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We honor the passing of a great lady in this week’s episode of Talking Trading. Dawn Bolton-Smith, aged 87, was the matriarch of technical analysis in Australia. With a career spanning 50 years, she was the first technical chartist to be employed by the Australian Stock Exchange. Dawn’s passion for charting broke through barriers and her reputation for calling markets correctly was legendary. She helped inspire Louise Bedford and led the way for a generation of women in the markets.
Dawn Bolton-Smith
Three years ago Louise Bedford asked me to interview Dawn Bolton-Smith for Talking Trading.
She described Dawn as share-trading royalty, the pioneer of technical charting in Australia.
As life would have it, Dawn lived around the corner from me and we instantly became friends.
Dawn and I would sit for hours viewing charts, looking at directional movements, resistance lines and price action for the day. The markets were her living breathing passion.
She would always say to me ‘A person who can read charts is the most independent person in the world. You have got to learn how to read charts.’
Dawn’s passion for the markets remained with her until the end. Even in her final days Dawn was still asking about the market action and share market friends were calling her each night to give an analysis. She had charts in her hospital draws and a copy of the XJO on her hospital table.
Dawn originally trained as an accountant; in 1962 she enrolled in a pilot course on technical analysis conducted at the Mosman Evening College in Sydney.
Her passion was born and she became the first chartist to be employed by the Australian Stock Exchange and helped establish the futures market in Australia.
Dawn was a foundational member of the Australian Technical Analysts Association (ATAA) and up until 2011 she was a regular presenter at ATAA conferences.
Dawn successfully predicted every major high and low of the stock market over the last 50 years. Her penultimate chart prediction of pride was the 1974 crash, which she predicted within 4 points of the bottom; she also called the famous Poseidon nickel boom and witnessed the soaring gold futures market.
In today’s episode, we hear some of the final quotes Dawn gave about the share market a few weeks before the final curtain closed, highlights of the original interview when I first met her and Louise Bedford shares her tribute to Dawn and her charting legacy.
