BTW kp: You might want to enable Tool Settings -> Chart Values -> "Always On When Using Other Tools" and General -> After Single Tool Use -> Hand. I notice in your video you flipping back and forth between hand and crosshair. Get the best of both worlds by having crosshair basically always on (this should be the default IMO). Assign the spacebar to the hand tool so you can always just hit space to go back to hand/crosshair at any time. Assign 'c' to the calculator tool so you can measure potential/past moves in ticks/points quickly. Consider too using the "horizontal ray" tool so the lines you draw just extend to the right - then when price nears a previous temporary support you'll consider the possibility of it doing something there rather than making the connection after the fact. Other useful tools are fib retrace and fib expansions. Set your charts up for chart trading - I don't even use the little trading window with buy/sell, I simply choose the price and column (buy or sell) from the right side of the chart. On top of that you can then add last volume, volume at bid/ask, total volume, total volume at bid/ask etc. in the chart dom columns settings. All of this stuff will appear to the right of the general buy/sell columns of the chart dom which you will use to place orders.
From the first video you posted (Jun 16), that first short entry was way too early and the long entry was also too early. You probably know this.. One thing I noticed you doing was at the first hint of weakness moving your target down to immediately get out when you should just be sitting tight.
It is so incredibly common to see price break out and then get smacked down. Sometimes it's profit taking - other times the breakout was false. So when you see it start to break out above a minor resistance and then quickly drop back in that doesn't necessarily mean "oh bail out of this trade entirely, it's all down hill from here." The game is about price searching for liquidity and entering at a point that's not too early and not too late. The time you see something that looks like it's time to be long - don't just hit buy. Open a resting limit order at the bottom or just below the bottom of the range and be patient. 90% patience, 10% trading. Oh, and fully plan on other traders using size against traders of smaller size. Not every move you see is indicative of a range or S/R actually being broken. That short trade you took at the top of the range where price kept going up into it and then down and then up into it and then down - that's not necessarily a resistance that's about to get broken - you had a trade that would have worked out, but it was simply too early. Kill the FOMO.
Also, those times when you take a short or long at the edge of a range, you don't necessarily have to keep the same stop as your other trades. IMO, give it 3-4 ticks from the extreme, not 2 points. If you get ticked out, re-enter if the trade still looks valid. Other traders are using these areas to run stops and get themselves filled. No need to be helping that. Alternatively you *could* use more breathing room to your stop to account for this, but it just seemed like you were using the default for your order there. These are also areas where watching volume comes in useful as volume will indicate how significantly the top or bottom of a range was tested (and can also indicate when something wasn't really tested [but might be tested again] vs things like a stop run). The number bars study (with bid x ask vol) comes in highly useful for this (it's basically the tape applied to the bar itself).
Additionally, IMO, if you don't have volume profile of a previous day or session you don't really know where you are. Price could just be generally searching for liquidity in a chop zone and you're getting wrapped up in it because you're not realizing that the prices it's trading in is just part of a general higher volume "value" area. Sure, the past session might not be directly relevant to where price is right now but if you're setup correctly on your charting you can study a day that was either near that price and/or use a volume profile that encompasses multiple days.
It takes some courage to post a video of your trading at the moment, even if it's some replay, so props for that.
All good stuff i960. The first time you were posting in my journal a few months ago much of what you said just didn't jive with me or went over my head, but now it seems like either I'm understanding it better, or you're saying it better! LOL
I will look into that tool preset. I did setup keyboard shortcuts so switch between hand and crosshair, but I found myself never wanting to use them and just clicking seemed easier for me.
For the horizontal ray tool tip, because I am actually drawing those lines on a 5 sec chart, I actually don't want to extend them. I want to keep them very local and track them. If they happen to not be long enough and price isn't close anymore, that's fine because I don't want them influencing me later. Ideally, any lines I draw on the 5 sec chart I would want to actually get from the 1 min chart. (ie. the swing low on a 5 sec chart should correspond with where the swing low is on the 1 min)
Absolutely right about keeping different stops for different types of trades and at the top of the range, I should be able to keep a much tighter stop, as long as I get in where I should. The stop really shouldn't be about a set amount of ticks, it should be past the danger point (from Wyckoff), and if my hesitation doesn't get me in within 3 points lets say, then obviously I need to skip the trade, but even if I don't, then having a stop in an area that doesn't invalidate the trade would be stupid.
I've been looking at volume profile stuff, but its still too much information right now. I prefer getting these levels from just visually seeing the small ranges on the chart, and knowing that at the extremes, there are very trades there. I also noticed in another thread you talked about volume charts, I think it was with jas, and I liked your rationale, but I still like my time charts. Beacase my data is with IB, I'm not even get great volume data.
In fact, because I am also putting heavy observation into T&S and I see going forward that this can be quite powerful, I think I will upgrade to the Sierra data. It looks to be only $35 per month plus another $3 and this should give me very accurate tick data, not just these snapshots that IB sends out that are often not that accurate. Just a few days ago, I noticed this.
In this first screen capture is price close to the ONH, seems to firstbounce off, but then goes higher (its very minor as this is a 5 sec chart)
But on reloading the data, I get this.
Price actually initially hit that high tick, came down, couldn't penetrate the high tick for three 5 second bars and then dropped. To me, these are totally different. Looking at the second chart, it looks like a much better retest of the high tick. In the first chart, the live data as I saw it, I didn't see enough to think short yet, but in this reloaded data, the inability to go higher, AT THE ONH, make the short much more obvious.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that my lack of making money is because of my data, but too often I see little inconsistencies that might actually make a difference. And since I want to use T&S, I think I need much better data to work it. I will try it for a month in July I think, and $40 is a small price do pay. How's your data and who provides it?
It takes some courage to post a video of your trading at the moment, even if it's some replay, so props for that.
Thanks for this. I can' wait till I can start posting charts and videos of actual trades taken that lead to at least +10 or 15 points consistently.
