Flojomojo

This is for e.g. how my ECN window looks like...nothing fancy, I think very basic. Top row: Current positions with collums that monitors them Next two rows: Prepared orders ready for transmission. Orders/Log/Trades/FXPortfolio slabs to monitor past activity. Just my 2 cents, Flojomojo

IMHO you also need to take care that in the end all his code does not only work, but is properly documented. I program myself a little bit and it is of invaluable benefit to look at a program from somebody else or at one of my old scripts and immediately understand what it does, when and why. This assures that you or maybe some other programmer understands what has been done and how to improve upon it....therfore decreasing follow up costs. All the best for your project!

Hi Aaron, although I still have to learn a loooooooot (with many more o's) more than you (especially when I look at the account balance in the picture ), maybe I can help you out a little bit: Let's start with what your ECN broker actually does: Since he doesn't take the other side of the market he can supply a bit more information than you are used to...if the information is useful for your trading is a different question! Your ECN works the following way. Your broker has connections to a specified number of banks/dealers/etc. They all can submit a dealable Bid/Ask price and acompanying amount that they are willing to trade. This information builds up the ECNs order book for every specific currency at any moment in time. The inside spread (best bid/ask) of this accumulated information is dispayed for each currency you want to monitor in the middle of your screen. The bars to the left and right of every currency basically give you a look at the market depth of your ECNs order book for each currency. So if you'd like for e.g. buy 10 mio GBP, in your picture you can see that 5 mio would be most probably filled at 1.9230 and the other 5 mio at 1.9231. Now beware: Your market depth and the displayed order flow are "ECN broker specific"! Other brokers will have different data available as they might be connected to a different bank pool. ...so just a thought: Why display inconsistent information in the first place? If your broker has a lot of customers the order flow will anyway be impossible to 'tape read' due to its high speed. One thing in your ECN broker choice might be important: If you already trade big amounts, it might be useful to choose an ECN with a deep market depth. Now regarding order entry I don't know how this works with your specific broker. Maybe the benefit of the displayed market depth is that you can click on a price away from the inside spread and there will be a limit order created for that price. I use IB, there you can submit (if wished) an instant order when clicking on the bid/ask price. Otherwise you can configure your orders in a separate window and transmit them as you wish. IMHO the only thing you need is: - the bid/ask of the currencies you're watching - a window where you can prepare your orders - a window where you can monitor your current trades A last word to all that: When you come from a world where you traded profitably only from the chart...why change this? Throw out all the mumbo jumbo on your ECN platform and simply submit your orders via the ECN order entry. Keep the charts you are used to watching next to the 'stripped to the minimum' ECN platform. A short word about quotes and charts: As far as I know brokers process information in the following order (1) new quote arrives (2) order book is updated (3) quote display is updated (4) chart is updated. Since graphical information takes a lot longer to process than simply displaying a number, your chart might 'lag' a bit behind the quotes that you actually see. I hope this helps a bit. If you have any questions about the above used terms or anything else, feel free to ask. To everyone else out there: If I made a mistake in my explanation, feel free to correct me. Grood trading to all of you, Flojomojo PS: I'm not associated with IB in any form, but if you want to check out their FX trade platform, have a look at this introductory video from a webinar: https://interactivebrokers.webex.com/ec0600l/eventcenter/recording/recordAction.do;jsessionid=LrxZQ3GB5gvWShPcvt4Ty2hmJlRh2h8nTvy296m7j2QjhbwlT0QW!557007313?theAction=poprecord&actname=%2Feventcenter%2Fframe%2Fg.do&apiname=lsr.php&actappname=ec0600l&entappname=url0106l&needFilter=false&&isurlact=true&rID=24363957&entactname=%2FnbrRecordingURL.do&rKey=119793EA4CD4878F&recordID=24363957&siteurl=interactivebrokers&rnd=6367738736&SP=EC&AT=pb&format=short There are a lot of webinars on their tools via their "recorded webinar site" here: http://individuals.interactivebrokers.com/en/general/education/priorWebinars.php?ib_entity=llc

I just read "Trading in the zone" from Mark Douglas a couple of days ago. Attached you find my favorite passages from the book. Maybe some of you like the points and can reuse them for achieving your own proper trading mind-set. :hmmmm: Good trading, Flojomojo

