Can Technical Analisys Perform More Profitably Than a Passive Strategy

The ability of technical analysis techniques to contribute to the profitable trading has been a matter of debates for many decades. While some studies illustrate the high efficiency and usefulness of technical analysis in the emerging markets, others reflect that in highly developed countries with efficient markets,these tools do not show such successful and consistent performance. This paper attempts to provide evidence in favour of the profitability of technical analysis techniques in highly efficient Italian Stock Market. Four widely applied technical analysis rules such as the Moving Average, the MACD, the RSI and the Stochastic Oscillator were tested based on the daily closing prices of 29 companies from the Milan Stock Exchange Index (FTSE MIB) in comparison with a buy-and-hold strategy and a risk free investment over the period from the 16th May 2009 to the 20thMay 2014.