MIDAS Technical Analysis: A VWAP Approach to Trading and Investing in Today’s Markets

MIDAS Technical Analysis offers an opportunity to introduce a new twist on an obscure technical analysis tool that can be used much more effectively today. Paul Levine a theoretical physicist and part-time technical analyst–created the MIDAS (Market Interpretation/Data Analysis System) system in 1990s based on VWAP (Volume Weighted Average Price). VWAP is not a technical analysis tool; it is a pricing method used by brokers and institutional investors to ensure efficient pricing and trading.

Coles and Hawkins have taken Levine’s work and greatly expanded on it, creating a truly useful tool for trading. They explain the basics of MIDAS and then go beyond it, showing how it can be used today. They demonstrate how it can be used in different time frames (different timeframes require different concepts and procedures) and how it can be used with other, more conventional indicators (e.g., DeMark or moving averages). They also introduce new indicators that they have created based on the MIDAS system (e.g., Percent Displacement Bands ). They also show how to use MIDAS as a trading system: recognizing set ups, where to enter, where to place stops, identifying price targets, etc. Finally, the authors supply new computer code that goes beyond anything Levine supplied.