I totally agree with you that there are enough books, posts, etc. about the "what is the right mental stuff / you should be this / you should be that" exist! But in my opinion they always only describe the goal. It is the sidetrack bumpers on the way that interest me! You say we have to be "forced to change"...and you are right...so what are the psychological tools you can use to force you to stay on track when you realize you are drifting off? There's a reason why for e.g. SAC still employ Ari Kiev...otherwise they would just say: "Read this guys book". It is the concrete exercises that a psychologist assigns to overcome a traders barriers that are so valuable. It is the communication of these hands on methods that make their bread and butter. And it is these methods that I understand as "toolbox"! It was these rubber-hit-the-road-psychological-exercises that I hoped to condensate in this thread. It is pretty messy for me too...Good luck! I'm not looking for experiences or fairy tales, I'm looking for concrete psychological methods! Maybe this is the wrong place as this is a forum for traders and not psychologists.

ok...to be honest I'm really surprised about the zero replies this thread has got so far! Did I miss something during my search so an equivalent thread already exists? I know that there are a lot of great ppl out there that have reached that mental "zone" necessary. I also believe all of you who have reached this state of mind have gone through a loooong process. As I believe that mental structures can be altered on a step by step basis by adressing the various problems, I will try to find out more. I will keep you updated as I go along. I've studied physics, not psychology, so please excuse if my next post will take some time.

Hello fellow travelers, undoubtedly my biggest challenge on my journey to become a trader is to conquer myself and master my own psychology. This includes things like: the constant concentration needed the mental “reboot” if things don’t turn out the right way chasing a missed opportunity impulsive actions etc. etc. The only book I’m aware of that deals with this in a “how to” basis is “Gewinnen beginnt Innen” (http://www.amazon.de/Gewinnen-beginnt-innen-Mentales-Training/dp/3898790975) …it’s in German and for my taste frankly a bit too esoteric! I’ve started this thread in order to build a little “mental toolbox” of practices that we all can use when we need it. So what techniques do you know of or do you use that help you to overcome your psychological obstacles? Let me try to start this: Scenario I: Concentration Regarding my concentration problem I will start to do this step by step exercise as of today: http://www.successconsciousness.com/index_000005.htm Scenario II: I screw up just about everything A while back I read/heard about this technique: Get up of your chair. Walk about 3 meters away from it. Look at your desk, computer and chair and visualize yourself sitting there in the state of mind that you want to be in. Focus this state in your mind, sit down and do it! If we can get a couple of simple to use techniques together for different scenarios, I’m sure this would help a lot of people! Good trading and a clear mind, Flojomojo

...I'll get a Bloomberg keyboard. The Esc key is already red and it comes with some more fancy colors!

I don't think that the primary motive has to be "to become rich". By now I actually think this motive will make you broke the quickest! Its not necessarily about the money...if you make it this will take care of itself. Many people do ok, but not great, in the markets. Why do they bother to continue their journey? Why not just get the "high paying job with the pension plan"? Its the motive that counts! If your high paid job does not fulfill you and you find joy in trying to master the markets...would you give it a shot or not? The answer will be different for every person...I guess you already have found your answer There's a book called "Market Rap - The odyssey of a still struggling commodity trader" (http://www.amazon.com/Market-Rap-Odyssey-Still-Struggling-Commodity/dp/0934380619/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217721002&sr=8-2) that tells the story of a Non Market Wizard and the how and why he got from selling cars to trading. He fairly gets along, but he certainly doesn't seem to regret his decision. If you already know that there's potential regret in the decision you make for your life...don't even venture on that path! I have studied physics and can get almost any job I want. I'm interested in the markets due to my urge to deeply understand how things work and mainly because I don't like to work for other people! I enjoy the challenge of being completely responsible for my own results...and the markets are very very very demanding judges that feed on my bad personal attributes! I have chosen this path and I'm willing to pay for what it takes. I know that the journey will be pretty/very rough, but I've never been the "giving up" type of person...

