Tasuki

How about trading from a Roth IRA--would that get around the tax? Tasuki

Take note, VSAers, Sebman lays it out, clearlike: Q: what is a "No Demand" type bar doing after a Shakeout? A: The BBs are waiting to see how the market reacts to the Shakeout. Were their efforts to "wrongfoot" the public successful, causing them to sell their long positions, or is there more supply below the market? Q: What does the VSAer do when confronted with a polar bear in Hawaii or a palm tree in Alaska? A: Keep an eagle eye out for confirmation!

Yup, delta, that pretty much nails it. Todd Krueger used to use two terms, "polar bear in Hawaii" (bearish sign with strength in the background) and "palm trees in Alaska" (bullish sign with weakness in the background). We haven't talked about these "problems" very much in the two VSA threads on Traders Lab, which is why I posted those charts, so we could collectively deal with the palms and the polar bears. Thanks to all for your posts and clarification. Truely one of the trickier parts of VSA Tasuki

Attachment shows the rest of the day...and my continued confusion and frustration over this issue. Todd Krueger used to call this the "polar bear in Hawaii". A "No Demand" (the polar bear, N.D. being a bearish signal) showing up where the bloody thing don't belong. Todd used to just dismiss these anomalies, but I think we can do better than that, at least I hope so. Long ago I queried the VSA#1 group as to whether we could come up with a VSA-based logical explanation. Why IS it that No Demand, and No Buying Pressure, so often show up at the beginning of up-moves??? This is when I'd like to get in long, but these contrary signals keep my finger off the trigger, and I miss the move. Anybody got any good advice here?

VSA basics. Please see attached chart. The green candle where the vertical line is--what is this bar? It's not a test, I don't think, looks more like "No Supply" but I'm not sure. It's volume is indeed less than the previous 2 bars. And there is strength in the background in the form of that shakeout 7 bars back. Anyway, comments welcome. Thanks, Taz

VJ, Where do we learn more about jprel (or is it jperl?) and this work you regard so highly? Taz

Answer is quite simple---the quality of the components. Cheap graphics cards are just not worth the headache. Get quality. Same for hard drives. I'd recommend getting what's known as "server-grade" hard drives. They last longer, are more reliable, etc. Same shtick applies to power supplies and mother boards. Get quality. Hope this helps.

Rick, Someone who knows the pit said that it' a pity that Ben can't see the Goldman Sachs trader. I have also observed that Merrill is oftentimes not on the right side of the market, but apparently the GS trader is much more savvy. I think this has been pointed out to Ben before, but I'm not 100% sure. Taz

Gosh, I hope you meant, "in that vein" VSAers are NOT vain, but you're right, they are very principled The major bone to pick is the central dogma of the "smart money", or BBs (Big Boys). There are two problems here: 1) for highly liquid instruments, like the S&P emini, or ES, do the BBs even have the financial muscle to manipulate it? If you do the math, it is actually unlikely that they do. It would take a massive amount of capital to move the ES significantly. A point or two, here or there, OK, but VSA principles suggest that the BBs have to be massively moving the market, basically controlling it, in order for VSA principles to work, and this would seem to be mathematically impossible--it would just take too much money to do so. 2) for liquid and illiquid instruments, why do we think that the BBs are operating in concert with each other? The fact is, there is no evidence that I've seen that they act in collusion, and there is significant evidence from those who have worked in the big trading houses that they are just as much competitive with each other as they are with "the masses." However, one regularly hears VSA proponents saying that "the Big Boys are buying here, or selling there" when the truth is probably closer to "some Big Boys are buying here and other Big Boys are selling here." For living proof of this, listen to the squawk box for a few days and you'll see (OK, you'll *hear*) what I mean. So, the question becomes--how can they move the market if they are fighting each other? So, how *does* VSA work? To be honest, I'm not sure, but it does. The answer probably lies in the psychology of crowd behavior. In fact, I think that we VSA folks should look very carefully at this branch of psychology, because I think it holds the key to understanding how the market moves, and why VSA works.

gir, Yes, I did compare quite a few charts, and they were spot on. Not sure what "Gain" is. As far as I know, Tradestation's datafeed is from Tradestation. Folks, I'm a little uncomfortable discussing data feed issues, particularly specific companies and their services, on the VSA forum. I understand that volume data is an issue with Forex, and that this is important for VSA (understatement), but I don't want the thread to get diverted from its proper purpose. Is there a thread somewhere on Traders Lab for datafeed issues?

Thanks for startng this thread, jj. I'm looking forward to a blended approach, including VSA and MP and standard S/R levels, etc. Could be fun. I'll be out of commission for a few days while I clean my house and tune up all my computers in preparation for the arrival of my traders group from around the country. Back in a few days.

