Getting Started
Welcome to The Weekly ChartStorm!
I want to personally thank you for joining the service and I hope you get the most out of your subscription.
This section will help you get the most out of your subscription + provide a bit of background on what this service is all about.
Here is what I will cover in chronological order:
Key features of The Weekly ChartStorm
Who am I? What are the goals of this?
Reading List (of timeless articles)
FAQ and Troubleshooting
Reviews & Testimonials
1. Key features of The Weekly ChartStorm
These are all the exclusive features available to you today.
Paid subscribers have access to everything listed below, while free subscribers do still get some very useful reports such as the annual perspectives pack, and occasional deep-dives (off-topic chart storms).
A. The Weekly S&P500 ChartStorm
This is the main thing, sent out in the weekend, it comprises of 10 charts and accompanying comments along with key points and takeaways up front, and a bonus chart section at the end covering 1-2 charts and extended commentary incising into a particular issue/theme/idea.
B. The Comments Section (Q&A)
The comments section is only open to paid subscribers, this means you can engage with a community of like-minded investors in private and ask questions direct to me. I look to reply to every comment/question within 24 hours.
C. Special Reports
I release occasional special reports such as the ChartStorm Perspectives pack, and deep-dives (Off-Topic ChartStorm), and may provide other updates; especially during extraordinary market events.
But really the main thing is the core Weekly ChartStorm, and I will say I have experimented with other updates in the past, but in the end it’s not about frequency of updates it’s about quality — and making sure to ease your workload, not increase it!
That leads us into the goals and purpose of The ChartStorm…
2. Who am I? What are my goals with this?
I am Callum Thomas, a kiwi bloke based in Queenstown, New Zealand.
As for my professional background:
I spent almost a decade studying (business studies, degree in finance, masters in banking, masters in management, and countless books on finance and investing);
about a decade in corporate (strategy at the New Zealand Stock Exchange, investment management roles at AXA Global Investors, AMP Capital),
and almost a decade now running my own shop (Topdown Charts; global asset allocation research services for some of the world’s largest fund managers and institutional investors).
I started the Weekly ChartStorm as regular weekend habit on Twitter, with the original intent to highlight good charts and expand my own knowledge base. But over time it evolved into something much more and attracted a following of over 100,000 on Twitter and about 50,000 now here on Substack.
Today’s evolved form of the Weekly ChartStorm serves a very focused set of purposes set out below — and I will say the focus has been sharpened further by now being a paid service [I work for you; my paid subscribers, and I better make damn well sure that you get (more than) your money’s worth!]
My goal for The Weekly ChartStorm is to help readers with the following 3 things:
Build Clarity on the Market Outlook
Save Time: I act as your Filter on a noisy world
Uncover hidden Risks and emerging Opportunities
Readers consistently tell me I am both delivering on the above and doing an excellent job about it — but most importantly…
The Weekly ChartStorm:
helps them make better decisions,
makes their job easier,
and is a valued source they can rely on.
To consistently deliver on this each week I look over hundreds of charts from years of developing a carefully curated set of sources, methods, and contacts +tapping into my own extensive chart libraries (at Topdown Charts). And when I say consistent I mean it, I have never missed a weekend since starting this weekly ritual in 2015!
But more to the point, my key role is to bring you the best charts: the right combination of charts, in the right order, at the right time, and with the right set of commentary and conclusions so that the complex and obscure transforms into the clear and obvious.
When I put together the pack I have a clear focus and process…
Each chart (+ accompanying comment—which is sometimes just as important) has to do one or a combination of the following:
Identify an Opportunity [whether a short-term view on the market, a medium-term development, or a longer-term setup in the making]
Flag an emerging Risk [alerting you to both short-term cycles around the trend, as well as threats to the trend itself, and importantly; tying various puzzle pieces together rather than just scattered datapoints in isolation]
Inform or bring Perspective [charts and commentary that brings to your attention an important development or feature of the market that might not immediately result in a risk or opportunity, but is either just plain interesting to know or may become useful at some point in the near future]
Educate You on a key Concept [illustrate or reveal a pattern of behavior in the market, update your understanding of investing theory and practice, let you in on something entirely new, or remind you of a fundamental timeless rule of investing]
Make You Think [either challenges your existing thinking, or presents something you hadn’t even thought of before, or prods at something that disturbs the consensus or conventional wisdom]
I hold myself to an ascending standard in my work, so as good as the Weekly ChartStorm is today, I am confident that it will only get better from here.
But this isn’t about me, it’s about you — at the end of the day, I hope that you become a more confident, rational and successful investor than before you joined The Weekly ChartStorm.
With all the reviews I have received thus far (collated here), I am truly happy to be helping subscribers get informed, grow their portfolios, and become better investors.
3. Reading List (of timeless articles)
You can find the latest Weekly ChartStorm on the home page, you can also read it in the Substack App, or simply in your email inbox (I usually send it out mid-late Sunday morning New Zealand time — which is about Saturday afternoon in the USA). Aside from that you can browse the full archives back to 2021 [Here].
Aside from the regular Weekly ChartStorm, I’ve collated some of the more enduring or timeless and compilation-style articles below, these rank high on the interesting, educational, and thought-provoking categories.
ChartStorm Perspectives Pack (2025 Update)
Best-of and Compilation Chart Packs
Special reports
n.b. If there is something in particular that you would like me to cover in greater detail or go over in a deep-dive session, simply let me know and I will put it on the agenda.
4. FAQ and Troubleshooting
I am always happy to help, but here’s some guidance and links to easy-to-follow instructions to help resolve the most common issues that get raised.
How to Log On — if you have trouble logging on see detailed instructions here [click].
Not Receiving Emails — the first thing to check is make sure the emails haven’t landed in your spam/junk box (maybe add the sending address i.e. chartstorm [@] substack.com to your contacts or whitelist), but failing that please see detailed instructions here to fix it [click].
Change your Email Address — please note I am unable to change your email on my end, you will need to do that yourself in Substack, detailed instructions here [click].
Update Credit Card Details — simply visit the account settings page for the email your signed up under at Substack, see detailed instructions here [click].
Cancel Subscription — you can easily unsubscribe at anytime but clicking the unsubscribe button, or you can log-in to Substack and update your settings, see detailed instructions here [click].
For anything else either get in touch (you can click the below button to direct message me, or you can reply to any email from me, or post in the comments section).
Please also review the Substack Support section for any other technical matters that may arise around your account, access, or admin/billing etc.
But otherwise I hope you have a smooth and trouble-free experience with us, which the overwhelming majority of people do.
5. Reviews & Testimonials
The Weekly ChartStorm has been a paid service for just over 2 years now, and our paid subscribers by all accounts have plenty of great things to say about it.
In a survey 90% of paying subscribers think that the service is either good or very good — and would happily recommend the ChartStorm to friends and colleagues.
Most respondents said they subscribed for the charts, naturally, but subscribers also appreciate the commentary, and how it helps make them think, identify ideas, and expand their knowledge base. I think that’s important I’d say for all of us, and quite valuable too if you think about it.
Other themes and comments in feedback I’ve received:
a great filter
very useful snapshot
saves hours of reading
sweet spot of price and impact
captures the mood of the market
thinking piece that helps generate ideas
a different angle than most other content
To check out all of the reviews, surveys and stats, and testimonials click through to the reviews section below:
