The ACD Method

Quote from jsmooth:

Too keep this acd discussion going, you may want to look into this setup...the past month, with the markets just inching higher each day (and not really any range expansion). _Breakout strategies, acd- a up type setups - aren't really working. _I've been doing this and it's been quite effective to buying dips and adding to them for a 2-3 day swing trade. _Find a stock...note the opening for the year/month, week, day and fishers pivot point formula. _Find a stock that's sold off and it's trading near/above the year (and month) opening price...the next trading day, this level should serve as a long term support to put this on....let the stock open, note the opening print and the days PP (and pivot high-low). _You want the stock to open down from the OR, but not trade below the year/month opening level (or if it does, trade below and have a failed a down type action. _If that happens note the current days low and place buy limit orders above the mkt right above the days opening range and pivot point (which should be just above the day OR value)...if you get hit place a stop below the days low or a mental stop if it makes an a down. _If it makes an a up, start adding to the long and moving stop below the days opening price. _You would be surprised how effect this trade works in this type of market especially with a stock that has earnings, trades down, but rebounds mid day. _It works even better if you can find a play with a nice tight pivot, cause you can expect increased volatility for the day and it will turn into a trend day cause all the late shorts are getting caught selling short into the low. _

I played this action in DNDN yesterday, getting long on buy stops at 3513...take a look at the chart and note the values it will give you a good picture of the setup.

I'm doing something very similar. I use daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly levels and they all interact with each other. Once you understand the dynamics of volatility in different time frames, your mind starts opening up to all the different possibilities.
 
today was a perfect example of opening range breakdown you were either short biased or got your ass stopped out. Not cherry picking but this is the kind of trend you want to ride to make up for the chop.

spy ten minute
 

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Great thread by the way, I've read it through numerous times and gotten some great info.

My question relates to OR, I used it a couple years ago when I traded Naz stocks in University and it was pretty cut and dry with market open/close times to determine a timeframe that works well for you.

I've been trading Nat-Gas Cash markets now for a couple of years and been pretty successful at optimizing day gas (for an energy marketer). lately I've been branching out into buying/selling ICE basis and using bank swaps to optimize calendar spreads
as they generally have better spread cash flows.

I was wondering how hard and set the rules need to be for OR? If I can pick up a directional bias on any given day, I can manage my book more efficiently by buying early or waiting until later in the day if I can anticipate a sell-off. A lot of the time, there is huge volume before before pit open with significant moves but other times nothing before open outcry.

Is it detrimental to the system to change OR timeframes? I'm sure consistency is important but if I see large action pre-pit, I tend to mold my OR around that action vs using a hard and fast time frame.

Again, this is subjective and I base it on what I see on T&S and my charts. I've only started experimenting with these variables so if I need to make a correction, or all those out there who are very knowledgeable with the system see a flaw I would appreciate any feedback.

Thx!
 
Quote from Robert Yanks:

Question for ACD folks: Can one use the ACD methodology using strictly end of day data?

TIA for your input.

Yes. Most of the ACD stuff I use is based on end of day data.
 
Quote from jo0477:

Great thread by the way, I've read it through numerous times and gotten some great info.

My question relates to OR, I used it a couple years ago when I traded Naz stocks in University and it was pretty cut and dry with market open/close times to determine a timeframe that works well for you.

I've been trading Nat-Gas Cash markets now for a couple of years and been pretty successful at optimizing day gas (for an energy marketer). lately I've been branching out into buying/selling ICE basis and using bank swaps to optimize calendar spreads
as they generally have better spread cash flows.

I was wondering how hard and set the rules need to be for OR? If I can pick up a directional bias on any given day, I can manage my book more efficiently by buying early or waiting until later in the day if I can anticipate a sell-off. A lot of the time, there is huge volume before before pit open with significant moves but other times nothing before open outcry.

Is it detrimental to the system to change OR timeframes? I'm sure consistency is important but if I see large action pre-pit, I tend to mold my OR around that action vs using a hard and fast time frame.

Again, this is subjective and I base it on what I see on T&S and my charts. I've only started experimenting with these variables so if I need to make a correction, or all those out there who are very knowledgeable with the system see a flaw I would appreciate any feedback.

Thx!

The idea for the OR is to pick a time period that has some significance to it. You also want to be consistent. A lot of the price action that you see from the ACD levels comes from understanding how any given market "should" be behaving under normal circumstances. So if you keep changing the OR time period around it may affect the way you interpret that price action. BTW, there is nothing stopping you from using multiple OR's throughout the day or week.
 
Thanks Mav,

I always use a consistent length of time just at different periods if the action is there. When I used the pit open exclusively as the start of my OR, my results were not as good as when I began incorporating big pre-open movements.

I really like the idea of using multiple OR's during the day and will start working this into my system.

