1. I've never heard of ICT. 2. TLs ARE wick-to-wick. "Body" means nothing. 3. How do you "keep my head down with it"... and still post what you presume to know on ET? You appear to know some, I'll give you that.. but not as much as you think you do. (You know that too... otherwise you wouldn't make a personally defensive argument.)
Never heard so much be fake then? Bodies account for the majority of the volume of a candle. How on earth can that count for nothing? Because I thought it might be a fun and friendly conversation starter but you seem intent on kicking the "fun" and "friendly" out of it. As I've said already I'm not here to claim what I said in the OP is absolute but things I find of value, particularly to new traders. If you don't then that's fine, all the best. I'm not going to sit here and argue with you about a few points when you said originally you agreed with a number of my points. Anyway, to change tact. You mentioned you were a money manager. Was that for a bank or fund etc? What was that like as a career?
So.. it's "fun" when I agree with you, but "unfriendly" when I don't? As for the body of a candle... Price TA does not acknowledge it as significant, as the open and close are of no consequence. I used to run a mutual fund timing service where clients paid me to make trades for them. Won several accolades doing that... a "big fish in a small pond" sort of thing. Just for kicks... why don't you put me on "follow". You likely won't appreciate my politics, but you're could learn something of value about the markets and trading.
So.. it's "fun" when I agree with you, but "unfriendly" when I don't? - No discussion is friendly but insisting one thing is right for everyone isn't in my opinion. As I say let's leave it there. I take your opinion that it works for you. Sounds high pressure. I assume you had to get verified by the FSCS or other in the States? Been so many shady folk attempting to claim they are account managers in the UK getting shut down right, left and centre by the FCA and rightly so. If you are offering it then accreditation surely only helps. Congrats on the accolades! Did you move out of that to gain time back or wasn't it as time consuming as I imagine it would be? Happy to follow you. If I find myself uninterested I can always "unfollow". But always happy to see what other people think regarding trading. Whether you agree or not there is always something to learn.
I was schooled in science. In Chemistry... there is ZERO opinion. It works as "understood", 100% of the time... can't do otherwise because of chemical and physical properties. If you understand the "underlying", you can figure out the outcome every time. I take that same approach to the markets and trading. Of course it's not as "100%" as chemistry... but the approach to "understanding the mechanism" is the same.
It's not a matter of "insisting one thing is right for everyone"... it's a matter of "one thing is right PERIOD".. regardless of whether you believe or accept it. When you think "something other is right", you're wrong... hopefully you'll figure it out in time to do you some good. I can claim with 100% certainty... there are correlations in the market price which are 100% correct, all the time... zero exceptons!*. Those are the things that traders should focus upon. (There are other correlations which are less certain but still with favorable r/r and probability of success which should also be played.) *What we don't know is how far will they run and how long will they last. Have to play that by ear.
My background is in human physiology and I agree in fact being true whether you like it or not but perhaps disagree with it being able to be applied to the markets as strictly. Nevertheless I 100% agree with the understanding the mechanism - the why as well as the what in trading. For me I feel that smart money concepts does that better but clearly people who don't use them make money in trading. Personally I find the scientific approach to trading has helped me with the pyschology aspect of trading though. Did you feel the same when you were coming up?
I am saying that there are likely thousands of very successful traders out there that would disagree with that absolute assertion.