BlowFish

Stanlyd you are preaching to the converted here I am pretty much a pure price action trader. I was just pointing out that in the context of Jerry's method there is a simple and effective way of determining the trend of any sample of price data. The same points can be made about 'price action' the trend depends largely on how you sample the data. But of course that's just another way of expressing what you and Hlm are saying Actually sampling data appropriately ('picking a time frame' if you like) for the moves you are trying to capture is a key component of trading. When I traded Jerrys methods I derived all his indicators from pure tick data and started calculations from a variety of start points depending on what I was trying to capture. Pretty much how you might use daily and hourly charts to determine intraday S/R levels to trade against on say a 5 minute chart. I found the best way (for me) to trade the method was use market stats for the macro view look at faster stats (like an hourly sample) for a confluence/confirmation and then use traditional PA triggers. I should say I only traded the method for about 3 or 4 months but it 'worked' from the get go. It is really pretty robust.

Firstly there is an elegant and effective way presented early in the series on determining the trend. It is through the position of the VWAP in comparison to the PVP. I think if you look at the chart without the benefit of hindsight the trend was not clear from the price action. In fact it looked like a trend less day despite running up and down (I too have the benefit of hind sight ). I would bet that the day had a symmetrical profile (for the data shown) and it could be argued that the the VWAP and PVP where 'close'. Under those circumstance it would not be wrong to consider counter trend trades as detailed in "Section VIII Counter Trend Trades in Symmetric Distributions". There where a couple of areas that I think can be a bit 'tricky', one of them is deciding whether to follow sections III V & VII and when to follow section VIII.

DB I certainly don't disagree (if you pardon the double negative). Another thing I have been considering is whether understanding (as opposed to simply recognising) is necessary for success. I do think that the paradigm shift you mention else where is critical and that's probably more likely to come around with fuller understanding. Ive traded FX without volume information for a couple of months now. I feel less comfortable and don't think I get nearly as good a read without it (volume). You might say I have less understanding. Price action is still price action though and a strong rejection at a key level is stil observable (and tradeable). So far my results are pretty much the same as on the indexes which I found surprising tbh. I haven't really reached any hard and fast conclusions but your comments about understanding seemed pertinent.

Brackettrader is free and not bad for a simple no frills ladder/dom entry. For a few bucks ($100??) you can buy a lifetime licence which allows you to change alert sounds and add extra instruments. (The free version just supports common ones) Edit: be interested to hear from anyone thats used esignals free product? I think its called quotetrader and is ad supported.

As Harlequin pointed out in the UK spread betting is tax free. Though as for whether the spreads out weigh the tax benefits that depends on a variety of things. Unless you are a scalper probably not though. Futresbetting have (up to now) a rather unique model. They offer direct market access in a spread bet 'wrapper'. This has the advantages of DMA and the tax incentives (for UK residents) of spread betting. The only down side is that the fees are a little steep compared with a regular no frills broker. Precision your best bet (pardon the pun) is probably NT / MC support/forums. Dosen't NT support ascii file monitoring for trades? You could use easy language or power language to manipulate the string before writing to a file maybe?

Very worthy of consideration. By using fixed scaling you can immediately get a better feel for momentum and volatility. You can see price action more clearly when a chart isn't re scaling every few ticks. You get a much better feel of whether price is up or down and by how much. Also geometry is far more apparent. Many moons ago I spent a bit of time corresponding with Howard at ensign and the fixed scale option they have is the result. Sadly I no longer use ensign. Another thing that is nice to have is a chart start at the left edge at session open then fill to the right closing on the right edge. This has a similar effect in so far as you know in exactly where you are in the day. I asked the guys at MC to implement this, guess I should ask the Ninja guys too but its probably a bit late for version 7.

Also very true. Is it possible to truly know if you understand until you try and quantify things in a plan? I'm not sure of the answer to that. Is trying to quantify and test a thesis a good way of testing ones understanding? At some stage one needs to know when to take the next step. If there is any doubt its wise not to take it. As the OP was talking about problems they have with trades they have probably gone a step too far already. I was suggesting they take a step back to examine their plan. Perhaps you are correct though, and they should back off further.

Just goes to show what is possible when you are diligent and bright Your not a borg are you? :rofl: Reason I ask is I was impressed how quickly you assimilated Jerrys market statistics stuff too.

Whilst Jerry does not present it as a system per se he provides ample information how you might trade it systematically. In particular there are a few techniques presented that cover potential entries over a variety of circumstances.

Indeed!! or at the very least recognise. IC seems to be able to recognise important elements but appears vague in how he plans to exploit that.

Anton, As far as I know everything is where it should be if you follow it in sequence. I think at one time some videos required premium access if you have issues it may be to do with that. Just start at the beginning and work your way through.

