Price Action

[sanchez 10]

I am new to posting in forums. I trade using PA & Volume. My focus is primarily on the mini ES but I look at some currency futures as well. I can trade often so it might be too difficult to post real time so I might just speak about areas of interest...we'll see how it goes. If there is an interest in hearing my thoughts that is great & if not then this will just be an online journal so to speak.

Thoughts & comments are welcome in a positive and constructive manner.

Good trading to all.

 

Sanchez

[sanchez 10]

contract rollover tomorrow, beige book at 2 and Bernanke at 4. Not expecting to do too much trading anymore today but I've said that before.

[Zan-shin 10]

I would certainly be interested to read how you trade using price action and volume.

[sanchez 10]

I would certainly be interested to read how you trade using price action and volume.

 

Good deal. I won't go over the trades I have taken, or attempted to take, so far this AM unless you feel it would be useful. Mkt is slow right now and rollover tomorrow will probably cause me to alter some of my trade decisions for a few days as equalization plays out.

 

I will be as clear as possible when I post. Maybe need to post an abbreviation page at some point but just let me know if I'm not making sense :doh:

 

As I mentioned in my 1st post, I am new to posting in forums & might take some time to get into the swing of it, so please bear with me.

 

WHAT I DO:

 

I only day trade and hold no positions over night. While having a bigger picture view of the mkt, I will trade on both sides. In my view, the trend is only the trend until it's not & this varies for everyone. These are just my views and opinions but I truly believe that what I am looking at is the driving force behind price movement, as I trade it.

 

I have been trading for a long time & I have had to go through many transitions along the way. From the floor to the screens and all the rule changes and regulations, it always seems to be a work in progress but my basic core belief, from being on the other side, never changes.I am looking for areas of heavy/light volume in coordination with PA to help time my entries. Sometimes I will take high risk trades but if I can time my entry well enough to keep my stops tight, the R/R can be great and I am not expecting a 90% win rate....nor do I need/expect it.

 

I have good days and bad days like any other trader. How I deal with them has been the key to my success as a trader...that's 90% of the game imo...& I'm being generous. If anything I say or do helps someone along the way that would be great! I'm not looking for or inviting confrontations with other traders as I understand that everyone looks at the mkt a bit different & my way is not the only way. If we can just agree to disagree, that would be fine.

 

Good Trading To All

[Zan-shin 10]

Good deal. I won't go over the trades I have taken, or attempted to take, so far this AM unless you feel it would be useful.

I am looking forward to reading your posts. An explanation of your entry and exit criteria would be useful if that it possible. Thanks

[erierambler 10]

 

I will be as clear as possible when I post.

 

Good Trading To All

 

Would you be interested in meeting in chat tomorrow morning? Just click on chat at the top of the page on Traders Laboratory.

 

erie

[sanchez 10]

tomorrow should be interesting as rollover days usually are. Will post a bit but a lot of things I look at, are skewed by the equalization. If I am too aggr then I may get chopped to death...we'll see how it goes. We also have unemployment # tomorrow 8:30 AM est

[sanchez 10]

Would you be interested in meeting in chat tomorrow morning? Just click on chat at the top of the page on Traders Laboratory.

 

erie

 

How does the chat work? Is it specific to this thread ? Sounds cool:cool:

[erierambler 10]

How does the chat work? Is it specific to this thread ? Sounds cool:cool:

 

Just click on link that says chat on top of page and it opens in another window. You can familiar yourself with it now. Type in message at bottom of the new page and hit arrow . It is not specific to this thread.

 

erie

[sanchez 10]

Just click on link that says chat on top of page and it opens in another window. You can familiar yourself with it now. Type in message at bottom of the new page and hit arrow . It is not specific to this thread.

 

erie

 

OK...looks like there is an option to create a room. Might be something to think about as I do not use indicators/oscillators & not sure how active the room is. We'll see how it goes.

[Simple 10]

Sanchez,

 

I see that your favorite markets are futures and currencies. You also use heavy or light volume to trigger PA trade activity.

 

What source do you use for Currency volume and how effective do you believe it to be? I ask because I saw a post on FF today where someone claimed that (Alpari) volume triggered their action on XAUUSD but someone else posted a gold futures chart that showed normal volume during the period alpari showed 2-3x normal daily volume.

[Jumper 10]

on what sort of time-frame do you trade? and by price action you mean what? "price action" is different with every trader I have met. Do you mean a 1 minute chart with just your candles/bars on it and volume?

 

Interested to read your posts too, so keep going

[sanchez 10]

Sanchez,

 

I see that your favorite markets are futures and currencies. You also use heavy or light volume to trigger PA trade activity.

 

What source do you use for Currency volume and how effective do you believe it to be? I ask because I saw a post on FF today where someone claimed that (Alpari) volume triggered their action on XAUUSD but someone else posted a gold futures chart that showed normal volume during the period alpari showed 2-3x normal daily volume.

 

sorry for the delay but rollover data is not equalized and I can't trade like this. Just trying to sort things out.

 

I trade the currencies on the CME not forex so the volume data is stable and reliable, imo. I'm not familiar with vol data that comes though forex brokers so I really have no idea. That is the main reason I trade the currencies and not the forex. I believe esgnal now has composite vol data from approx. 32 sources but it is only tick data and not true volume

[sanchez 10]

on what sort of time-frame do you trade? and by price action you mean what? "price action" is different with every trader I have met. Do you mean a 1 minute chart with just your candles/bars on it and volume?

