Soultrader

Watch out for the quiet ones with the big stack. They know how to sit tight and win monster pots. Also watch out for the ones that appear reckless but are actually just setting you up. They like to frustrate their opponents and when their shots comes they will take it all. On any table you sit, watch out for the big stacks and be quick to know who you plan to take money from. A stack can be built faster by preying on the weaker players. The easiest players by far are players on a tilt or those who are frustrated. I mean.. they are so pissed off that they will just throw their money away. Emotions is the worse enemy. Surprisingly I have never read a single book on poker. I started playing when I was around 10. At first it was the arcade poker games which turned into friendly poker game betting cigerettes. Soon it was betting a little money, going to poker games, going to casinos, and then running a poker room in the basement. Alot of my poker is pure intuition. I can figure out my opponents hands a good amount of times. Just like trading, I dont think poker is something that can be learned through a book. It requires years and years of experience. Im pretty sure the perecentage of winning poker players (who actually make a living off poker) are also similar to the 5% trading estimate.

Glad you brought this up Torero . I myself also saw the new James Bond movie a week ago. Here are some of the secrets of poker. You can not say that cards do not matter. But the ability to read your opponent is a vital key to success. Observation is a must... within 30 minutes one should clearly understand the style of their opponent. Does he like to bluff? Does he bet small when he catches a card on the flop? Does he like to reraise often? Does he fish for the river? Is he reckless and will call anything? Once you understand your opponents style, the next step is to come up with strategies that can exploit his style. If he likes to trap, play your hands strong preflop but play carefully after the flop. If he likes to reraise, trap him. If he likes to play recklessly, wait for a decent hand and then bust him in one hand. These are some of the things I keep in mind when playing. I play more online now which is why I focus more on the psychology of the opponent and try to identify his style through the way he bets. On the tables, however, I always always watch my opponent look at his cards first before looking at mine. Watch the opponents eyes... they say alot. Does his become silent on a good hand? Does he look down? Why did he take a deeper drag of his cigarette? Why is he taking longer than usual to place a bet? Did he just twitch? And on and on.... One trick to avoid the opponent from reading you is to act unpredictable. Mix poker styles.. bluff, play tight, play strong, and sometimes even show weakness. All you need is one hand that can take your opponent down completely. One of my favorite quotes from the poker movie "Rounders" is, "Throw in your cards the moment you know you cant win. Fold your hands." The question of "All In" I try to avoid an all-in situation as much as possible. My odds of winning are far better grinding my chips rather than gambling even with a 60% favorite. However, all-in is a must in poker. In a heads up tournament, all-in is a powerful move. Another situation I will usually go all-in is preflop when holding pocket Kings or Aces. If your opponent is holding an Ace-Jack, Ace-Queen preflop.... why give him the chance to catch an ace? If youre holding AA.... I never allow my opponent to catch a lucky 2 pair. Another situation would be on the turn when you know your opponent is fishing for a river. All-in equals pressure. An all-in bluff can be used depending on the cards on the table and if your opponent shows weakness. But generally speaking, my poker style is a pure grinder... not a gambler. Playing on a Tilt In many tournaments, players try to go at each other with EGO. I do not play like this... I play to make money and not to feel good about myself. I usually catch these ego mania type players... they love to raise with nothing and will reraise you with nothing. I love making them look like a fool by calling with a low pair or Ace high. A string of losses and players can go on a tilt. Now tilt is your worse enemy. Playing on a tilt is the same thing as emotional trading. You are no longer trying to make money... but instead you are hoping to win a huge pot. Players will often call with rags (crap cards) or call all-ins to fish for the river card. Most of them go home broke. One last quote from Rounders, "Some players forget the cardinal rule of poker.... leaving no outs."

I also think that new traders tend to jump in a bull market. Alot of young professionals participated during the stock market bubble but most of them are all gone now. Regardless, successful trading takes time and patience. Those who survive are the ones that have gained experience and the knowledge to trade. You will always find the new and clueless traders hoping to make that quick buck and going home with nothing but a wild and reckless story. It's the same with any game you play.

I agree. They are the original market thinkers. Every methodology that you learn today is just a altered version of the old timers. Humprehy Neill is one of my favorite teachers... these guys used simple methods and made a killing in the markets. Which is why I like to keep my trading simple as well. Grab the entire Frasher Publishing collection... its pure classics.

hehe.... you got me there Torero. Drinking late night on weekdays... not a good idea though.

