Al Brooks Trading Best Pice Action

IMHO -

Al Brooks is one of the few people in this industry that I really respect. All you have to do is read his book or watch one of his videos, that are free on the net, and you can see he can actually read a chart.

He is a genius and a savant. That all said, I do not agree with everything he does because I feel he looks at his charts through opaque glasses. He see trends, ranges, entries and exits better than 95% of the traders out there but he could be better.

I don't agree with him that all charts environments are alike. Time, Tick, Range and Volume bar charts are absolutely nothing alike and they each act uniquely.He says he doesn't like other chart environments because they lack structure but volume charts are THE most structured charts at a traders disposal. Especially when your charting software has a counter, counting down till the volume on the bar is exhausted and the bar closes.

I don't agree with him that chart patterns are not perfect. Your chart environment can make the pattern perfectly consistent.

He says he doesn't use indicators but his candlesticks ARE indicators. They indicate; trend, range, entries and exits for him. Once he admits that to himself a whole new world will open up to him.

Lastly he omits all overnight trades from his charts and his view which is silly. Successful trading is comprised of successful problem solving and it is impossible to be consistent with your decisions while omitting a segment of your decision data. He admittedly reads each bar but purposely omits the bar data which leads up to his beginning decision bars each day. This will skew the decision making process because it makes all the follow bars after the open inconsistent or off balanced.
 
Quote from ProfLogic:

Al Brooks is one of the few people in this industry that I really respect. All you have to do is read his book or watch one of his videos, that are free on the net, and you can see he can actually read a chart.

Lastly he omits all overnight trades from his charts and his view which is silly. Successful trading is comprised of successful problem solving and it is impossible to be consistent with your decisions while omitting a segment of your decision data. He admittedly reads each bar but purposely omits the bar data which leads up to his beginning decision bars each day. This will skew the decision making process because it makes all the follow bars after the open inconsistent or off balanced.
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Absolutely.

I also used to pay little attention to the globex session when I first started trading the ES and after reading Al`s thoughts on the subject that certainly did not improve that. I later learned that the globex session includes very important reference points for an ES day trader and it improved my results tremendously when I started paying attention to these levels. He also basically says that we should not pay too much attention to measured moves, magnets, etc, but a lot of that stuff is highly beneficial to me.

Anyways, I`m willing to start experimenting with volume bars.

Do you analyze volume-charts in the same way you would with a time based chart?

I feel that my grasp of the 5-minute chart is very good now, that`s why I`m a little hesitant to start watching something completely new, but I`m always looking to improve and volume-charts have been on my list of stuff to research for a long time now :)
 
Quote from Laissez Faire:

Absolutely.
I also used to pay little attention to the globex session when I first started trading the ES and after reading Al`s thoughts on the subject that certainly did not improve that. I later learned that the globex session includes very important reference points for an ES day trader and it improved my results tremendously when I started paying attention to these levels. He also basically says that we should not pay too much attention to measured moves, magnets, etc, but a lot of that stuff is highly beneficial to me.
Anyways, I`m willing to start experimenting with volume bars.
Do you analyze volume-charts in the same way you would with a time based chart?
I feel that my grasp of the 5-minute chart is very good now, that`s why I`m a little hesitant to start watching something completely new, but I`m always looking to improve and volume-charts have been on my list of stuff to research for a long time now :)
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Look, if you have something that works for you now. Don't completely abandon it. Baby steps.

You analyze volume bars the same way you are now.

First figure out what the average volume of the symbol you trade produces each day.

Next pick a day that produces roughly that amount of volume.

Next count the bars on your 5 minute chart for that particular day.

Next take that number and divide it into the amount of volume that day. This will be the size of your volume bars. Create a volume bar chart with that amount of volume per bar.

Now as volume increases or decreases each day the patterns on the chart will work the same.

If you are using a 5 minute chart (scalp chart) don't every make the bar volume smaller because that will speed the chart up. This will increase the noise and make the chart harder to trade. If you ever adjust the volume over time, make the volume per bar larger. This is how you make a swing or position chart.

Once you have a volume figured out to duplicate your 5 min. chart, post it and I will try to help you create a swing or position chart too.
 
Quote from ProfLogic:

Look, if you have something that works for you now. Don't completely abandon it. Baby steps.

You analyze volume bars the same way you are now.

First figure out what the average volume of the symbol you trade produces each day.

Next pick a day that produces roughly that amount of volume.

Next count the bars on your 5 minute chart for that particular day.

Next take that number and divide it into the amount of volume that day. This will be the size of your volume bars. Create a volume bar chart with that amount of volume per bar.

Now as volume increases or decreases each day the patterns on the chart will work the same.

If you are using a 5 minute chart (scalp chart) don't every make the bar volume smaller because that will speed the chart up. This will increase the noise and make the chart harder to trade. If you ever adjust the volume over time, make the volume per bar larger. This is how you make a swing or position chart.

Once you have a volume figured out to duplicate your 5 min. chart, post it and I will try to help you create a swing or position chart too.
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This is the first time I've seen a description of your volume based chart. It doesn't appear to me that this chart is an improvement over what you start out with. For one thing, on your chart, determining the pace of bars will be done by an eyeballing of how quickly the bars are forming. For another, although you seem to strive for some uniformity, the number of bars in a day will vary from day to day. 81 is a nice constant on the 5m bar chart.

Do you recalibrate when the market changes gears during the year? (With the stock index futures, specifically.)
 
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