Hi laredo, the SEC installed daytrading regulations. If your account is above 25k you are free to execute as many trades as you wish. Read through here with FAQs and examples to better understand what type of trader you are: http://individuals.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/marginRequirements/margin.php?p=d&ib_entity=llc back to the garden for some weekend beer, Flojomojo

I know this is somewhat like http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f43/a-new-traders-journey-to-success-156.html , but I found this post http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/2243-five-levels.html about a year ago. I have it on my wall and read through it every time I get a bit frustrated! Hope it does the job for you too! ------------------------------------------------------ The Five Levels of a Trader Step One: Unconscious Incompetence. This is the first step you take when starting to look into trading. you know that its a good way of making money because you've heard so many things about it and heard of so many millionaires. Unfortunately, just like when you first desire to drive a car you think it will be easy - after all, how hard can it be? Price either moves up or down - what's the big secret to that then - lets get cracking! Unfortunately, just as when you first take your place in front of a steering wheel you find very quickly that you haven't got the first clue about what you're trying to do. You take lots of trades and lots of risks. When you enter a trade it turns against you so you reverse and it turns again .. and again, and again. You may have initial success, and that’s even worse - coz it tells your brain that this really is simple and you start to risk more money. You try to turn around your losses by doubling up every time you trade. Sometimes you'll get away with it but more often than not you will come away scathed and bruised You are totally oblivious to your incompetence at trading. This step can last for a week or two of trading but the market is usually swift and you move into the next stage. Step Two - Conscious Incompetence Step two is where you realize that there is more work involved in trading and that you might actually have to work a few things out. You consciously realize that you are an incompetent trader - you don't have the skills or the insight to turn a regular profit. You now set about buying systems and e-books galore, read websites based everywhere from USA to the Ukraine. and begin your search for the holy grail. During this time you will be a system nomad - you will flick from method to method day by day and week by week never sticking with one long enough to actually see if it does work. Every time you come upon a new indicator you'll be ecstatic that this is the one that will make all the difference. You will test out automated systems on Metatrader, you'll play with moving averages, Fibonacci lines, support & resistance, Pivots, Fractals, Divergence, DMI, ADX, and a hundred other things all in the vein hope that your 'magic system' starts today. You'll be a top and bottom picker, trying to find the exact point of reversal with your indicators and you'll find yourself chasing losing trades and even adding to them because you are so sure you are right. You'll go into the live chat room and see other traders making pips and you want to know why it's not you - you'll ask a million questions, some of which are so dumb that looking back you feel a bit silly. You'll then reach the point where you think all the ones who are calling pips after pips are liars - they cant be making that amount because you've studied and you don't make that, you know as much as they do and they must be lying. But they're in there day after day and their account just grows whilst yours falls. You will be like a teenager - the traders that make money will freely give you advice but you're stubborn and think that you know best - you take no notice and overtrade your account even though everyone says you are mad to - but you know better. You'll consider following the calls that others make but even then it won’t work so you try paying for signals from someone else - they don't work for you either. You might even approach a 'guru' like Rob Booker or someone on a chat board who promises to make you into a trader(usually for a fee of course). Whether the guru is good or not you wont win because there is no replacement for screen time and you still think you know best. This step can last ages and ages - in fact in reality talking with other traders as well as personal experience confirms that it can easily last well over a year and more nearer 3 years. This is also the step when you are most likely to give up through sheer frustration. Around 60% of new traders die out in the first 3 months - they give up and this is good - think about it - if trading was easy we would all be millionaires. another 20% keep going for a year and then in desperation take risks guaranteed to blow their account which of course it does. What may surprise you is that of the remaining 20% all of them will last around 3 years - and they will think they are safe in the water - but even at 3 years only a further 5-10% will continue and go on to actually make money consistently. By the way - they are real figures, not just some I’ve picked out of my head - so when you get to 3 years in the game don’t think its plain sailing from there. I've had many people argue with me about these timescales - funny enough none of them have been trading for more that 3 years - if you think you know better then ask on a board for someone who's been trading 5 years and ask them how long it takes to become fully 100% proficient. Sure i guess there will be exceptions to the rule - but I haven’t met any yet. Eventually you do begin to come out of this phase. You've probably committed more time and money than you ever thought you would, lost 2 or 3 loaded accounts and all but given up maybe 3 or 4 times but now its in your blood One day – I’m a split second moment you will enter stage 3. Step 3 - The