TheNegotiator

I have heard of them but can't give you any feedback I'm afraid. All I would say is I would be very wary of parting with money for an indicator unless I knew exactly how it worked.

Nice. Look forward to seeing them later steve. 1224-26 area is important for me(even if 1220 was previously the resistance level holding us back).

What I have noticed is that more often than not, big levels do converge. But I do think it's worth watching for when they do and when they don't. The idea is to bring some signifance to the overnight action imo.

Slightly different look at the market today. A few things recently have made me think. I give you a profile based on time (IRT setting in prof pref) on a 180min chart and for the full globex session. Interesting reaction at 1249.00 a place that my volume based profiles haven't picked up with such high definition. See what you make of it.

I would just point out that this isn't an entirely fair statement DoD. Just because a member either doesn't want to post live entries, or has a method which dictates that they can't really do so otherwise it would distract them, doesn't mean they aren't being honest about what they're doing.

Ah right, nvm. 32.50 then 35.50 would be next from here to see if any sellers comes in. Just bear in mind that the 20-day(crude I know) average range is 18.25pts and decent days recently are around 30pts. So given the strong open it'd not be unreasonable to suggest, so long as we don't encounter any major sellers, that we may get to between 1235-1247 or so(1217+18/+30) and 1245 is the next good target for me to the up side. We'll have to see though given that this is a pre-hols mkt.

A question for you DoD. Given that your divergence signals are effectively putting you on alert as to the timing of potential trades, what are you using for the price of entry, or isn't that an especially important factor? If you use a variety of different methods, surely you must see more common entry types given certain divergence types right? Also, it seems you are using multiple instruments presumably in an attempt to smooth out results, but are you attempting do diversify in any way by using non-correlated products? Finally, how realistic or not do you think this strategy is for most of our forum members(honest question)? I have to say that I am not a believer in RSI although there are certain divergence types which I do look at, but only in support of my main techniques.

Awesome. Maybe we'll have to start encoding our forum messages old style. Hmm, I can't be too far away from Bletchley Park(somewhat ironic though)! Although I think they'd pretty much have to just shut the internet down in fairness. There's too much going on to properly monitor the internet fully. Oh no though, what about the Algos? Skynet here we come :\ !

Did you not MM? ....

Yeah, they're not my fav. Just watch for move-balance-test-break-continuation(/reversal)-balance. Having already identified that this is likely 'one of those' type of day, just adapt you're strategy a little and maybe go in smaller or sim trade it if ur not confident. See how you fair.

Woo! Lol. There it goes! Have a feeling it'll be very similar to yesterday.

Yawn. Was that the move for the day then? j/k, I'm sure there'll be some more moves but it is a bit like watching paint dry right now esp when you consider the confidence from open.

Oh yeah I forgot to use that fantastic keyword phrase "Santa Claus Rally"!(j/k btw) If we do move a decent amount higher today, that's what they'll be talking about, of that I am almost certain! Pity they won't mention it's just retracing the previous downtrend!!! Lol.

Morning everyone. Yesterday closed the range gap to 1197.25 and tested a little further before closing back above it. This may or may not turn out to be the rejection the market was looking for. The very clear downtrend(take a look at say a scrunched up 60min or so chart) can be broken today if we take (I would want) 1220 area and ideally close above. 1225 last rth swing high may also prove a good reference. Indeed we are hovering just below this area right near nyse open. Another break of 1197/98 area and I would think we'd be looking to close the gap to 1190 and possibly test 1185.50 and 1174.75. A noteworthy piece of info from yesterday was as pointed out already, this develop-break-develop-break behaviour we are seeing with very little rotation back up before pushing further. Virtually 3 separate days. Anyway, good luck and here's a chart:-

Very true TRO. The same could be said about anything in trading. This is where the 'Holy Grail' myth comes from. You have people desperate to succeed and others who allude to certain aspects of trading using enticing keywords. The trader who is yet to be consistently successful is sure that these people must hold the secret. But the secret is you must learn and understand and experience things for yourself if you have it in you to be a successful trader. Parroting other people's work is never going to make you deft enough to succeed in the ever changing markets we have. It may help you 'see the light', but then it is down to you and you alone.