Electronic trading... also known as the e-heroine. :p

You make the mac sound so attractive. Im actually looking for a notebook but like Torero mentioned Macs are a little steep in price. Im with you on that spending part.... but I tend to spend too much money on late night drinking sessions.

Here's my quick checklist: 1. Build a trading plan 2. List the price levels I will be looking at 3. Identify my level of focus and concentration (I find this key to trading and I would usually stop or take it easy when my focus is off) 4. Identify the overall trend and market condition 5. Check what economic numbers are coming out 6. Look for overnight support or resistance 7. Look for volume on the SSF's 8. Trade

Hi Torero, Do you know if they can help overseas traders as well?

Welcome aboard Reaver. Glad you joined us here at Traders Laboratory. If you have any questions about the site please let me know. Once again, thanks for joining us. Soultrader

Thanks Ant! We should do a MP chat sesssion one day together.

Nice Tin! Why a Mac??? lol I should get myself some 20inch monitors too.... maybe even a 32 inch.

Hi Matdog, Im not too sure what you. Are you asking what if I see big lots at the bid at a rally? If so, it depends on what part of the trend. Are we seeing large lots on the bid at or near R1 or any other significant resistance level? If this is the case, I will usually bail out or even initiate a short if I am flat. Big traders will usually start dumping at key levels. If price is traveling from the daily pivot to R1 and big lots are being sold to.... I may let price chop around for a bit and do its thing before I decide to sell.

Hello Andy, Q: Do you only use / trade off the tape around pivot points S/R levels, or do you find relevence elsewhere as well? A: Its important to look at the tape at your S&R levels as these are the levels I look to enter a trade. I also use the tape to confirm my position by reading the flow of the tape. Q: What if you see a big lot trader come in on the buy side, but really it maybe the big money just covering their shorts? Is this where staring at the tape comes into it? A: It really depends when you see the big lots coming in. If the market is in a decline and all of a sudden you see big lots at the ask, this can indicate short covering. If the market is in an uptrend and you see big lots coming in this can be a further confirmation of the trend. Q: Have you / Do you think it would be possible to scalp off the tape in the short term bracket as you mentioned ? A: I used to scalp off the tape during the doldrums but I hardly do it anymore. By using the brackets I mentioned, a 5-8 pt scalp is possible. However, I usually do not recommend scalping.

