Experienced futures scalpers: Chart or DOM

Quote from MoneyWalks:

I should say that a chart it's only tracking the past; it does not predict the future. You have to use your own intelligence to draw conclusions about what the past activity of some traders may say about the future activity of other traders.

People think that chart data analysis is unreliable because they tend to pick the one thing they are comfortable with. The problem is that no single technical approach works all the time. You have to know when to use each method. It is experience and gut feel what makes one know when to use each approach.

I should say that a chart helps only those who can read it or rather who can assimilate what they read.

Correctly reading a chart is not something that can easily be taught. and over time I'm under the impression that it is more of an art form than a science.

Best Regards
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I have no argument with this, thanks. I agree Chart reading is a subjective art--- prior to PC's and clean data flows it was really all traders had to work with-- but now, to use a PC's power to draw charts makes little sense when that power can be directed to order flow, tape reading----things that happen prior to the print on the chart-- edge is structural not guesing from the past. Many traders are stuck in the past---
 
Quote from marketsurfer:

I have no argument with this, thanks. I agree Chart reading is a subjective art--- prior to PC's and clean data flows it was really all traders had to work with-- but now, to use a PC's power to draw charts makes little sense when that power can be directed to order flow, tape reading----things that happen prior to the print on the chart-- edge is structural not guesing from the past. Many traders are stuck in the past---
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You may be right, but only in relation to HFT. As for longer-term plays, confirmation of past trades can and does provide very good information about what is likely going to happen next.

I am sure you are aware that no large orders are executed all at once and that many large traders act in a very similar manner to the information they get prior to their trades.
 
Quote from marketsurfer:

Order flow is by far the most important aspect, Order Flow is just one thing not shown by "charts"--- how someone can say post transactional data has value because it tells everything that happens in the market is an oxymoron. It does tell what happened, but by then you are merely betting that whatever happened continues to happen or stops---pretransactional data happens while there is still time to effect the outcome which is your profit or loss, Everyone has the computer power to analyse the right data, but they would rather use it in a backwards way. I AM DISMAYED, but now know where the money comes from. surf
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Surf, what you are missing is that "what happened" provides clues to what may happen next if price moves to a particular level. Life is full of levels beyond which people who held onto a conviction will either say "F*ck it, I'm outta here" or risk serious injury or death. Price charts show places where one team is likely to say "f*ck it" and either join the other team or run away. This reaction is likely to produce a strong directional price movement. Anyone with solid pattern recognition skills and a superb work ethic can learn to recognize these high probability pattern/context combos, and any of these people who then master a trader's mindset can profit regularly from trading them.

I started this thread to get feedback from experienced traders who've entered orders from a DOM as well as from the chart itself to get comparisons of the methods and alert me to some things I may want to watch out for trading directly on the chart (which I'd not done before until this weekend in sim).

As a CL scalper the single-click of the DOM is a huge plus, but the ability to immediately see key levels when I pace an order on the chart is very helpful. My first trade this morning was a loser only because I was focused on my procedure and missed a contextual clue that would've immediately been apparent if I'd gone to place my order on the chart itself.

I'm intrigued by the on-chart trading, but will need quite a bit more sim experience before making a decision to change.
 
Very interesting, NoD how we seem to evolve towards each other. :)

I used to trade from charts for years, now so happy to use DOM to enter NQ orders (still adjust already placed orders/stop-losses on open trades from charts though), cause on the DOM i quicker see the exact price levels and don't have to second-check if I place the order where I want, just need to remember the number and click it on the DOM. Voila! :)
 
Quote from cornixforex:

Very interesting, NoD how we seem to evolve towards each other. :)

I used to trade from charts for years, now so happy to use DOM to enter NQ orders (still adjust already placed orders/stop-losses on open trades from charts though), cause on the DOM i quicker see the exact price levels and don't have to second-check if I place the order where I want, just need to remember the number and click it on the DOM. Voila! :)
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Yes, I'm really programmed to keep the numbers in my head and single-click the DOM. Not sure how badly I want to reprogram myself, ha ha!
 
Quote from NoDoji:

I'm an intraday scalper trading CL and ES (10-25 trades daily) using a DOM to place and manage trades. I'm considering switching to trading directly on the chart.

I'm looking for feedback from experienced (>3 years) intraday futures scalpers who've traded on a DOM and directly on a chart comparing the pros and cons of the two methods.
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I trade the TF on multiple tick charts. 144 being the shortest which I use only for entries.

DOM trading is the only way I will trade. Averaging 2 points a day with 2 trades max within an hour time frame - so I'm not a scalper.
 
Quote from MoneyWalks:

I should say that a chart it's only tracking the past; it does not predict the future. You have to use your own intelligence to draw conclusions about what the past activity of some traders may say about the future activity of other traders.

People think that chart data analysis is unreliable because they tend to pick the one thing they are comfortable with. The problem is that no single technical approach works all the time. You have to know when to use each method. It is experience and gut feel what makes one know when to use each approach.

I should say that a chart helps only those who can read it or rather who can assimilate what they read.

Correctly reading a chart is not something that can easily be taught. and over time I'm under the impression that it is more of an art form than a science.

Best Regards
More...

Your post is copied from an interview in a Market Wizard book. You should have the decency to make the appropriate attribute.
 
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