Eureka Moment Towards the end of stage two you begin to realize that it's not the system that is making the difference. You realize that its actually possible to make money with a simple moving average and nothing else IF you can get your head and money management right You start to read books on the psychology of trading and identify with the characters portrayed in those books and finally comes the eureka moment. The eureka moment causes a new connection to be made in your brain. You suddenly realize that neither you, nor anyone else can accurately predict what the market will do in the next ten seconds, never mind the next 20 mins. Because of this revelation you stop taking any notice of what anyone thinks - what this news item will do, and what that event will do to the markets. You become an individual with your own method of trading You start to work just one system that you mould to your own way of trading, you're starting to get happy and you define your risk threshold. You start to take every trade that your 'edge' shows has a good probability of winning with. When the trade turns bad you don't get angry or even because you know in your head that as you couldn't possibly predict it isn't your fault - as soon as you realize that the trade is bad you close it . The next trade or the one after it or the one after that will have higher odds of success because you know your system works. You stop looking at trading results from a trade-to-trade perspective and start to look at weekly figures knowing that one bad trade does not a poor system make. You have realized in an instant that the trading game is about one thing - consistency of your 'edge' and your discipline to take all the trades no matter what as you know the probabilities stack in your favor. You learn about proper money management and leverage - risk of account etc. etc. - and this time it actually soaks in and you think back to those who advised the same thing a year ago with a smile. You weren't ready then, but you are now. The eureka moment came the moment that you truly accepted that you cannot predict the market. Step 4 - Conscious Competence You are making trades whenever your system tells you to. You take losses just as easily as you take wins You now let your winners run to their conclusion fully accepting the risk and knowing that your system makes more money than it looses and when you're on a loser you close it swiftly with little pain to your account You are now at a point where you break even most of the time - day in day out, you will have weeks where you make 100 pips and weeks where you lose 100 pips - generally you are breaking even and not losing money. You are now conscious of the fact that you are making calls that are generally good and you are getting respect from other traders as you chat the day away. You still have to work at it and think about your trades but as this continues you begin to make more money than you lose consistently. You'll start the day on a 20 pip win, take a 35 pip loss and have no feelings that you've given those pips back because you know that it will come back again. You will now begin to make consistent pips week in and week out 25 pips one week, 50 the next and so on. This lasts about 6 months Step Five - Unconscious Competence Now we’re cooking - just like driving a car, every day you get in your seat and trade - you do everything now on an unconscious level. You are running on autopilot. You start to pick the really big trades and getting 200 pips in a day doesn’t make you any more excited that getting 1 pips. You see the newbies in the forum shouting 'go dollar go' as if they are urging on a horse to win in the grand national and you see yourself - but many years ago now. This is trading utopia - you have mastered your emotions and you are now a trader with a rapidly growing account. You're a star in the trading chat room and people listen to what you say. You recognize yourself in their questions from about two years ago. You pass on your advice but you know most of it is futile because they're teenagers - some of them will get to where you are - some will do it fast and others will be slower - literally dozens and dozens will never get past stage two, but a few will. Trading is no longer exciting - in fact it's probably boring you to bits - like everything in life when you get good at it or do it for your job - it gets boring - you're doing your job and that's that. Finally you grow out of the chat rooms and find a few choice people who you converse with about the markets without being influenced at all. All the time you are honing your methods to extract the maximum profit from the market without increasing risk. Your method of trading doesn’t change - it just gets better - you now have what women call 'intuition' You can now say with your head held high "I'm a currency trader" but to be honest you don’t even bother telling anyone - it's a job like any other. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this journey into a traders mind and that hopefully you’ve identified with some points in here. Remember that only 5% will actually make it - but the reason for that isn’t ability, its staying power and the ability to change your perceptions and paradigms as new information comes available. The losers are those who wanted to 'get rich quick' but approached the market and within 6 months put on a pair of blinkers so they couldn’t see the obvious - a kind of "this is the way i see it and that’s that" scenario - refusing to assimilate new information that changes that perception. I’m happy to tell you that the reason I started trading was because of the 'get rich quick' mindset. Just that now I see it as 'get rich slow' If you’re thinking about giving up I have one piece of advice for you .... Ask yourself the question "how many years would you go to college if you knew for a fact that there was a million dollars a year job at the end of it? ------------------------------------------------------ Have a nice journey and hopefully we will meet at the end, Flojomojo

