IMHO.... It is not whether one makes a profit or a small loss, the key is trading well... Refining strategy, discipline and money/risk management is fundamentally more important than counting the change in ones pockets... focus on the big picture... the profits will follow... good trading to all....
Anek, I'm on your side here and think the concepts in this thread are indispensible. Thanks for doing that. That said, I'm a bit disappointed in the indicator proffering since it seems to conflict with your basic "evil indicator" ideas. Just to put my 0.02 in, I find the TMF "indicator" a rather poor substitute for just learning to read the tape. It is missing vital info, namely, the contracts traded but even then it might not be any better. The advantage of the AHG method is in it's simplicity and your adamant rejection of "indicators", to which this is in conflict. Some variables I don't understand (I don't have Tradestation) but in any event, it accumulates price scaled ticks, and not car scaled ticks, so I don't see how it's that useful given that one tick could have 100 times the size of a 1 car tick for example. Aside from using the current bid/ask value instead of the closing price of a bar as a means for subtracting "ticks*price" or adding "ticks*price" (which btw, is not "volume" because it ignores cars) it's just another "indicator" like many that proceeded it. You said all you need is trendlines, T&S, s/r, price. That's a gem right there. It seems very misleading and a suckers game to try and get around the difficulty of learning to read T&S to enhance entries with an indicator. If one can't describe successful tape reading in mechanical terms, why would adding a mechanical device be any more accurate? It's the indicator problem you speak of, just like MACD or anything else when trying to understand price changes. Even if that wasn't enough, OBV, money flow, Chaikin's or otherwise, all do the same basic thing with minor variations and I don't believe they have revolutionized the indicator business have they? Do people make tons of cash following those more than MACD? The best way to learn to read the tape is to read it. Sadly, there isn't a short cut. I believe one can still be profitable using AHG without T&S, one can learn in increments. You have driven this point home many times, reliance on indicators is a dangerous thing to do, much like ignoring money management, or setting really wide stops to increase "accuracy". Why overcomplicate things and add something "magical" to circumvent the rather important screen time, which can be safely done in a sim until you get measurable results.
Notam, He said to TEST IT, not use it to replace everything else. Since there is no MAGIC in trading, why not look at it? Can it hurt? The main thing will always be price, but anything that helps CONFIRM (as noted by Anek) can only add to your bottom line. If Anek wants to show me 2 monkeys rubbing bananas and eating there own fecal matter, I'll check it out. Can hurt. And other than telling you what to look for regarding price movement, the rest is up to you. He showed the way; you must embark on the journey. Keep any and everything coming Anek! B
U R welcome. my base is the 1000v chart , I switch often to a 500v especially when I see a strong move and no clear pullback on the 1000v. I also use a 2000 and 5000 for big picture. Time ans Sales for momentum (you can see with a bit of training when the flow is pausing and usually there's a following abrupt move up or down, it's like people thinking, gee what the heck are we going to do now, and then one brave guy push the button and then another and then another, push push push...snowball effect, usefull only for microscalping and exits IMO) I also keep an eye on 1 , 3, 5 and hourly charts, I want to see what the majority is looking at even though I don't use them to enter or exit a trade. I also keep an eye on yesterday HOD LOD Close ( for gaps) , Today HOD LOD and obvious R/S on the hourly and daily That's it , no indicators just a zig zag to help me visualize HH LL etc. (reducing the noise). No indices, no VIX no trin trip trap LOL just the instrument I'm trading. I'm always looking for formations HH LL Triangle , Trendlines etc. , the stuff ANEK has been teaching here. (powerful stuff) Sometimes I even reverse my screen up and down (with the graphic card function, I'm not that crazy lol), no kidding. For a new point of view. Edit just shorted @ 2060 covered at 2056.5 Shorted again 2055 covered 2053 pure AHG and Tape reading, guys I can do it you can do it. Keep the faith
Mark1, Do you draw those swing lines by hand or is it automated? What are the settings if they are drawn? Thanks. B
Shorted another LH 2050.75 covered 2041 I'm done, great afternoon Look at my entries and see AHG at work