Yeah pretty much across the board do you take trades into the weekend or Sundays? Good entries could be had Friday but personally I don't sleep well with weekend trades

Hi Nail, I wondered if you meant to post a cable chart? having said that long GBP was good too! Funnily enough it looked like the pound was really going down the cr*pper up until the end of last week, As a brit Im kinda revealed that lower prices seem to have been rejected for now. Edit...having said that it is struggling at 1.5 as we speak.

Hi Eiger, glad you enjoyed your trip. Sounds like you have been pretty busy. I guess we'll hear more about the web site in due course. I think most of the comments are on the whole are 'good natured quips' rather than any real negativism. Certainly not my intention to cause offence (or to the Wyckoffians by referring to them as a church ) These VSA threads are pretty massive so there is bound to be a bit of noise amongst the signal, still a great resource for those wishing to learn more about VSA.

Not sure if that was @me Edit..I see it was. Last two months the USD.JPY (though have a euro workspace setup too). I find myself drawn back to the indexes so FTSE in the EU morning session and ES once it opens. I trade using S/R lines and price action. I noticed the FX seem to really strongly respect fib lines so I have been throwing on retracements to see if they correspond to my hand drawn lines. I was surprised at that to be honest.

Using price action as a basis to make trading decisions is possibly one of the most straight forward and simple ways to trade. Understanding how and why these things are as they are takes a bit more work and the perceptual shifts that DB talks so eloquently about. There are few (if any) better places to help you understand why (and the how for that matter) than the Wyckoff area here. Just as it is not necessary to understand Newtons universal theory of gravitation to collect apples from the foot of a tree, it is not necessary to understand why markets move as they do to capitalise on those movements. There are numerous good resources that demonstrate different possible 'hows' without paying to much attention to 'why'. If you are anything like me you'll want to know why though to some that is not important. A short comment on prediction. It is not necessary to predict to trade successfully, in fact the emotional attachment you are likely to get through trying to predict can be detrimental to trading without bias. The way most people apply price action is they see how it has behaved in certain areas in the past (finding potential areas of support and resistance if you like). They then monitor (in real time) what price does when it reaches that area again. There is a degree of anticipation but it is more about what is happening now than what might happen. In a nutshell 1) use historical price action to give potential trade areas. 2) Use 'real time' price behaviour to determine if you have a trade in those areas. Pretty simple if not easy

I find it amusing the high church of Wyckoff reject anything that does not follow the great mans canon. The dogmata are upheld with an almost religious zeal. Even people like SMI and Pruden, whilst not considered heretics, are treated with suspicion. Seriously though, I am surprised that at least parts of VSA are not recognised as complimentary. Having said that the fact that Tradeguider are seen as being synonymous with VSA its no wonder it gets a bum rap sometimes. I think I have probably expressed my views on TG before hehe. it's a shame Eiger dosen't seem to post much any more. If you look at his posts he clearly has a strong orthodox Wyckoffian grounding and great clarity in describing his combined approach. I hope that part of his seduction by the dark side wasn't a gagging order.

Dunno I may be wrong but IC seems to have a pretty reasonable understanding already. I am sure that could be improved by a perusal of the resources you mention. However, a good understanding is only part of the equation, a solid plan is required too. That's the thing people seem to struggle with. And then of course there is experience too, one can have understand the principles while still lacking experience. IC no hidden messages really, just thinking that if you had a clearer idea what you would do you in various circumstances you would find it easier to do

Not sure if I mentioned this before in this thread (feeling particularly senile today). Have you considered a spread bet or CFD account, or trading 50 Q's or SPY? (not sure what instrument you normally trade). Basically trading a small amount that is fairly inconsequential but a notch higher than paper trading.

IC good thread. I haven't said too much as you seem to have a pretty good grasp of 'market dynamics' (for want of a better term). Seems to me that the biggest issue you face is utilising this knowledge to enter and exit trades? I might be totally wrong here, I often am I get the impression that you are stalking a trade here, without being sure what that trade is? This is not about not knowing which way price will break but having a plan in place whatever it might do. I wonder where your 'focus' is. Are you looking to catch a swing on the daily?

As HLM pointed out you give pretty good reasons why not to trade unattended (the only sensible way to do that in my view is to have broker execute or running on purpose designed infrastructure in a data centre such as that provided by strategy runner). I'd also be interested to hear your thoughts on attended automation. Your entries seem eminently suitable to attended automation and anything that reduces the chance of execution error (either due to fat fingers or fear and procrastination) is surely a good thing?

If it works for you that's all that matters. It's hard to make any sort of meaningful comment without really knowing a lot more detail.

Simplicity before understanding is simplistic; simplicity after understanding is simple. (Edward De Bono) Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life. (Confucius)

Predominantly dressing gown (or robe as our American cousins might say). Laptop for mobility. How about you tlfx?

An aside, I dunno about affirmations but apparently visualisation has had pretty impressive results in tests. (All hearsay mind you)