Welcome! You have entered [Trading Room] at 10:33 am [Trading Room]: Soultrader has entered at 10:33 am [soultrader] 10:33 am: okay lets talk about the tape.. and feel free to ask any questions [MrPaul] 10:33 am: k [TinGull] 10:33 am: awesome [bfbusa] 10:33 am: [soultrader] 10:34 am: just going to tell you how I see the tape. its one of my serious edges in trading and i recommend every trader to learn it [soultrader] 10:34 am: im going to be talking about the YM tape since this is the only contract I trade [TinGull] 10:34 am: and any book recommendations would be awesome too [soultrader] 10:34 am: sure [bfbusa] 10:34 am: I recommend we write a book [soultrader] 10:35 am: theres not many tape reading books available.. but make sure to read everything u can on Jesse Livermore, Humphrey Neill, and Wyckoff [soultrader] 10:35 am: I want to write one one day [soultrader] 10:35 am: also that Russian author... Vladmir i think [soultrader] 10:36 am: the older books talk alot about the ticker tape [soultrader] 10:36 am: which is different from the time of sales.. but the concept is the same [soultrader] 10:36 am: all they ever did was look for support and resistance and block prints on tape [soultrader] 10:37 am: okay ... the YM tape is alot easier to trade than the ES [soultrader] 10:37 am: 10+ lots I consider big guys.. and the tape moves alot slower in my opinion [soultrader] 10:37 am: so I seperate the tape into two columsn [soultrader] 10:38 am: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/imagehosting/1456c500c8eb8a.jpg [jperl] 10:38 am: test [soultrader] 10:38 am: the left side represents all transactions.. while the right column represents 10+ lots or more [soultrader] 10:39 am: im assuming all of you guys know how to setup this up on your platform? [soultrader] 10:39 am: all you need is price and size [MrPaul] 10:39 am: yea [jperl] 10:40 am: no [soultrader] 10:40 am: ok lets talk about litte guys vs big guys [soultrader] 10:40 am: Jerry.. what platform do you use? [jperl] 10:40 am: platform? [soultrader] 10:40 am: trading software [jperl] 10:41 am: IB [soultrader] 10:41 am: someone told me IB doesnt have a time of sales? [MrPaul] 10:41 am: they do [jperl] 10:41 am: it does [MrPaul] 10:41 am: I thought initially they didn't [jperl] 10:42 am: or at least my front end does [MrPaul] 10:42 am: you have to use a third party software to access it [MrPaul] 10:42 am: they don't offer it in TWS in real time [soultrader] 10:42 am: okay... well im not familiar with IB but in TS we can tweak the time of sales window to show price and size only [soultrader] 10:43 am: i seee [soultrader] 10:43 am: im not sure I can help you with IB... i never used it [jperl] 10:43 am: ok [soultrader] 10:43 am: okay back to little guys vs big guys [soultrader] 10:44 am: the real muscle is the right hand column known as the big guys [bfbusa] 10:44 am: ss ym 13 [soultrader] 10:44 am: however, you can not disrespect the little guys [soultrader] 10:44 am: they will create momentum as they are usually late getting into the move [soultrader] 10:44 am: for example [soultrader] 10:45 am: lets say price ddeclines towards the previous days low.... first you will see big lots or big guys stepping in [soultrader] 10:45 am: then you will see smaller lots like 10, 15 lots [soultrader] 10:45 am: then followed by single digit lots.. or little guys [soultrader] 10:46 am: this can fuel momentum and even a short covering can turn into a decent rally [soultrader] 10:46 am: the big boys are prepared in advance to buy at certain levels so many times u might see price drop below S1 a couple ticks and then reverse [soultrader] 10:46 am: they may be buying on the way down [soultrader] 10:47 am: okay.. with this in mind.. lets talk about timing entries [soultrader] 10:48 am: if youre good you can buy with the big boys...... but i try to enter before the 10-15 lots come in and before the little guys start buying [soultrader] 10:48 am: so try to be the second group in [soultrader] 10:48 am: by the time the fourth group or little guys start buying.. im already dumping half [soultrader] 10:49 am: sometimes you will see all red... but with no decline [soultrader] 10:49 am: this indicates strong support [soultrader] 10:49 am: someone is buying on the way down.. [soultrader] 10:50 am: did i lose anyone? [TinGull] 10:50 am: nope [soultrader] 10:50 am: okay good [soultrader] 10:50 am: lets talk about the flow of the tape [soultrader] 10:50 am: this is very important [MrPaul] 10:50 am: k [soultrader] 10:51 am: when there is good flow.... there is good price movement.. when tape is caught in traffic, you want to step aside [soultrader] 10:51 am: take a look at this 1 minute video: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/Videos/Flow%20of%20Tape.swf [soultrader] 10:52 am: the flow confirms your position.. if you are long, you want to see tape running fast and smooth [soultrader] 10:52 am: once it starts to stall, you want to be exiting portions [soultrader] 