Reading Charts in Real Time

[fxThunder 10]

EU - time to pay attention

[jonbig04 10]

[thalestrader 14]

EU - time to pay attention

 

Good eye ... EU continued to slide lower, but maintained an ending diagonal type structure. It looks finally to have come to an end and is ready for a pause in the slide. I do not trade between NY close and Tokyo open, but this is how it looks at the moment. By "pause," I mean maybe a bounce, maybe a strong rally, or maybe just a few hours of sideways before the downside resumes.

 

It is time to pay attention, patiently. Price will show the way soon enough.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[thalestrader 14]

Current look at the weekly GBPUSD. I am looking for a sell and hold opportunity, and it may be at hand right here.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[jonbig04 10]

 

Stop to BE. Target of 1085. It's one or the other

 

I figure this is probably a BE trade. I'm only at around +5ES right now with a vulnerable stop going into the globex session, but you never know.

[jonbig04 10]

Current look at the weekly GBPUSD. I am looking for a sell and hold opportunity, and it may be at hand right here.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

 

Oh wow, that's a nice looking chart. Such a large time frame too. Looks like the dollar may start gaining some real strength soon!

[thalestrader 14]

Oh wow, that's a nice looking chart. Such a large time frame too. Looks like the dollar may start gaining some real strength soon!

 

Need to wait and see. GBPUSD finally getting a bounce at that support level. A rally back to last weeks low before a break and hold of the 1.6200-1.6230 would be a preferred scenario.

 

Of course, what I prefer and what I get are often two very different things. My daughter and I had a nice bear run on the GBPUSD at the tail end of September, but it fizzled and led to a retest of the post-March rally high.

 

In the mean time, while waiting for the big campaign, just play the market from long or short as it gives and takes.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[thalestrader 14]

Hi Folks,

 

Did anyone manage to get into this long EJ opportunity? I missed it. I do not know how. My daughter just came in, and she doesn't know how I missed it either. My excuse is that for the Tokyo open, I'm usually watching 6B and 6E, and I depend upon her to alert me to opportunities on the Yen pairs. And, since she was not here for the open, I blame her.

 

Right now we'd have out stop loss at break even (a theoretical 130.10), holding for PT's at +60 and +120.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[jonbig04 10]

Hi Folks,

 

Did anyone manage to get into this long EJ opportunity? I missed it. I do not know how. My daughter just came in, and she doesn't know how I missed it either. My excuse is that for the Tokyo open, I'm usually watching 6B and 6E, and I depend upon her to alert me to opportunities on the Yen pairs. And, since she was not here for the open, I blame her.

 

Right now we'd have out stop loss at break even (a theoretical 130.10), holding for PT's at +60 and +120.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

 

 

Is this the FX pair or the future?

 

I'm looking for one more instrument to watch along with ES and 6E. I can't seem to find a another future I like so I thought maybe I should look for something in FX.

[thalestrader 14]

Is this the FX pair or the future?

 

I'm looking for one more instrument to watch along with ES and 6E. I can't seem to find a another future I like so I thought maybe I should look for something in FX.

 

EJ is EURJPY spot fx. There is a futures contract, but no liquidity last I looked.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[jonbig04 10]

EJ is EURJPY spot fx. There is a futures contract, but no liquidity last I looked.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

 

Gotcha. My internet connection is acting up right now. I'm going to see how correlated it is with 6E. If its not too much so I may begin watching it to round out my instruments list.

[Kiwi 16]

If you want a forex pair that trends then GBP.JPY is the one to beat. The spread is 3-4 points on IB's forex so you wouldn't want to trade sub 5 min timeframes but on 15/60/240 the quality of moves overcomes the higher spread.

 

The nice thing is that it has no underlying correlation to 6E either.

[jonbig04 10]

Stop to BE. Target of 1085. It's one or the other

 

I figure this is probably a BE trade. I'm only at around +5ES right now with a vulnerable stop going into the globex session, but you never know.

 

 

Out BE. Looks like it wanted to run some stops before pushing down further.

[BlowFish 10]

I do not find too much to recommend FXCM's charts, but one feature that I do like that is lacking in every other package I use is that the vertical price scale will stay stable and can only be adjusted by the user. Ninjatrader, on the other hand, automatically adjusts the scale, which distorts price action. I do not know why these developers all think that there is a benefit to what I call "auto-scrunching" during price moves that are large relative to the immediatley preceding activity. If anyone knows how to stop Ninjatrader from autoscaling, please let me know here.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

 

What I would love to see is charts that not only are fixed in the Y scale but fixed in the X scale too and fill from the left to right without scrolling.. So the start of the session is at the left side always. Particularly for stocks, indicies and all the pit traded stuff. This is a wee bit more difficult for currency (trading 24 hours)........ pretty much like hand graphing. The advantage is that you can glance at a chart and immediately judge where you are (in price and time) and see changes in pace in a consistent way. You can also see instantly where and when things occured.

[diablo272 10]

What I would love to see is charts that not only are fixed in the Y scale but fixed in the X scale too and fill from the left to right without scrolling.. So the start of the session is at the left side always. Particularly for stocks, indicies and all the pit traded stuff. This is a wee bit more difficult for currency (trading 24 hours)........ pretty much like hand graphing. The advantage is that you can glance at a chart and immediately judge where you are (in price and time) and see changes in pace in a consistent way. You can also see instantly where and when things occured.