 

Interested to read your posts too, so keep going

 

Jumper,

I usually take my entries off small TF charts....1 min for example but it is really what I see on the DOM as price approaches my areas of interest. The S/R areas overall, are what is important though. If I see price approaching at 100 mph, I'm not going to stand in it's way. I will look for what I think is exhaustion & equalization of buyers and sellers. Sometimes it means getting a 2-3 tick better fill or passing on the trade altogether. If I know I am taking a Counter Trend trade, then the entry is very important. If it's a pullback in a trend then I can be a bit more liberal.

 

The key is to have all the ducks in a row so the only thing I need to focus on is the entry. I know where my stop is going to be, I know if it's a trend or CT trade so PT's are already in sight. I know where S/R levels are etc. IMO, there is nothing worse for a trader then to have to be making too many decisions once in a trade. I figure it out first, to the best of my ability & then take my losses and gains. Once I am in a trade, I have an expectancy for that setup & if it doesn't develop the way I think it should for that setup then I get more aggr. with my stops and squeeze out the risk....there is always another trade imo.

 

I agree that PA can be interpreted differently with each trader so let me try to explain a bit. I look at PA on a daily chart right down to "100 tick" charts. It's the volume associated at price levels that get my curiosity & that is when I begin to micro manage PA for an entry. So, by definition, PA changes for me between time frames but to me PA is very specific as to the TF chart I am looking at. I guess you can say it's about context.

 

I will try to explain as I go along. Hope this helps.

 

just got an email from my platform techs...lets see if I can get this data straightened out:crap:

[Jumper 10]

Yeah that helps alot, thanks.

 

What do you look for/see on the DOM? Are you just quick in and out of positions, quick scalps? or longer than that?

[sanchez 10]

Yeah that helps alot, thanks.

 

What do you look for/see on the DOM? Are you just quick in and out of positions, quick scalps? or longer than that?

 

The DOM is hard to explain in a few sentences but here's my deal, if you will...

 

I look for s/r levels based on vol @ price. I use these levels to make trade decisions when price gets to those areas. If we are in a tight range I will scalp...scale out and keep stops tight. If we are in range expansion....I will be a bit more patient and look at the bigger picture.

 

I let PA dictate how I should manage my trades. I'm not always right and I don't expect or want to always be right...that's too much pressure lol. Anyway, I don't stare at the DOM ot time and sales all day...just when price reaches areas of interest to me. Then I look for balance or imbalance, as I perceive it. The only decision at that moment in time is whether to enter or not.

 

Hope this makes sense

 

sorry for the delayed response but I'm still dealing with rollover BS:doh:

[Jumper 10]

Ok great, thanks for that. I try to watch DOM and T&S also, as well as tick charts, tonight I seem to be seeing things pretty well off T&S. Anyway, I'm looking forward to more of your posts, and no need to apologize!

Edited June 10, 2010 by Jumper
adjusted tend to try :)

[sanchez 10]

data is finally correct. I took a few trades but kept things tight. From my perspective, things will begin to normalize more by Mon-Tues.

Unemploy # came out today but I guess no body cares about them anymore.

tomorrow we have retail #'s so lets see if that creates some opportunity

[Jumper 10]

You mentioned about looking for volume @ price and seeing how it reacts there right? What do you use for that? Do you have a histogram in your DOM or some kind of ladder on your chart, like market profile?

[sanchez 10]

You mentioned about looking for volume @ price and seeing how it reacts there right? What do you use for that? Do you have a histogram in your DOM or some kind of ladder on your chart, like market profile?

 

I profile vol on the chart. I use various combination's though. I am interested in the recent swings and also intra day profiles. I find the combo pretty strong

[AmCan1 10]

Hi guys,

 

I'm a newbie to TL and found this thread to be interesting. Mainly because (and forgive me if I have misinterpretted) it seems to me that you are a very instinctive trader who trades with a feel for his market vs. a set system with defined rules. There are so many ways to approach trading and most people fail at it. It's refreshing to read about someone who trades by feel -- successfully. It's in contrast to the way I trade. I typically will manually backtest a system with clear rules. Once I have confidence in the system, I find the structured approach makes it easier to remain disciplined and that keeps me on a steady profitable track. Not sure if this comment adds anything valuable to this thread though. I just was thinking about the whole notion of 'feel and instinct' vs 'a structured system.'

[sanchez 10]

AmCan1,

I do use instinct to some degree (tape reading) but I do have rules and a trading plan> trading plans are different for everyone & mine is no exception. My plan doesn't have a rigid entry and exit technique as you might know it. For eg. I am not waiting for some kind of candle pattern at the 61.8 retrace and taking a trade one tick above the high of the pivot candle.

 

I won't say I trade by feel because I am looking for pre defined areas of S/R but I make me determination as to where or what price to enter. So if my level for a long, for eg., is 1065.5-1067 I won't just rest a limit order there but instead I will wait until price reaches my area of interest and look inside at PA to determine whether or not to take the trade.

 

I do have structure but maybe not how it's taught in a book. As a trader there is a certain instict but rules are important. The # 1 rule is ....take your stops like a pro & move on. If a trade isn't working, just get out. W/O this rule the odds are stacked against you.

 

I hope this makes sense

[sanchez 10]

going to start with these #'s for now. Tough AM for now as I'm just getting settled with the rollover. 2 trades so far, both shorts...each worked for a +1 pt on 1/2 position and -1 pt on the bal...so BE for now. the most recent trade was a short at 78.75 after the gap filled.

 

upside 78.25 and 83, 88

 

downside 73.75-71, 67, 64

[sanchez 10]

watching 96.5 and 1100 as well

[sanchez 10]

short 83.75 ......................