10:52 am: vice versa for shorts [soultrader] 10:53 am: its a very interesting thing to watch..... u can clearly see the tape hault [TinGull] 10:53 am: like right now [MrPaul] 10:53 am: yeah good point [soultrader] 10:53 am: yea no point trading right now [MrPaul] 10:53 am: thats great [soultrader] 10:54 am: price will usually hault... spend a little time at a pivot and then you should seee the right column turning green [soultrader] 10:54 am: this can indicate a reversal [soultrader] 10:57 am: okay lets talk about price rejection vs price acceptance [soultrader] 10:57 am: with the YM... if youre not careful itll fake alot of new traders out every single time [soultrader] 10:58 am: because it likes to take out the lows or pivots by a few ticks and then reverse [soultrader] 10:58 am: this is where I like to watch for price acceptance or price rejection [soultrader] 10:58 am: lets say the YM breaks above VAL.... make sure to check if there are big lots coming in a few ticks above it [soultrader] 10:59 am: if you see 10+ lots on the buy side.... there is price acceptance [soultrader] 10:59 am: but if you only see the little guys buying and then all of a sudden 10+ lots on the right column in red all over the place... this is a warning signal [MrPaul] 11:00 am: ahh [soultrader] 11:00 am: takes a little practice but youll be able to judge supply vs demand from tape [soultrader] 11:00 am: u can use this same concept to play breakouts [soultrader] 11:00 am: lets say price is hugging the VAL or VAH or any pivot [bfbusa] 11:00 am: out -10 [soultrader] 11:01 am: and there are no sellers on tape but plenty of 10+ lots with no price advancement [soultrader] 11:01 am: you can usually anticipate a breakout [soultrader] 11:01 am: its a powerful setup [soultrader] 11:02 am: watch price trade at the resistance... as if it was hugging it... watch the tape and you should see more demand [soultrader] 11:02 am: you can usually get in before the breakout and feed it to the breakout traders [bfbusa] 11:02 am: Jemes please save tranascript [soultrader] 11:02 am: yes im saving it no worries [soultrader] 11:03 am: okay lets talk about false moves [soultrader] 11:03 am: this is a hard one.. you need good tape reading skills and memory for this [soultrader] 11:04 am: lets say price advanced 20 points [soultrader] 11:04 am: but during the entire 20 point move... you hardly see any big lots coming in [soultrader] 11:05 am: one sec... watch tape now.... its running faster [soultrader] 11:05 am: its not the greatest looking tape but improvement from before [soultrader] 11:06 am: anyways.... getting back to my point, if you seea lot of single lot traders moving price, expect a reversal [soultrader] 11:06 am: dont jump in with longs [soultrader] 11:06 am: time your entry for a short setup [Trading Room]: Gordon G. has entered at 11:06 am [Gordon G.] 11:07 am: gm [MrPaul] 11:07 am: gm [soultrader] 11:07 am: gm [soultrader] 11:07 am: i guess we all missed that r2 piovot trade [soultrader] 11:07 am: nice 30pts right there [MrPaul] 11:08 am: it's continuing the trend from yesterday [MrPaul] 11:08 am: late yesterday [soultrader] 11:08 am: anyone have any questions on tape? [MrPaul] 11:08 am: do you ever see large lots comming through and then a swift reversal? [MrPaul] 11:08 am: as in equally larger lots absorbing the move [soultrader] 11:09 am: you mean large lots on the ask and then a reversal? [MrPaul] 11:09 am: or is that rare? [MrPaul] 11:09 am: yeah [soultrader] 11:09 am: its rare [MrPaul] 11:09 am: ok [soultrader] 11:09 am: one thing though [soultrader] 11:09 am: now that you mentioned it [soultrader] 11:09 am: sometimes you can spot out a 100lot trader [soultrader] 11:09 am: or even a 80 lot trader [soultrader] 11:10 am: what happens is i like to follow this guy... kina like follow the leader [bfbusa] 11:10 am: . [soultrader] 11:10 am: but then..... u see 80 lots being sold 2 ticks later [soultrader] 11:10 am: what does this tell you? this trader thinks hes wrong [MrPaul] 11:10 am: ahhh [soultrader] 11:10 am: i have seen many reversals take place just from this information [soultrader] 11:11 am: its pretty amazing [soultrader] 11:11 am: just very hard to catch unless you are starting at tape [soultrader] 11:11 am: im pretty glued to the tape for the first 60 minutes [soultrader] 11:12 am: oh i forgot.. lets talk about bracketing tape [soultrader] 11:12 am: now this is for scalpers [soultrader] 11:13 am: some of you are familiar with how i start bracketing tape looking for short term resistance and short term support [soultrader] 11:13 am: test [TinGull] 11:13 am: . [TinGull] 11:14 am: 115 lot [TinGull] 11:14 am: holy cow [soultrader] 11:14 am: lets say price trades at $5, $5, $6, $6, $7,$6, $5, $7, $5.......... the short term bracket is $5-$7 [soultrader] 11:14 am: i have the 115 lot in white [soultrader] 11:14 am: meaining? [TinGull] 11:14 am: no idea [TinGull] 11:14 am: mine was in blue [TinGull] 11:14 am: no idea what the blue means either [soultrader] 11:15 am: blue as in ask? [soultrader] 11:15 am: hahaha [TinGull] 11:15 am: I have them come through as red and green [soultrader] 11:15 am: TS is playing games with us now [TinGull] 11:15 am: and every sooften blues come through [TinGull] 11:16 am: what does the white mean? [soultrader] 11:16 am: anyways.. i covered pretty much the basics of tape [soultrader] 11:16 am: white means in between, which makes no sense for YM [MrPaul] 11:16 am: yeah what does white mean i see it as inside 768.90 etc [TinGull] 11:16 am: thats what I think the blue means too...which always confused me with it being inside of a dollar spread [soultrader] 11:17 am: wrines was asking the same question.. no one had an aswer [soultrader] 11:17 am: well perhaps that 115 lot was sold at the bid [soultrader] 11:18 am: cause it was at 12258 and now we are at 47 [soultrader] 11:18 am: and i dont think a 115 lot is stupid enough to buy smack at the weekly pivot resistance [soultrader] 11:18 am: who knows though [Trading Room]: matdog has entered at 11:19 am [TinGull] 11:19 am: nice to know [soultrader] 11:20 am: anybody have any questions? [soultrader] 11:20 am: i think im out of things to say [matdog] 11:20 am: i am late sorry [soultrader] 11:20 am: i might get inspired [soultrader] 11:20 am: gm matdog [MrPaul] 11:20 am: i'm chewin on the info [soultrader] 11:20 am: no worries i saved a script [soultrader] 11:20 am: ill post it in the forums [soultrader] 11:21 am: and you can ask questions if u want anytime [TinGull] 11:21 am: and as soon as my new computer comes that can handle the data inflow nicely, I'll be chewin on it more to [soultrader] 11:21 am: in intraday trading.. tape reading is an serious edge [matdog] 11:21 am: nice. thanks Soul. [soultrader] 11:21 am: because not many traders are tape readers [soultrader] 11:21 am: its the purest form of information [MrPaul] 11:22 am: certainly an edge [MrPaul] 11:22 am: thanks Soul [MrPaul] 11:22 am: im sure i'll have more questions [jperl] 11:22 am: any good reads on this subject [soultrader] 11:22 am: in poker.. you can spot a mans tell [matdog] 11:22 am: does tape rading works all the time? [soultrader] 11:22 am: in trading.. you can judge supply vs demand just from tape [soultrader] 11:23 am: serious serious edge [soultrader] 11:23 am: tape reading will work everytime and will never cease to work [soultrader] 11:23 am: every other tool may stop working sometime [soultrader] 11:23 am: but tape you can always rely on [soultrader] 11:24 am: jperl..i highyl recommend reading Humprhey Neil's "Tape reading and market tactics" [soultrader] 11:25 am: and also the russian author.. let me look it up [jperl] 11:25 am: ok thanks [Trading Room]: Gordon G. has left at 11:25 am [soultrader] 11:26 am: its called techniques of tape reading by vadym graifer [soultrader] 11:26 am: actually not sure if hes russian [MrPaul] 11:26 am: cool, everybody go click my ads so i can buy some tape reading books [soultrader] 11:26 am: hehe [MrPaul] 11:26 am: lol [jperl] 11:26 am: I have the Graifer book....I don't see much discussion of tape reading in that one [soultrader] 11:27 am: the only real way to learn tape though is to stare at it [matdog] 11:27 am: Soul, how do you think Chris Schumacher's CD, Techniques of Tape Reading [soultrader] 11:27 am: yea... its hard to find good tape reading books [soultrader] 11:27 am: maybe ill write one [soultrader] 11:27 am: [soultrader] 11:27 am: im not familiar with it matdog [MrPaul] 11:27 am: i [MrPaul] 11:27 am: i'll buy one* [soultrader] 11:27 am: hehe [soultrader] 11:28 am: tape reading is a very hard topic to talk about.. its alot easier to show visually [TinGull] 11:28 am: more videos! [matdog] 11:28 am: I agree. [soultrader] 11:29 am: i think Humphrey Neill's book was the originating book that got me hooked on tape reading [soultrader] 11:29 am: haha yea ill make more tape reading videos... its just that my TS keeps freezing when recording live lately [soultrader] 11:29 am: might need more ram [MrPaul] 11:29 am: do you find the placement of the tape right next to the chart better than having somewhere else? [MrPaul] 11:29 am: just do to the ease of darting over from candle to price? [soultrader] 11:29 am: yea i like it close to my chart [MrPaul] 11:30 am: okay [soultrader] 11:30 am: yea.. i rely on tape and TICK heavily so I keep them on the same monitor [soultrader] 11:30 am: i dont have to move my head [soultrader] 11:31 am: i used to just stare at tape and it made no sense [soultrader] 11:31 am: after 1 month it still made no sense [soultrader] 11:31 am: 2 months... no sense [soultrader] 11:31 am: by my 3rd and 4th month.. i was seeing clues [soultrader] 11:32 am: test [soultrader] 11:32 am: it took me 6-10 months to really understand tape to use it as aan edge [soultrader] 11:32 am: im still learning everyday [soultrader] 11:34 am: well hope this helped.. if you have any questions on tape feel free to post it in the forums.. ill do my best to help