@GJ: I hope you did not get me wrong! I highly appreciate your opinion and your participation in this thread! @DB: Too bad I read of you in this thread so late. I've always enjoyed your insight, especially when its your own! Have a nice weekend, Flojomojo

I'm very well aware about the concept of correlation and the need for causiality for it to give it meaning! Let me point out the following case: (i) my broker connection, platform, etc. gives me a statistically relevant sample of overall market price adjustment activity and (ii) 95% of tick changes at the inside spread has positive correlation with some volume traded ...then I would check how to use this information! I admit that those are two very big IFs! The point is that neither me, nor you know whether (i) or/and (ii) is the case. And apart from volume it would be interesting in itself to know whether a sample flow of ticks carrys any information about the supply/demand situation of the market.

Let me summarize this thread in a couple of sentences: - Due to the OTC microstructure of the FX market, obtaining detailed volume figures is impossible. - Tick-"volume" as it is called only gives a snapshot of the overall activity going on. - Tick-"volume" is a misleading expression. Since here the number of price changes are counted and the FX market has a constant stream of repricing quotes, the figure doesn't necessarily provide a volume indication. - Tick changes and volume might me uncorrelated or correlated sometime...but to this point nobody in this forum can or wants to tell whether or when a correlation exists. Theres also no study about how the flow of price quotes/ticks gives indications about the underlying supply/demand situation. - Usage of tick-volume has no proof yet (that I am aware of) linking ticks to volume. Scientifically speaking it yet belongs to the mumbo jumbo section. Nevertheless some traders use it and are doing well! Have a nice day, Flojomojo

I've put the summary together in one file so I can study it offline...maybe some of you have use for it. If you want the doc version, which is too big for uploading here, just drop me a message with you email. Good studying, Flojomojo VSA_I_Summary.pdf

Hi everyone...I just saw the word "Matlab" on the TL front page and got curious. I also use Matlab for my data acquisition and analysis (although I don't generate such cool graphs like the Mathworks folks do in their webinar!). Instead of the data feed toolbox and all the data subscriptions that cost a lot of money I use this: http://www.exchangeapi.com/ It costs $300 from the guy that programed it and it absolutely does the thing for me. It connects Matlab to the Interactive Brokers Api. I only use the data acquisition ability as a Forex data feed, but you can also automate orders etc. Heres the documentation: http://www.exchangeapi.com/Documentation.htm so you can check whether it will be sufficient for your purpose. Happy developing, Flojomojo

Gosh...although I trade demo I regret to have stood on the sidelines today. Attached is a 15 and 5 min EUR/USD chart. I was a bit scared to enter during the morning drive up seen to the left. (oh these damn emotions!) I then made a meager 5 pip trade in the sideway movement...and honestly...got bored...thats when I missed the US GDP news release and the critical downthrust bar just before the release! There would have been a 100-200 pip trade in the move and its reversal. In hindsight the chart screams to me what it wanted to tell me at the time. I'm absorbing VSA knowledge only since a week, so, are my chart comments correct? Anything else there that should have cought my attention? How do you people deal with the information overflow while analyzing bars in real time?...I tend to search a meaning in every bar...I guess I need to be a bit more laid back and be on the hunt rather than running around like a chicken... :crap: Good trading, Flojomojo

:o well...it was worth a try! ...and if you need a Phd candidate to resolve this question...I might actually have the time soon...

Hi GJ, did you ever attempt a study about how many price changes have been trades and how many just price adjustments?

Hi, thank you all for all this great input! I think its great for a new guy like me to discuss such stuff with the head of trading desk and other professionals! So far my conclusion is: The assumption I made in my very first post (see picture) is wrong due to the way the OTC market and its microstructure works. Since price changes in FX don’t equate with the classical view of volume I would put it in the term I read somewhere: The price “feels” its way up and down…by constantly adjusting Bid/Ask prices the market searches for the available liquidity pools. Please correct me if I’m wrong. GJ’s last post at T2W is: “Not saying they (tick volume and actual volume) are never positively correlated, just that they will just as often probably be either negatively correlated or uncorrelated.” So any ideas out there how to determine from the market action which of the three cases applies? Since this thread has attracted both the “pro tick volume” and “contra tick volume” crowd, I would like to push this thread into a new direction of insight: OK…so the term “volume” is bogus in FX. Bid/Ask prices change due to transactions taking place or simply by price adjustments. Nevertheless this “tick volume”, how its usually called, seems to work for some people. Why is this the case? Let’s drill a bit deeper and see whether we can find a new terminology that suits the pro and contra crowd! Here’s my first go at it: Let me pick up the example by GJ and assume it happens in an uptrend: 1.6323/4 22/23 21/22 20/21 19/20 …here someone hit the offer at 20. This is the only transaction between 24 and 20 20/21 Scenario1: Price falls straight from 24 to 20 then moving up to 21. Tick volume recorded = 10 (8 on the downside and 2 on the upside). Conclusion: The Composite Men (Wyckoff’s name to the total sum of more informed forces that move the market. Akin to “The market,” or “They” in other parlance.) are (a) bearish or (b) let price drift lower in order to buy at a cheaper price or © are at the sideline. If (a) is true GJ would have seen more action on the bid side. Therefore (b) or © are the case. Possible VSA equivalent: Low volume down bar with little “tick volume” in an uptrend. => probably (b) Scenario 2: Price falls to 20 but wildly fluctuates between 24 and 21. Tick volume recorded is, lets say 100. Conclusion: CM are unsure if liquidity is to be found below 24, but consensus slowly favors the downside. Conclusion: CM are unsure, but let price drift lower. Possible VSA equivalent: High “tick volume” down bar in an uptrend but no real result. => “squat bar” or test in the making So can “tick volume” be seen as more of a “sentiment indicator” of how market participants react to different price levels? Curious about your opinions, Flojomojo