No, you can get tick volume in Tradestation as well. For example, I just created a chart of EURUSD, 5 minutes. In "Format Symbol" look for "For volume,use:" and then click the down arrow and select "Tick Count". Presto. I've checked the volume bars created this way against those posted on PP's charts, and they're the same (he doesn't use TS), so I believe that the tick volume on Tradestation is correct. Can't speak for other charting programs.

jj, I have hesitated to post trades because I'm not a VSA purist, and I've got all sorts of other stuff on my charts. Early on in the VSA I thread, moving averages and such were roundly criticized, so I've held back from posting for fear of offending the VSA experts (and getting laughed at). Their argument was, this is a VSA thread, we should be focussing on that and not a whole bunch of unrelated stuff, and to a point they were right. The laser-like focus that the VSA II thread has placed on VSA has been one of its strengths. Diluting it with oscillators, moving averages, etc., might be counterproductive. Taz

Hi jj, Yeah, I was very sceptical at first, especially after losing money with Tradeguider's pathetic software. I also had some problems with the theory, until I realized that there was a firm underpinning in the principles of Wyckoff. Finally, I saw some of you post live trades that worked out, and I started to come around. Right now, I'm using two charts, the 5 min and the 15 min, which is what Pivotprofiler used to use (if you remember his old posts), and that seems to be working well for me. So, I guess I do think that SebMan is wrong, and that you can trade intraday with VSA, if you do it right. Brilliantly insightful comment, jj, about VSA being like a religion---there is indeed "something there", but you have to get beyond the priests and the incense to grasp it. Taz

CW, if you WERE a conspiracy theorist, then your theories wouldn't hold water, at least not so far as I can tell. I guess I was the one who recently brought up his name, and I was rather proud of myself (for no good reason) that the responses I got led to an article (which I intend to study this weekend) and a link to his new website. I promise I have no connection to TK whatsoever. Got to say I'm really disappointed in the website. Even his webinar contained no information at all. I signed up for his weekly freebie newsletter. We'll see if that's got anything in it or not. So far, however, Traderscode.com gets an F in my book.

Thanks, Sam. I know he's put a huge amount of work into that site. It'll be interesting to see what he's come up with. Taz

Thanks, bubba. Turns out I did have my numbering wrong. I was going to start the WW from the pivots of the gartley. Yours looks much cleaner. Geez, we haven't watched a live WW in a while, folks. This'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Taz

jj, I like that idea: "Tradeguider's version of VSA, crock or not?" Yup, that seems to make sense. Believe it or not, but this sceptic (yours truely) has recently been successful in applying VSA principles, but NOT bar-by-bar. That's beyond me. The bars-of-interest does seem to work, however. Taz

bubba, for our edification, could you number the WW pivots for us? I'm not exactly sure where the WW is--looks like a couple of possibilities. Thanks, Taz

Well this was an eye-opener. If there's such a thing as a Wyckoff Foundation, they should definitely sue Tom Williams and Tradeguider for intellecual property theft. Every single Tradeguider term is there, but this article presents the Wyckoff method in such a way that it appears that Wyckoff takes a "birds-eye view" approach, rather than the bar-by-bar approach which gets so many VSA people in trouble. Frankly, if this article is representative of Wyckoff's material, it should be required reading for anyone interested in VSA. I know I'm gonna check it out.

Thanks, Hakuna. This still leaves the question as to what Todd is doing now (when he's not in court). He had told me something about striking out on his own, starting a new advisory service which blended VSA and other techniques, but I've heard nothing more about it, or about him (unless he's gone into the business of making miniature fantasy dolls......

Thanks, Steve, what a wealth of helpful info on this thread. I am also glad, and proud, that your fine contributions are receiving more respect than they did on the other forum where you posted "Ideas for Struggling Traders." Short question: somewhere I read, I think on TradersLab, that you had done a short piece giving an interpretation of what was being said on a squawk box, and explaining what was really going on in the pit. Was that on Traders Lab or elsewhere? If here, what was the permalink number? Many thanks again, Taz

Thanks for all the great info. So, if I'm understanding the dynamic/static HUP that you're using based on VWAP, let me see if I can recapitulate: At the end of the trading day, the VWAP and its various Standard Deviation values get fixed at various values above and below the last price traded as the trading day closes. Then, for the next trading day, you take the fixed values of SD1, SD2, VWAP, SD3 SD4, etc from the previous day's close, and use these values as horizontal lines of S/R on your chart as the next days' trading unfolds. Have I got that right?

To anyone, Whatever happened to Todd Krueger? The top Google searches of his name describes an NFL Quarterback, and a doll maker (!). Below that is a link saying that TK is the CEO of TG, and below that is a link to a lawsuit between TK and TG. Curious what gives. Is he still in the business? Tx, Taz

VJ, Your teaching skills are exceeded only by your trading skills. Could you please define for us the PVP and HUP? Also, (this might be a bigger question) you mentioned in a previous post that there are 9 types of tests. I can only think of two---failed ones and successful ones. What are the others? Do failure tests come in different flavors, or is it only successful tests have different characteristics? Thanks, Taz