John Welles Wilder Jr. (June 11, 1935 – April 18, 2021) was an American mechanical engineer,
turned real estate developer. He is best known, however, for his work in
technical analysis.
Wilder is the father of several
technical indicators that are now considered to be the core tenets of
technical analysis software.
These include
Average True Range, the
Relative Strength Index (RSI),
Average Directional Index, and the
Parabolic SAR In stock and securities market technical analysis, parabolic SAR (parabolic stop and reverse) is a method devised by J. Welles Wilder, Jr.
John Welles Wilder Jr. (June 11, 1935 – April 18, 2021) was an American mechanical engineer,
turned real ...
.
Life
John Welles Wilder was born June 11, 1935, in
Norris, Tennessee. The oldest of four children to John Welles "Jack" Wilder, Sr., and Frances Green Wilder, his brother was former NFL defensive tackle and defensive end
Albert Green "Bert" Wilder (April 14, 1939 – December 5, 2012).
After serving in the Korean War in the US Navy, Wilder attended
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...
in
Raleigh, graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1962. He married Eleanor Dawn Barefoot on July 6, 1958. They had three children: John Welles "Johnny" Wilder III (April 22, 1959 – March 25, 2020), Catharine Cooper, and David Wilder, settling in
Greensboro, North Carolina. After a successful real estate practice, he founded Trend Research LTD, and its primary subsidiary, The Delta Society. He then published ''New Concepts in Technical Trading Systems'' in 1978.
Wilder and his wife Dawn retired and relocated to
Christchurch,
New Zealand in October 1999, becoming dual citizens shortly thereafter. While in retirement, he continued with system development until 2008.
In 2020, Wilder was diagnosed with
vascular dementia and
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
, having shown symptoms for the better part of the 2010's.
John Welles Wilder Jr. died on April 18, 2021, in Christchurch at the age of 85.
Books
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Indicators
In his 1978 book, ''New Concepts in Technical Trading Systems'', Wilder introduced six popular technical indicators:
*Commodity Selection Index (CSI)
*
Average Directional Movement Index (DMI)
*
Parabolic SAR In stock and securities market technical analysis, parabolic SAR (parabolic stop and reverse) is a method devised by J. Welles Wilder, Jr.
John Welles Wilder Jr. (June 11, 1935 – April 18, 2021) was an American mechanical engineer,
turned real ...
*
Relative Strength Index (RSI)
*Swing Index
*Volatility Index
Accolades
* Forbes Magazine (October 1980) singled out Mr. Wilder as "the premier technical trader publishing his work today."
* Barron's (July 1984) stated that: "In 1978, the basis of mathematical analysis was expanded when J. Welles Wilder, Jr. published New Concepts in Technical Trading Systems.
* Financial World (July 1985) said that, "Over the years, Wilder has developed more accurate commodity trading systems and concepts than any other expert."
Famous quotes
#"Letting your emotions override your plan or system is the biggest cause of failure."
#"Some traders are born with an innate discipline. Most have to learn it the hard way."
#"If you can't deal with emotion, get out of trading."
References
External links
*The Best Business in the World
Welles Wilder - father of RSI & SAR*Surviving the Test of Time
1935 births
2021 deaths
Technical analysts
American mechanical engineers
People from Anderson County, Tennessee
People with Alzheimer's disease
People with vascular dementia
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