 

You can do this in NT 7, though the Y locking is a little counter-intuitive as of the latest release.

[BlowFish 10]

Hey guys,

 

I'm just chiming in to give an update!

 

Well, I've read Nicolas Darvas's How I made 2,000,000 in the Stock Market & Edwin LeFevre's Reminiscences of a Stock Operator...twice!

 

Excellent reads.

 

That does it for "I. Psychology & Emotions" and now I'm moving on to "II. Reading Price - Theory."

 

So, tomorrow I'll begin by reading Stikky Stock Charts.

 

-Cory

 

I keep coming back to LeFevre must have read it close to a dozen times I guess. Apart from the many many pearls of wisdom there is so much to like about it.

[BlowFish 10]

Yeah, i understand where your coming from. I usually watch 15 and 89 min along with Daily.

5 minute to refine entries.. I think its a complete lack of a decent trading plan with rules for set ups clearly defined. Hence i take everything i see.

Im looking into your posts as the H,L, LH looks interesting.. along with a few other posts...

Cheers

 

Sounds like you know exactly what the problem is Like many things admitting to the problem is the first step. By all means look at a few things to try and find something that resonates with you but at some stage you will need to focus on one thing and really work on that. Siming (or god forbid trading) before then is putting the cart before the horse at best you will simply waste time, at worse you may well pick up bad habits.

 

The advantage of this approach is that it is pretty simple to learn and apply. Of course that will immediately put some people right off it!

[Marko23 10]

What I would love to see is charts that not only are fixed in the Y scale but fixed in the X scale too and fill from the left to right without scrolling.. So the start of the session is at the left side always. Particularly for stocks, indicies and all the pit traded stuff. This is a wee bit more difficult for currency (trading 24 hours)........ pretty much like hand graphing. The advantage is that you can glance at a chart and immediately judge where you are (in price and time) and see changes in pace in a consistent way. You can also see instantly where and when things occured.

 

IB charts work exactly that way. You may start a day as a clean slate.

Edited December 9, 2009 by Marko23
Typo

[thalestrader 14]

Hi Folks,

 

Here's a look at the current EJ. Two possible long entries, but right in the thick of potential resistance.

 

 

This could also be flipped to short as well.

 

I wanted to show how I sometimes take an early entry with a half position from within a chop zone if the swings are clear. I would not take the early entry on the short. The swing of one larger degree was up, so if I go early, it would be in the direction of that swing. Also, an early entry better move favorably immediately or I pull the rip cord and wait for the next opportunity.

 

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[thalestrader 14]

Here's a look at the current EJ. Two possible long entries, but right in the thick of potential resistance.

 

This could also be flipped to short as well.

 

Hi Folks,

 

Sorry about the late post, but the first 20-30 minutes after the open is tough time for me to do anything but scan and get orders off.

 

The EJ short triggered, and attached is how I am looking at the trade.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[thalestrader 14]

The EJ short triggered, and attached is how I am looking at the trade.

 

And just like that a promising start turns into a break even effort.

 

I know that some have not agreed with my stop management, and they feel that I too quickly move to break even. "After all," they argue, "might the EJ not just be testing the break down level? And might it not resume its decline and hit both profit targets?"

 

Yes, of course it might. But it might also keep right on rallying and blast through any natural stop currently sitting above the market. At this point, I no longer care which it does with respect to the short trade that was just concluded. The market gives too many opportunities where my entry is triggered, and price moves smoothly in stair step fashion to my profit targets without ever threatening me with a loss for me to worry about the break even efforts that turn back in my favor.

 

By the way, I se I typed in yesterday's date when I saved a couple of screen shots. Just note that these picturs are of 12/09/2009's price activity.

 

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[BlowFish 10]

IB charts work exactly that way. You may start a day as a clean slate.

 

I use IB too but not there charts. They do improve little by little each release but they still feel 'clunky'. Once in a while I use them to a) See what improvements there are b) To prove a chart is a chart is a chart and c) To not be overly reliant on x y or z tool.

[forrestang 10]

I regret not taking this. It fit my rules EXACTLY for a early morning ES trade. Only thing that had me worried was I thought we were coming into support.

[traderbrazil 10]

And just like that a promising start turns into a break even effort.

 

I know that some have not agreed with my stop management, and they feel that I too quickly move to break even. "After all," they argue, "might the EJ not just be testing the break down level? And might it not resume its decline and hit both profit targets?"

 

Yes, of course it might. But it might also keep right on rallying and blast through any natural stop currently sitting above the market. At this point, I no longer care which it does with respect to the short trade that was just concluded. The market gives too many opportunities where my entry is triggered, and price moves smoothly in stair step fashion to my profit targets without ever threatening me with a loss for me to worry about the break even efforts that turn back in my favor.

 

By the way, I se I typed in yesterday's date when I saved a couple of screen shots. Just note that these picturs are of 12/09/2009's price activity.

 

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

 

Hi Thales,

 

For this specific trade, at what point did you move your stop to BE?

 

Thanks for your help!!!

[thalestrader 14]

Hi Thales,

 

For this specific trade, at what point did you move your stop to BE?

 

Thanks for your help!!!

 

I would have gone to BE if price had printed at 128.89, which is reprsented by the dotted magenta line in the picture. However, I went to break even once price traded to a lower low after the first reaction against the trade.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales