The ACD Method

Quote from Maverick74:

Like kingdong said (can't believe I'm saying that), you have to be able to trade first and foremost. ACD is not a red light/green light system and that is where people struggle with it. ACD to me works best for price action traders and tape readers because ACD is all about price action.

So take gold for example, if I'm trading gold, I'm also watching the euro, oil, spoos and silver. I'm also watching the ACD on those products and what they are doing. Are the spoos strong? Are commodities strong, are they confirming A ups? Is silver stronger then gold? If so why? What are the macro signals, is Gold trending up, has it been sluggish? How is it responding to news?

All these things are very important. As far as the ACD details, ACD is about three things, time, price and volatility. If Gold is making an A up, it doesn't need to stay above the A up for half the OR time, I would like to see it there at the end of the time period. And again, even if it confirms I may not take the long. Because it really depends on how price is acting. This is why you need to be a good trader. You can't just buy it there. You have to look at all the other factors I mentioned above.

As far as the C down. Mark would do those late day C down trades and hold them overnight expecting a gap the next day. This is usually a good trade because it's usually a market reversal day. When you get a really good strong signal and the market is strong all day then late in the day, rolls over, makes a new low and closes below the C down. There are a lot of longs trapped that were buying the dip late in the day that got stuck and now need to get out. They are hoping the uptrend resumes the next day. If it doesn't, then they need to get out fast. That is usually a good overnight trade. Again, though with everything else, you need to look at all the other factors. ACD is not a magic formula. But if you are a price action trader, there is nothing better out there because it captures the three dimensions of trading perfectly (time, price and volatility).

good post, the last sentence is key. Not too many gurus out there talking about time stops, if you're stop is .20 on one crude contract and you are long expecting a breakout, to me getting out with a .10 cent loss is a win. Hard to teach a new trader that as they can only think about the $$ in front of them. To me most of what is in the Fish's book is about being on the right side of a trend day, and living to tell about it if you are on the other side. Enclosed is a vix chart for edification, just to remind that the market is not constrained by our limited thinking.
 

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I more or less discuss the acd method in my blog...I use two of his indicators opening range/pivot and trade off of it.

I finally was able to grasp markets after reading fisher's logical trader...

I attempt to solidify the idea in my blog...opening range theory etc...

http://theopeningrange.blogspot.com/
 
Quote from red2893:

I more or less discuss the acd method in my blog...I use two of his indicators opening range/pivot and trade off of it.

I finally was able to grasp markets after reading fisher's logical trader...

I attempt to solidify the idea in my blog...opening range theory etc...

http://theopeningrange.blogspot.com/

Nice blog and helpful. Thanks.
 
Has anyone noticed and resolved how to deal with this challenge on ACD?

Has anyone noticed that is trading ACD, the issue of what to do when a significant narrow range day gets taken before the opening range is even set? It makes for a confusing dilemma. Which gets priority? I am finding the one which triggers first, since both are valid in volatility trading. Take the ES for example today. Per Mark's video, you would use the stock market open 9:30-9:50 ET and then 3.5 above that but high of the previous day already triggered a long off the NR7 breakout. I have seen this in other markets as well

I guess it comes down to which S/R is more relevant at what time?
 

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Does anyone clear through fishers firm, MBF? I plan on going to NYC next month to meet with some people at the nymex about leasing a membership and also in search off a clearing firm, I was planning on contacting MBF. I know all you need to open an account with them is 100k plus data/cqg or tt...are all their traders (that don't do marks prop stuff) just remote, or do they have an office/trading room that all their guys trade from? I'll be contacting the firm, but I'm just curious if anyone has done business with them and has some feedback?

As for ACD, the opening range time value really is irrelevant, in my opinion. If you understand the concept of ACD and volatility, you can really use any opening range or A value. For example, last night, I was bullish on nat gas(I thought we would be getting an upside breakout). So I was watching the mkt around 8pmCT (Asia opening). I just used the high low from 7-8 pm, then used 10 ticks plus or minus to give me some A values...the low from that time period was also the low of the day, and because I was bullish, I just put on the trade with a stop under my low opening range low, also looking to add if we made an Aup...that trade put me in like a 12 tick stop, so I "doubled down"...I'm thinking nat gas was going to make a big move, so if I can get a 15 tick stop, time to "maximize size", so I bought 6, the position kinda started working and just still to the next 6 hours, and over that time I just added 4, with the same stop...I'm risking 10-15 to catch a 100 tick move (you have to take that bet). The market didn't go my way, trading opened NYc trade with an OR above my stop then fell through, I still got out, took a 10 tick stop, but the mkt proceeded to fall 150 points....if I had balls I should have flipped short on mg stop, with a stop over my opening range from that night, but I hit my daily loss limit and I don't want to sell nat gas cause I'm bullish on it long term...but the concept of ACD always gets you into good trades or minimizes your risk if your wrong, if I would have flipped and got short, that's a C down with a 15 tick stop and potential profit of 150 ticks...why I didn't take the trade, that's my disciple problem, not acd not working (or not knowing what the a value should be...)
 
You can really use any time period that has high volatility ( or a big order being filled), then just use that as your "opening range" value, then create some a and c values around that...just think about it, someone is aggressively going to the mkt to fill a large order, if the mkt is going to trend in that direction and he's looking to buy more, the mkt should not trade the other side of that "opening range" without turning bias the other way. It's such a simple concept yet overlooked by 99% of the ppl in the market. I know when I'm trading on cqg and bored, and just need my fix, I'll just take the high low of any given period and create an A C D value around it to trade a breakout...this is a terrible trade cause I'm just trading to trade, but the method of understanding volatility and acd works to get you in and place your stop...

His page on "good news bad action" is probably one of the best concepts in the book as well...
 
Quote from jsmooth:

You can really use any time period that has high volatility ( or a big order being filled), then just use that as your "opening range" value, then create some a and c values around that...just think about it, someone is aggressively going to the mkt to fill a large order, if the mkt is going to trend in that direction and he's looking to buy more, the mkt should not trade the other side of that "opening range" without turning bias the other way. It's such a simple concept yet overlooked by 99% of the ppl in the market. I know when I'm trading on cqg and bored, and just need my fix, I'll just take the high low of any given period and create an A C D value around it to trade a breakout...this is a terrible trade cause I'm just trading to trade, but the method of understanding volatility and acd works to get you in and place your stop...

His page on "good news bad action" is probably one of the best concepts in the book as well...

Right and good points. I just figured since I had access to the subscription, and he claims its optimized why not use his settings.
 
Quote from jsmooth:

Does anyone clear through fishers firm, MBF? I plan on going to NYC next month to meet with some people at the nymex about leasing a membership and also in search off a clearing firm, I was planning on contacting MBF. I know all you need to open an account with them is 100k plus data/cqg or tt...are all their traders (that don't do marks prop stuff) just remote, or do they have an office/trading room that all their guys trade from? I'll be contacting the firm, but I'm just curious if anyone has done business with them and has some feedback?


I went to NY and met Mark a few years back. Very nice and approachable guy. Just shoot him an e-mail before you go up. I spent some time in his office. I didn't really see any independent guys there although I'm sure for a cost you could share some space. Mark has a small office in Miami in a Condo high rise and another in Long Island. Are you thinking about moving to NY?

Let me know when you want to grab that beer and talk ACD.
 
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