Cheers

JO
 
I'm trying to understand how to use this concept on breaking news plays and would really appreciate any feedback. I'm using UNH today as there was news
midday that caused great volatility in the stock.I understand that ACD works
really well with understanding the volatility plays to set the opening
range.



So my first question is with this, when do you actually set the range? When
it was trading 42.50 took size on the offer quickly showing its strength,
and 45 rejected it cleanly. Would you use these levels as an opening range
for this type of play? Or use that swing low below 42.50 as the opening
range bottom (I know it probably doesn't matter) I'm just trying to
understand on breaking news plays, how you actually get the range.



Secondly, is the A value the same as it would be for a normal open? Or is it
different since its breaking news? I currently use about 20% of the average
daily range.



Thirdly, once it holds about the A value (if I'm using the correct number),
how long on breaking news plays? I was using about 2.5mins but also saw that
once it was above 43.16 it held for volume so I figured time wasn't as
important as it was strong above that level.



Finally, if we would have dropped to the C down, what would your play have
been besides thinking short? Would you carry it overnight as its a late day
C down?



Thanks again for helping me with this. I am a firm believe in using ACD to
get a bias, just need some clarification from someone more experienced in
using it.



Side note: Would today 02/03/2011 be considered a late day C up in the ES?



KD
 

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Quote from KingDong130:

I'm trying to understand how to use this concept on breaking news plays and would really appreciate any feedback. I'm using UNH today as there was news
midday that caused great volatility in the stock.I understand that ACD works
really well with understanding the volatility plays to set the opening
range.



So my first question is with this, when do you actually set the range? When
it was trading 42.50 took size on the offer quickly showing its strength,
and 45 rejected it cleanly. Would you use these levels as an opening range
for this type of play? Or use that swing low below 42.50 as the opening
range bottom (I know it probably doesn't matter) I'm just trying to
understand on breaking news plays, how you actually get the range.



Secondly, is the A value the same as it would be for a normal open? Or is it
different since its breaking news? I currently use about 20% of the average
daily range.



Thirdly, once it holds about the A value (if I'm using the correct number),
how long on breaking news plays? I was using about 2.5mins but also saw that
once it was above 43.16 it held for volume so I figured time wasn't as
important as it was strong above that level.



Finally, if we would have dropped to the C down, what would your play have
been besides thinking short? Would you carry it overnight as its a late day
C down?



Thanks again for helping me with this. I am a firm believe in using ACD to
get a bias, just need some clarification from someone more experienced in
using it.



Side note: Would today 02/03/2011 be considered a late day C up in the ES?



KD

Again, my answer is going to seem vague but I can't stress enough how one has to make ACD their own by making it compatible with trades you feel comfortable making. Are you a momentum trader or a fader? Are you only an intra-day trader or do you hold overnight? Do you like to scalp or hold on for the bigger moves? See all this will depend on how you set your ACD parameters.

On my intra-day ACD that day, the stock first made an A down and then on the news confirmed a C up. It made a weekly A up even before the daily C up which is a great long setup. Now another thing you could do is use your normal intra-day settings then when news comes out slap on another OR around the news event and see if the ACD news levels coordinate well with the normal intra-day setup.

In other words, maybe the news A up is the same area as the intra-day A up. Or, maybe you get an A up on the normal ACD levels and you are able to buy that wick on the failed A down on the news ACD level.

Use your creativity here! There are a million ways to use this but it will be for naught if you it's not compatible with how you like to trade. At the end of the day, all technical systems are about two things and two things only. Getting you to pull the trigger to get in a trade and getting you to get out when you are wrong. If your levels and parameters serve that function, then you my friend are shooting well over par.
 
Quote from Maverick74:

Again, my answer is going to seem vague but I can't stress enough how one has to make ACD their own by making it compatible with trades you feel comfortable making. Are you a momentum trader or a fader? Are you only an intra-day trader or do you hold overnight? Do you like to scalp or hold on for the bigger moves? See all this will depend on how you set your ACD parameters.

On my intra-day ACD that day, the stock first made an A down and then on the news confirmed a C up. It made a weekly A up even before the daily C up which is a great long setup. Now another thing you could do is use your normal intra-day settings then when news comes out slap on another OR around the news event and see if the ACD news levels coordinate well with the normal intra-day setup.

In other words, maybe the news A up is the same area as the intra-day A up. Or, maybe you get an A up on the normal ACD levels and you are able to buy that wick on the failed A down on the news ACD level.

Use your creativity here! There are a million ways to use this but it will be for naught if you it's not compatible with how you like to trade. At the end of the day, all technical systems are about two things and two things only. Getting you to pull the trigger to get in a trade and getting you to get out when you are wrong. If your levels and parameters serve that function, then you my friend are shooting well over par.

Thank you Mav great insight and advice I really appreciate it.
 
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