Brian Shannon

Brian Shannon, CMT (November 16, 1967) is an American author and technical analyst. Shannon published his acclaimed book entitled Technical Analysis Using Multiple Timeframes in 2008 to educate beginning and intermediate day traders on the tools and techniques that have made him "one of the best indie traders in the business". The book received mixed reviews but ultimately was received well by novice day traders.

Shannon went to High School at Austin Preparatory School where he graduated in 1986. He then went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Merrimack College in 1991.

After college Shannon worked for a penny stock company called Thomas James for a couple of months before taking a position as a stockbroker with Lehman Brothers in Boston, MA where he was first exposed to technical analysis. Even though his interest in the market was founded at an early age his real passion for this line of work began with the chart analysis he was exposed to at Lehman Brothers. He moved to Tucker Anthony in 1992. From 1994 to 1998 Shannon worked as a stockbroker for Dain Bosworth in Denver, CO. He spent a short period as a trader for Generic Trading, LLC in New York, NY before moving to Denver, CO to run Landmark Securities as a Series 24 Manager. From 1999 to 2006, Shannon was Lead Trader and the Director of Research at MarketWise Securities before creating Alphatrends in 2006.

Shannon's primary focus is on price action and he registered the domain www.onlypricepays.com after repeatedly referencing that phrase since 2005. Technical trading tools and indicators like the VWAP and moving averages are taught and talked about in Shannon's Alphatrends posts. Shannon does look at volume because it shows him "the collective psychology of the participants if they are fearful or overly optimistic" but advises traders to use price to position their exit rather than volume. His approach is focused on assisting people apply these to make decisions about market direction and risk management. Shannon asserts that "you must have a backup plan for every situation. And you must do this before you enter your every trade".

Alphatrends was created by Shannon in 2006 where his active participation in financial education included blog posts as well as daily video updates. The blog was called the "YouTube of technical analysis" by the editor of Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities in describing Shannon's teaching and occasional reviews of the Wallstrip stock of the day picks. As of 2010, over 400 people subscribed to Shannon's trading service.

Technical Analysis Using Multiple Timeframes was published by Shannon in 2008. The book was written to assist traders new to technical analysis with intermediate level material such as market structure and trend alignment. Though the book has been referred to as a "textbook", it is not “'dry', boring and difficult". The book is filled with advice and “nifty” sayings to assist the reader's memory. Timothy Sykes called the book the "single most accurate/honest/understandable book on charting since Steve Nison’s classic: Japanese Candlestick Charts." Alex Capel at Wall St Cheat Sheet called the book a "must-have" for new and intermediate traders and Howard Lindzon added it to his top ten trading books in 2008. Edward Dobson, the President of Traders Press Inc. also noted that Shannon's book "earns a place in my 'top 10 trading books ever written' list". Charles E. Kirk of The Kirk Report noted that while many traders struggle to explain their methods, Shannon broke down "relatively complex ideas" in a very "straightforward manner". The Market Technicians Association review of the book called it "readable and valuable" for both novices and experienced traders.

Many notable traders have considered Shannon one of their mentors. Trader and author Anne-Marie Baiynd counts Shannon as one of her mentors for teaching her about time frame analysis. Baiynd references Shannon in her 2011 book as having never "met anyone in the work world who is so willing to share knowledge and insight with aspiring trader". Retired Major League Baseball starting pitcher Todd Stottlemyre cites the mentorship of Shannon and Joe Donohue with his success. Multi-millionaire Hedge Fund trader and author Timothy Sykes also cites Shannon as a mentor.

Over the course of his career he has held Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses however they were all expired by 2013. Later in 2013, Shannon passed the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) exam.

In the 2013 E-book on THE BEST OF THE BEST by Brian Lund, Shannon's planning and analysis styles from StockTwits are quoted.

Shannon appeared on the CNBC Halftime Report in 2014 with Scott Wapner discussing charts for Tesla Motors, Caesars Entertainment Corporation, overall market direction as well as his view on managing risk.