Couple of things you can watch for. Is price trading within value? How big is the 30 minute range? The tighter the range the more likely we are going to have a choppy day. Also check for volume. Is it light or is there enough volume in the morning?

Hi Jay, Its hard to tell premarket unless whether TICK fades will work or not. What you can do is to anticipate a rangebound market. Today for an example could of been anticipated because of yesterdays monster trend day. But what I usually do is to determine the type of day we are expected to have during the first 30 minutes of trading. Once you figure out that its going to be a rangebound day, you can plot the highs and lows on the TICK's and fade them accordingly. I prefer to fade the lows on the TICK ranges. Upper extremes used to work better but recently its been a little risky. Im still trying to figure out whether a bull or bear market has any impact on this strategy.

Thanks for the notice Mr.Paul. Link is fixed now.

In a rangebound market, playing the TICK extremes work well. I prefer to fade the lower range extremes as they work better. This video talks about todays market applying some TICK fade strategies. CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO Charts created by Tradestation Presented by Traders Laboratory

Just come by our chat room. We are usualy there every morning from 9:00am to around 11:00am. The link is located in the navigation bar up top.

Hi guys, Slight change in plans. I'll try to do this on this Wed. If anyone can not make it please let me know and I will make it on Friday instead. Matdog... is Wed. okay for you?

Hi guys. Sorry for the delay. I have been extremely busy lately with maintaining the site and working on other projects. I will hold the chat session this Friday from 11:00am Eastern. If I need to cancel this I will let you know asap. Thanks

Some very good points there Pipmonster. Trading is a complete mental game and one needs to be in the right mindset everyday. It's hard for new traders to grasp this mindset. I want to share my style of making it in this business. Its a style I have picked up from poker which I spent several years living of it as a sole income. Trading and poker... is a grind. All that "Pit Bull" cowboy type stories are just entertainment to me. Each day I grind my way to make an income. I don't try to aim at homeruns or winning the WSOP. I care less.... all I care about is taking money on a consistent basis. It's worked for me my entire trading and poker career. I'm in it for the long haul.... and I dont want any one hand to take me of this game.

Hi matdog, Im going to be doing a tape reading chat seminar sometime this week so make sure to check out the thread listed here and let me know if you can make it. The date is still undecided as I have been extremely busy lately but will try this week perhaps Friday. The thread is here: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f53/tape-reading-chat-seminar-811.html Soultrader

Retracement methodologies require entering on a pullback or a corrective reaction of the initial trend. As Torero loves to mention, an uptrend occurs on a series of higher lows and higher highs while a downtrend occurs on a series of lower lows and lower highs. There are several other ways to determine a trend. You can use moving averages such as the 8 or 21 period moving average. If price is above the MA's price is in an uptrend. If price is trading below it, it is in a downtrend. Another way to determine a trend is when there has been a large standard deviation move in price. An example would be when price expands out of the Bollinger Bands. It is important to determine whether price is in a trend or a range. Once you identify a trend, you can use several methodologies to enter safely. The 21 period moving average can offer support. This can be an entry point. Wait for price to pullback and enter on a TICK hook. If price is in an uptrend, it is likely that TICK's are trading above zero. A safe entry would be on a TICK hook at the zero line. Buy above the previous high with a stop several ticks below it. If you chose to use a wider stop, you can use the previous low as your stop. Watch price action, momentum, and volume. If volume is low on the pullback compared to the rally, we are likely to see a continuation of the trend. These are just some methodologies one can use to enter on a trend. For pivot point traders, we have a tendency to fight the trend at key pivots. Remember, pivots work nicely in a rangebound market or when the market is in equilibrium. In a trending market, becareful at key pivot levels. If sellers are getting absorbed at pivot levels, the chances are prices will lift further. The only safe enter point based on pivots are the S3 and R3 pivot levels. If you observe these levels carefully, the markets have a tendency to reverse with high probability. Money is made slowly in an uptrend while quick money is made in a downtrend. Be patient with your trades in an uptrend. As long as prices continue to make a higher high, your longs should still look good. Warning signal exists when volume dries up or the flow of the tape gets caught in traffic.