Quote from blufftrader:
Im sorry but I dont understand how can you trade without charts
Yes - I now - good point.
For most conventional traders, there are a lot of things that I do that are not understood, or misunderstood. Trading without charts was the best move I've ever made. I still have customized charts but they look nothing like what you might be familiar with.
I love it, because I don't suffer from the emotional chart effect that often times drums up too much emotion.
The biggest difference is that I trade on what "needs to happen next", as opposed to "what has already happened".
Most people in this business are reactionary traders. They are reacting to what has already happened. At the core, that is called âtrend tradingâ. I donât trade trends; I trade the components that make up the trend. I go inside the trend and see where it is going, before it gets there, which is why I am typically hours to days ahead of the rest of the market depending on which trade profile Iâm using at the time. Iâm always out in front of the market to some degree. Sometimes, way out in front â other times, just a few minutes out in front. It all depends on what my system tells me and where it places me.
I donât trade where price âhas beenâ, I trade where price âneeds to go nextâ in order to continue being what it is. This is why traditional charts are of no use to me.
So, in my trading world, I donât see how I could trade
with charts.

The exact inverse of what most do. All you have to do, is take a close look at all the trader that are now sitting on the sidelines with the EURUSD
waiting for some âlevelâ to break. Iâve been Short since last week if the truth be told, but that is in another trade journal and I did not want to commingle to two here.
The reason you see 10 minute and 15 minute volatility (as I projected yesterday) is because many are on the sidelines and some are testing the waters Short, while others are still attempting to âbuy bottomsâ. Eventually, those attempting to âbuy bottomsâ will jump in the Short train while those sitting on the sidelines waiting for a break of some âlevelâ, will re-enter the market Short. That is when you will see the price action become more
linear.
But, it is very important to be clear about what we mean when we say âtradeâ. A trade is what you make of it. It could be 3 minutes in duration or it could be 3 months in duration, or any time-frame in between. So, while my post in response to you is focused around the time-frames that I am interested in, those same comments might not apply to one with a longer or shorter time-frame for âtheir tradeâ.
Much of what we do in this business is very subjective. I trade net a specific number of pips each 24 hour cycle. If I donât get those pips, I make a decision to either Hold and convert into a Swing profile, or liquidate my Day Trade and wait for the next 24 hr signal. No charts are ever used to make those decisions. I use a decision support application to generate all of my trade profiles â it looks similar to Windows application but it is rather unique and designed for a very specific task. There is a fair amount of technology that stands behind the trade profiles shown here. I see them on my screen in a GUI while you see them here typed on screen. There is a big difference between what Iâm looking at and what I can show you here in this journal. There are also other Graphical Indicators that I can see as well, that talk to me about the health, status and condition of any trade in real-time 24/7.
There is quite a bit going on behind the scenes but Iâve posted pics of what the system looks like on other sites before, so some people do understand that no charts are involved in decision making. I use my custom charts only as visual tools for confirming moves, but thatâs about all they are good for.