Fact: If 100 people were to start trading for the first time today,only 20 of them would be trading after 1 year.
After 5 years there would be 5 left.

Why: Because the single most difficult decision a trader must make is when to pull the trigger - and most traders
simply do not have the experience, or the nerve, to get it right more often than not.

Technical Analysts need charting services to help them make confident decisions, and giving themselves the
BEST possible chance of identifying an over-bought or over-sold market. That is why selected Charting Services have solved
this problem over the years, with instantly understandable graphical formats for more than 800 stocks, commodities, indexes
and financials.

Traders have always agonised over when to enter the market. It's a nail biting angst-ridden decision. They often
get the decision right, but the timing WRONG. Mind you It's not entirely the traders fault, it is alot of the time usually the charting
service they are using.

In another article that featured in about.com, there were over 30 charting sites that were tested and not 1 of them got it right.
Which is pretty scary considering thousands of traders out there use technical charting services to make their investment
decisions. Unfortunately fundamental analysis isn't any good unless you can incorporate technical analysis.

Having a high FQ(Financial Quotient) helps when reading companies annual reports to pick which companies are a financially
viable choice in regards to your portfolio so you've basically covered your fundamental analysis in choosing which company to
buy into. Now the next part is tricky, not many traders can fully grasp the concept of technical analysis or just don't have the time
to study it. It's not easy, therefore only a small percentage of traders/investors would study this and understand how to implement it
right and with the utmost confidence. That's why alot of traders out there invest in charting services, because they know these
services are going to help them buy or sell there stocks/futures/options or currency at the right time instead of missing the boat
and getting caught up in all the hype, essentially kissing your hard earned money goodbye.

Choosing the right charting/data service can at the most of times be an agonising task especially when you know alot of services
out there are ready to take people for the ride of their financial lives. Because if you're serious enough to look for a charting/data
service then you're ready to take control of you're own financial future.

Here are some points to consider when deciding on which charting/data service to go with:

1. Have they got much actual experience with charting?
2. Do they have a trial period so there system can be tested?
3. Do they have live/continuous support?
4. Is all data updated daily?
and so on. There are obviously plenty more questions you can ask and alot of them are usually covered in each services FAQ
section, if not, always send an e-mail to get your question answered.

Author's Bio: 

i've written about 1 excellent charting service called
Is TRM Sigma Bands(tm) the Traders choice?