What I described is the process someone currently using time charts, makes to transition to volume bars with the least amount of problems possible. One has to see the advantages of volume bars are primarily to smooth out the creation of support & resistance and in the case of an Al Brooks trader, increasing the consistency of their bar recognition and profitability. LF is currently comfortable with Al Brooks method so to see if volume bars will improve on the bar recognition and decision process that creates, one has to closely duplicate the average environment. Once someone is verifies that for themselves then they can speed up or slow down the volume to more closely match their trading style. What I do isn't exactly like LF is trying to currently work toward because I've already stated I'm past how Brooks views the market. LF achieving comfort and consistent profitability is all that he cares about so once he get's there, he's a happy guy. He he wants to look further, baby steps. Too important not to screw up what is working. I don't need to "pace" a chart. My patterns are consistent so like a batter in a box, I simply wait for the pitch I like. Yes, the number of bars vary each day on my chart. I'm not concerned with "how many" bars are produced but that the support & resistance oscillations that those bars produce can be easily read and profited from. I adjust my intraday charts every 60 to 90 days (based on my personal chart resolution) to take advantage of longer term trend swings on my chart (bullish or bearish). My longer term chart are adjusted less because the trends are way slower to change or adjust on those charts. There are many ways to reach our individual goals but being comfortable in our unique processes are important. What we do isn't an exact science so if we each share our individual skills. That way we can each plug them in and see what works or doesn't for each of us.
I must be one of the few that thinks that Al Brooks is full of bullsh1t. I bought his original book and thought it was a clutter of confusing ideas... aka intentional confusing to be able to hedge any strategy in hindsight. The guy trades way too much noise moves and that makes me very suspicious. Now with these new books he's running down the road of Ari Kiev, Van Tharp, Mark Douglas... popular trading book authors who make $ selling advice instead of actually extracting $ from the markets. People that write trading books with allegedly "profitable" strategies should have their performance audited for x amount of years by the publisher.
I'll admit that if one doesn't understand the concept of extracting information from a chart or "reading a chart or a bar" that this overall process is confusing at best. I'll also agree that trading a 5 minute chart, for me as well, is noisy as hell. It would drive me nuts. I do though understand the total concept and can see it's advantages when applied to slower less noisy volume bar charts. I'm going to explore it further to see for myself. There is no real consistent money in self publishing books to sell on the open market or the net. Anyone that does it knows you get an occasional order but nothing that remotely comes close to minimum wage. Most of these individuals, like Brooks (I'm not talking about all authors) write their books to answer the general questions people ask in one swoop instead of being bombarded with individual questions. