictory. After all, we often picture technicians as being glued to their trading desks and staring at their charts.

But that practice is starting to change, thanks to apps like ChartIQ's Technician. Stephen Oklesson, managing director of Technician, came on Benzinga's PreMarket Prep Thursday morning to discuss how he's trying to make technical analysis easy to do anytime, anywhere.

A Hole In The Market

Technician was developed in 2012, according to Oklesson. After ChartIQ realized no such product existed, they decided to change that.

"We designed it to be used anywhere on any device," he said. "We all know we live in this world where everyone's on their phone and their mobile devices all the time, but the fintech world hadn't really caught up to that [in 2012], and hadn't provided a solution to traders to kind of capitalize on that freedom."

Related Link: Who Are The Most Innovative Companies In Fintech?

Fitting Charts Onto A Phone

"As you can imagine, doing technical analysis on such a small amount of screen real estate presents some challenges; so, from the beginning, it really forced us to be thoughtful about our interface," Oklesson said. "Legacy platforms, and even some of the newer platforms, have added layers and layers over the years.

"And so particularly for someone who's new to technical analysis, the interfaces can be really cluttered and confusing. We made a strategic decision early on to treat the chart as the king. We know there's a lot of bells and whistles you can add, but the chart should be central."

Google Inspiration

Technician took their design cues from Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL's Google Maps. Therefore, even with all their different indicators (up to 90), you'll never lose focus of the chart itself.

"If you go to Google Maps, you'll notice that the map takes up the entire screen. And it's called Google Maps for a reason — because it's the sole focus of the product. Obviously there's a ton of options [...] but they're all strategically embedded around the map. And that's the kind of focus that we placed on the chart."

Listen to the full interview with Stephen at 1:13:30 in the clip below. PreMarket Prep is Benzinga's daily morning show and chat focused on technical analysis and morning movers. Tune in live every morning here, or catch the podcast here.