Hi Blowfish, I just found approx. the same discussion here: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/34057-post1011.html Sledge seems to use relative tick volume data. I just started my VSA journey, but what I have seen so far, relative volume gives an idea of whats going on in the background. The entire discussion is here: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/34/vsa-volume-spread-analysis-part-ii-3428-102.html Good trading, Flojomojo

Hi forsearch, thanks for your useful link! Thats quite some analysis Kreslik is doing there! Yesterday I recorded the tickvolume parallel to the volume I monitored so far in the approach described in my earlier post. Every price change at the bid or ask was counted as one tick. I've attached the comparison graph for 15 minute intervals and the corresponding price movement during the period. As you can be seen on the graph...the histograms are almost identical to the eye! A little calculation reveals: 1 minute interval: 88.4% correlation 5 minute interval: 95.8% correlation 15 minute interval: 97.4% correlation ...so unfortunately my previously described approach to volume is basically the same as tick volume! :\ Good trading, Flojomojo

Hi everyone, in this thread I would like to share with you my thoughts on how to determine Forex volume data. Since my research journey has brought me to the VSA method, determining volume is a vital component. Elder states in Trading for a living that there are mainly three ways how to measure volume: 1) The actual number of shares, contracts, etc. traded. 2) The number of trades that took place. 3) Tick volume as the number of price changes during an interval. Since Forex is an OTC market with all three methods it is impossible to determine the exact volume. Apparently eSignal delivers tick volume but I could not find out how they actually determine it. Now this is what I came up with: Interactive Brokers claims on their website to have 11 interbank partners participating in their order book. The advantage with IB is that they actually display the volume that is available at the best bid/ask. Since the best bid/ask volume is available this gives a (hopefully significant) sample of the overall market. So what I did now is to determine which volume changes might be actual trades and which ones just improve the bid/ask spread. The logic of what counts as volume can be found in the attached picture. Next week I will check how this approach compares to tick volume. I still got to program it, but I’m curious if there is a substantial difference…after all it’s a big difference if 5 or 20 million change hands, although both count as one tick. Does anyone have an eSignal chart for me with its volume figures? I’d be interested in how it differs to my method! What do you ppl think about this approach? Is the reasoning fairly complete? Did I miss out something important? Have a nice week, Flojomojo

Hello everyone, I’ve just found these VSA threads two days ago on my search for hands on tape reading and am currently digging myself through the 150+ pages of the first thread and the summary. Is there any chance that there is a summary of the VSAII thread coming up? First of all I want to thank all of you for your participation and the tremendous input in these threads!!! I’ve read Wyckoff and Neil to start with the topic but have found very little about the application of this “old” approach so far…except here! …where I realized the term “tape reading” has been given new life by Mr. Williams under the name VSA. I’ve arrived at this trading approach after more than a year of applying complicated mathematical formulas to Forex price data in order to predict the future…until the “why does all this happen other than calculated” question popped up :doh: …maybe some of you have gone this path too… As a starting point in this forum I’d like to ask two questions…and I hope to be able to answer some in the future too Other than eSignal I’ve built my own way of determining Forex volume. Attached you find a 15 and 5 minute chart of this weeks EUR/USD session starting from Wednesday 00:00am until Wednesday 10:00pm (I live in Germany, so GMT+1 hour). 1) Can someone of the Forex traders here post a chart of the eSignal volume data during this period? I’m interested in how the volume bars differ from mine. 2) What does a VSA specialists see in reading this market scenario? How do you start? What would be your conclusion for the upcoming Tokyo and Sydney session? Thanks for your valuable input! Florian