The "crossover" from TA to FA or Visa Versa

I was browsing another forum the other day and saw a thread about Techincal vs Fundamental analysis. Anyway as you can imagine the posts were basically saying as ususal that Technical Analysis is the way to trade and Fundamental analysis is really only for investing purposes. This really made me laugh since there really are so many people out there that are so narrow minded that they can only see there own point of view.
I used to trade Support and Resistance (Technical Analysis) type setups. This was profitable for a while but as ever the markets changed and with it my system had to change/alter. This to me is one inherent issue with TA. Your indicators and stuff are good but sometimes (Not all of the time) need tweaking due to the fact that market conditions change.

That is when I made the cross over to fundies and I have to say I now couldn't imagine taking a position with out a good view of the over all picture.

I am not saying that TA doesn't work but what I am saying is that having an understanding of the fundamentals definitely helps and it is not impossible to trade solely based on fundamentals as I now do.
Just wondering how many other people have crossed over from one side to the other (doesn't matter which direction) and what there experience may be...

One the my more favorite quotes on this subject. No sure where I heard it.

Fundamental analysis tell why and technical analysis tells when.

Do both. And neither. Find where the money wants to go, then use the technicals to put you there.

Still, be careful of fundies. IMO they're the salespitch to get the masses to buy overbought stock. "Yea, it might be down, but it's just a technical downturn, it has great fundamentals!" Laff.

Follow the money.

i personally think both is best. i use fundamentals to give me a general overview or direction and then i use technicals to enter and exit the market. i think its best to use evrything at your disposal. i mean, why not?

What are your favorite places to go to get Fundamental analysis on the FOREX market?

haha Forex factory of course, CNBC helps with the longer term stuff. i should have specified better. i use fundamentals to give me a longer term trend. i ignore all the short term daily news event stuff. i dont like to trade short term. i like to find the general consensus of the market in different magazines like barron's or futures magazine. then i take that direction and use technicals to enter and exit. Example: oil is going up, i find an article saying that US economic growth is slowing, the Euro GDP is up. so i believe that EURUSD is starting an uptrend. i then look at my charts and find places to buy using S/R, idicators, channels, patterns etc. if thats at all confusing, im sorry. im super tired today lol.

Pay attention to:
Central bank monetary policy
Economic production (GDP, jobs data)
Budget deficit
Trade balance
Inflation data (PPI, CPI)

The picture:
Start with the interest rate cycle. Is it tightening to control inflation or loosening to stimulate the economy? If it's loosening, is the economy responding positively to it or is it just blindly devaluing the currency? How's inflation responding to policy changes? How is gov't spending effecting inflation? How are currency changes effecting trade balance?

For instance right now you have growing staglation in the eurozone without much room to raise rates. The US has already lowered and is nearly at the bottom of it's rate cut cycle, the economy has responded well to the stimulation (job loss is flattening out and GDP has bottomed) but inflation is a growing concern (esp w/ the high budget deficit).

So the eurozone will soon have to cut rates to stimulate their economy, while the US will be increasing rates and cutting spending to control inflation. This means the USD will be getting stronger while the euro is getting weaker. As the USD gets stronger it's trade deficit will grow (cheaper to produce goods in foreign countries against a strong currency), which will counter balance some of the dollar strength.

Overall the "fundamentals" point to dollar strength. And that's where the smart money is. The most common simple metric is interest rate differentials... ie: changes in interest rates of one bank over time versus changes in interest rates of another bank over time.

Technicals of course vary. Price doesn't move in a straight line, so there will naturally be "minor" counter trends along the way. You can expect the dollar to gain ground, then lose part of it. Use high order trend lines (daily or weekly) and it'll be obvious. On smaller TFs you can trade against these "fundamentals" (know your exit) but on larger TFs it's an easy way to blow your account.

Follow the smart money.