SCA announces the launch of Technical Analysis Certificate Program

Al-Turifi: The Center offers a package of training programs for brokers, technical and financial analysts and compliance officers 

H.E Abdullah Al-Turifi, CEO of the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) has announced the launch of a technical analysis certification program, the first of its kind in the United Arab Emirates. The program is a new SCA initiative aimed at meeting the requirements of stakeholders in the local markets, as part of its role of regulating the markets and uplifting them to be on a par with its international counterparts in the advanced world. 

The announcement came at the opening of the Technical Analysis seminar, organized by the SCA in collaboration with the International Federation of Technical Analysts (IFTA), during which the two signed a cooperation agreement on the fringe of the seminar. H.E. Al-Turifi signed the agreement for his side, while Dr. Rolf Wetzer, IFTA President, also signed for his outfit. 

According to the agreement, the Dubai-based SCA Training Center has been accredited to train, conduct exams and issue Technical Analysis certificate. 

In his opening address, Al-Turifi said the SCA’s vision remained committed to combining development with training, believing that economic development is rarely achieved without successful professional capacity building initiatives that come only with skills and scientific training. “In translating this into action, the SCA focused on launching many training initiatives and courses, adopted licensing programs for various stakeholders in the stock markets, following their successful passing of professional training and exams being conducted in collaboration with the UK-based Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments (CISI),” he stated. 

He emphasized that the SCA will continue to exert great efforts in running awareness programs throughout the year to update stakeholders about the latest developments in the financial services industry in various parts of the country. He said in view of its deep belief that the best investment lies in the motivating workers and encouraging them to acquire more and better skills, the SCA came up with comprehensive professional training programs for its employees, as well as for all other market stakeholders to benefit from those programs. 

“I’d also like to stress here that one of the major milestones in the SCA’s drive towards development and professional training is the setting up of high-tech specialized training center which boosts this program to make it one of the major sources of sustainable professional development not only at the UAE level but also at the GCC and the Middle East levels,” he stated. 

He pointed out that the SCA Training Center has placed at the top of its priorities the meeting of all the requirements of the financial services industry specializations, in collaboration with international institutes and organizations. This is aimed at uplifting the efficiency level of financial market workers, providing advanced professional training programs and awareness programs for stakeholders, and meeting the requirements of economic developments in general. 

He said technical analysis occupies a very important position in the professional specializations of financial market and financial services industry, in general, adding that there are many professional financial analyst organizations, with members from various countries of the world, which basically depend on technical analysis as a method for analyzing financial markets. 

“Therefore, the launching of the Level One of the Technical Analysis Training Certificate will be of great benefit and a major achievement in training, particularly for brokers, assets managers and financial advisors, even to investors by enabling them improve their performance and make informed decisions,” he added. 

He said as part of its commitment to benefit from this important professional mechanism, the SCA invites all market stakeholders to join the program by registering for it. He congratulated those who have already registered for the program. He said he expects them to form the nucleus for the first professional technical analysts organization in the UAE which will have the privilege of transferring the know-how and improving the level of awareness of its members and members of the industry, in general. 

Signing of agreement with IFTA 
The SCA signed with IFTA on the fringe of the seminar an agreement as part of the SCA’s efforts to uplift the performance of stakeholders in the local markets according to the best international standards. 

According to the agreement, the SCA shall commit itself to providing the plans and designs of the training program to suit the targeted groups and shall be as the center saw technically and practically appropriate, but in a way that will base the program on IFTA accredited references and examination contents. 

The SCA shall also provide all the necessary tools and materials for the implementation of the agreement, including training hall, accredited references, etc. It shall also come up with the plans for technical analysis-related marketing activities. The SCA shall also be responsible for translation of all the training materials of the program and for the supervision of its exams. 

For its part, IFTA shall give the SCA the necessary authority to be the sole accredited and official center for conducting technical analysis exams in the UAE, and shall provide the SCA with officially designed and regular reports, as well as normal reports about the latest technical and administrative developments in IFTA’s systems and policies which could impact the responsibilities of any of the two parties of the agreement. IFTA shall also provide the needed facilities, approvals and coordination in support of the SCA’s performance and efforts to implement its vested responsibilities and to achieve the objectives of the agreement. 

Trading Systems 
In his presentation titled: “Trading Systems“, Dr. Rolf Wetzer – IFTA President said Trading Systems define technical analysis as a discipline used for forecasting the direction of prices through the study of past market data, primarily price and volume. “Technicians employ many methods, tools and techniques, one of which is the use of charts to identify price patterns and market trends in financial markets and attempt to exploit those patterns. A fundamental principle of technical analysis is that a market's price reflects all relevant information. Therefore, price action would also tend to repeat itself due many investors collectively tend toward patterned behavior – hence technicians' focus on identifiable trends and conditions,” he added.


He cited Trading Systems Factors that determine investment success, including having a written plan, defined rules, treating trading as a business, focusing on elements that you are able to influence and developing dicipline to follow the rules. “So it is all about attitude, discipline and being realistic,” he said.


Dr. Rolf said many factors have triggered the need to use the Trading Systems, including the facts that technology has progressed, it is systematic and objective, human judgement and emotions are ruled out, one can backtest the used theory (Reality check), results can be judged with set of figures and ratios, among others, adding that Trading Systems Investment decisions should be based on strategies of entry, exit, re-entry, trading risk, trading size and porfolio composition.


Mohamed Ashraf, Board member & VP MENA and Africa – IFTA, made a presentation titled: “Definition of Technical Analysis, Philosophy & Chart construction”. He said technical analysis is “the study of stock market participants’ behavior (crowd psychology) through the study of historical price charts to expect the next market movement, adding that crowd means different people, different minds, each one of them is Independent, different cultures, different in social, financial, educational, political, health etc…, but they all have one Goal – to make profit.


“But the brain of the crowd, which is controlled by fear and greed, controls the individuals’ actions when they are dealing inside the crowd and creates what we call ‘The Herd Theory’, he stated, adding that Because of the “Brain of Crowd” effect, the crowd is always wrong during major market turning points.


He pointed out that Technical Analysis objective is to get us out of this crowd behavior in order to take the right actions through the study of historical price charts. He cited some of the popular Technical Analysis theories and tools, including the Dow Theory and the Elliot Wave Theory.

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