Al Brooks method

Dollardogs said:
I'll give you one thing: that's certainly less cryptic than Al Brooks! But still cryptic. So let me try to cobble together what I glean from him and from you. The basic definition of a High 1 is a candle that closes above the prior candle during a pullback. High 2 would be if it happens twice. That would by definition produce an upward wedge/flag, right? One followup question that is painfully simple: is Brooks suggesting High1s and High2s are good entry points during a PB?

I've gone thru two of his books carefully by now, but the Trading Ranges one is so poorly written I'm not buying another. He often relies on terminology for several chapters before simply defining it, which really isn't a whole lot to ask. Like his videos though.
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Loosely defined, a wedge can be any third thrust in a move and markets like to move in three's. A well shaped wedge as in the channel line above the highs are of a lesser slope than that of the lows is more suggestive of an impending reversal than trend continuation. As far as trading ranges, I stay out of them unless the range is fairly wide and the legs within well defined IOW, trends within the range in which case I trade them as trends but paying attention to the upper and lower ranges for exits as range breakouts usually fail.

Advice I often give to developing trades is to simply observe price development over many hours. Don't trade, even in simulation as there should be no emotional involvement with the result of any trade. It's a good way to understand price behavior. "Setups" require the understanding of context in which they occur For those with day jobs, most good platforms provide replay capability.
 
Dollardogs said:
Yes and no, Hougaard advocates a 20/80 focus (20% on technical analysis, 80% on mindset/psychology). Longer I trade, more I come around to thinking he's dead right. Hougaard also swears by Al Brooks' method of TA, think they've even done some seminars together as well.
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Yep, there are a lot more competent technicians than profitable traders. Behavior is where the rubber hits the road.
 
Dollardogs said:
Yes and no, Hougaard advocates a 20/80 focus (20% on technical analysis, 80% on mindset/psychology). Longer I trade, more I come around to thinking he's dead right. Hougaard also swears by Al Brooks' method of TA, think they've even done some seminars together as well.
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If you look closely, you’ll find that’s kind of what I wrote earlier, so thanks. As for his swearing by Brooks’s method, I could use a link if you have one. While I liked Hougaard’s book, Brooks’s first book is the only one I ever returned to Amazon for a refund in all the years I have been ordering books from them. You couldn’t pay me to read his followups.
 
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Frederick Foresight said:
If you look closely, you’ll find that’s kind of what I wrote earlier, so thanks. As for his swearing by Brooks’s method, I could use a link if you have one. While I liked Hougaard’s book, Brooks’s first book is the only one I ever returned to Amazon for a refund in all the years I have been ordering books from them. You couldn’t pay me to read his followups.
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It was in a recent podcast episode of "Trading Nut" where Brooks came up and he talked about his admiration for his methods.
 
Dollardogs said:
One followup question that is painfully simple: is Brooks suggesting High1s and High2s are good entry points during a PB?
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Painfully simple & Brooks don't really go together.

In my opinion, if you're going to study Brooks it would be beneficial to be all in and learn/accept his reasoning for why things happen the way they happen regardless of what you may or may not know. It doesn't matter if it's factually correct or not because it will help you apply context to what price is doing.

What does that mean? Context matters and if you just buy or sell H2/L2's on stops every day you're going to lose money. Pay attention to what limit order traders are doing...bar by bar (HAH, had to do it).

Some things you have to accept when studying his work are markets are fractal, most breakouts fail, strong moves get second legs which tend to become traps, the market is rarely in a strong trend, and trading ranges are forgiving.

Good luck
 
Georpe said:
Painfully simple & Brooks don't really go together.

In my opinion, if you're going to study Brooks it would be beneficial to be all in and learn/accept his reasoning for why things happen the way they happen regardless of what you may or may not know. It doesn't matter if it's factually correct or not because it will help you apply context to what price is doing.

What does that mean? Context matters and if you just buy or sell H2/L2's on stops every day you're going to lose money. Pay attention to what limit order traders are doing...bar by bar (HAH, had to do it).

Some things you have to accept when studying his work are markets are fractal, most breakouts fail, strong moves get second legs which tend to become traps, the market is rarely in a strong trend, and trading ranges are forgiving.

Good luck
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This is probably the best reply I've ever gotten on here, thanks! Also the bar by bar joke got me good.
 
Dollardogs said:
Here let me save you hundreds of dollars. Just buy the Reading Price Charts one. It's almost clear and distills what the other 3 pretend to do in more depth.
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No thanks. Got plenty of more useful {to me} trading books.

Al is for the YouTubey looking to make a killing folks.
 
Came across this brief video during my YT travels:


Although, as I mentioned previously, Brooks' (first) book is the only one I ever returned to Amazon, after reading about 150 pages, what he said in the video resonated with me. I presently only trade one market, and I have my best days following a single time frame. And then I run into trouble trying to follow one or two additional time frames in the same chart hoping to get more setups. And then I'm back to the one again. And so on. So I think he has something there.

But, here's the part I have some trouble with. He follows the 5-minute chart, and in the video at about the 1:45 mark, he says that his single chart typically offers him about 20 potential limit order trades and 10-15 potential stop entry trades. With a 5-minute chart and during a single session?! Perhaps I'm not very dynamic, but I just don't see how that many setups can be generated in a day on a 5-minute chart. In my own modest trading, I use a considerably shorter time frame and get notably fewer clean and clear setups. That in itself means nothing, of course. As I said, I'm not very dynamic. But you would think that with so many potential setups that Brooks would do a few live calls in his chat forums rather than just provide color commentary on the goings on moment to moment. At least that's what some people commented on; I have never visited his chats.

Just saying.
 
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