Quote from PoundTheRock:
Few people have the will and drive to study intraday price action for years... but a funny thing happens along the way. What happens is that a full-blown framework emerges, as the market swings from one level to another. Take a couple of moving averages for trend, some bands for mean reversion, and throw in key S&R -- and all of a sudden it's magic, but only after much study of how the market reacts above/below/around these levels.
If you have the stamina to grasp choppy markets, then you achieve knowledge that others will not bother trying to understand -- there is an underlying microstructure, and you're part of a small fraternity. All of a sudden, what seems to be a muddle becomes clear as day -- day after day.
If you want to play the orchestra, then you need to understand both dimensions of time and instrument. What are the ES, NQ, and YM doing on a daily, 30-minute, and 5-minute basis, for example? Which is the leader, and which is the laggard? Which are hitting key resistance? Which are touching key support? What starts to happen is that you flow from level to level (the closest thread is Jack Hershey's SCT) in an effortless manner.
Finally, I have to believe that Cody Willard loved the movie Pi because of its entertaining notion of an ultimate market key -- that's what everyone wants. But I think the movie was all about Max's search and drive, and his countless hours of devotion to the craft. You can work hard all your life and never find the Holy Grail of trading, but you can come pretty damn close.