Anything can be a clue. Do you mean in terms of whether we are trending or bracketing? I think if you are talking about this, it's quite clear from a simply looking at a longer term chart. However, what is extremely important is change. To know that the market has moved from trending to bracket or vice versa early on, can save and make you a lot of money. Something to look out for here is how agressive is the market and how is it reacting to previous levels. If what you are seeing is unexpected, change may be taking place.

No Vlad I have never thought of any of those points you have just made. Thankyou for enlightening me.

Vlad, if someone could trade based on what you have said alone, everyone who trades would be a gazillionaire. Just coming into a forum and posting a chart saying to paraphrase:- "Trading is simple and easy. Just buy low and sell high" is neither very useful, nor is it appropriate.

So tell us Vlad, what is it that you look for? Remember this is a community website for sharing ideas.

Btw, for anyone who is interested, this is one sort situation I look at fibonacci retracements on as a backup other tools. The 38.2% of the range and/or move is often tested as a gauge of whether the move may continue or not. Both come in around the first retrace attempt area around 10/10.50.

Absolutely have to expect low vol until after hols, but that doesn't mean markets can't move still. Like you said, the fact is news is the overriding factor right now and politicians, central bankers etc. aren't on holiday yet! The key is to realise that the recent mechanics of price action might not quite follow over this period. For example, last week it was also evident that the market would 'build a base' and accumulate trade over a range after a move. But then it would, on more than a couple of occasions, push through and extend. I think this is an important point for anyone looking at a strategy and it is basically max drawdown. So when analyzing a strategy's negative results, it's important to see how concentrated the results are. Anyway, lot's of info coming down from ECB right now and the market is(/has) reacting.

Wow, what a dazzling IB we've had! 5.25 point range in what has been the smallest IB since 7/7 I believe. 1 decent chance to sell the overnight volume poc at 1218.00 really. Anything for anyone else?

Good morning on what is start of the last trading week before Xmas! A couple of really important points to note from Friday. First off, we failed the extreme end of an underdeveloped area in the current balance profile at the high 1225. The area runs between 15.75 to 25.00 with a few ticks either side for comfort. The other point is that although we moved down, Friday's low was again higher and the bulk of its profile was also higher. Today, on the upside(if indeed this is the way we move) I'd like to see the top end of this underdeveloped area challenged and possibly breached and also a close above the low end. If you want to see how the Kim Jong-il news is or isn't affecting ES, take a look at it compared to for example DX,CL,ZN. Anyway, not much scheduled for release so let's see what happens! Good luck!!

News has been that the 1st hereditory communist ruler of North Korea, Kim Jong-il has died of a heart attack. State TV is apparently showing how upset 'his' people are which is perhaps an interesting piece of expected propaganda. When you consider the 'work camps' that are widespread which supposedly hold entire families of individuals accused of political opposition, I'm guessing that there are at least a few who are a little bit happier today, even if they're not allowed to be ecstatic. I hope their and North Korea's people's fortunes improve. The suggested inexperience of Kim Jong-il's successor, his third son Kim Jong-un, is something which the same people and the world is somewhat nervous about. Kim Jong-un is apparently in his late 20's and had at least some of his education overseas in Switzerland. So can he bring a more balanced, peaceful and democratic approach to governing the country? Under his father, North Korea was well known for military and nuclear threat as well as its communist dictatorship policies toward politics. Well, overnight all of the Asian markets were down suggesting at least for now, the jury's out. Certainly North Korea's neighbours will want to develop relations with Kim Jong-un but two questions of importance remain. Will he want to be any different from his father and open up North Korea and it's economy to the world in a similar way to what happened in China, or will he be a strict and saber-rattling type dictator? Clearly it would be beneficial to the region and the world if the former were true. But the second question is perhaps the most important one. Will he be able to impose himself as leader? He is young and inexperienced and potentially vulnerable to political dissenters from within. Whatever his own personal approach might be, if it doesn't sit well within the current heirarchy of power or even if it does, will there be a power struggle and if he does remain in power, will he be strongly persuaded to operate in a certain manner? I believe there are likely to be many questions which need to be answered in the short term and ones which will only become clear with time. But it is intruiging if not slightly worrying as an observer.

Yeah I didn't bother any more either. Glad you had a good week and I hope everyone has a great weekend!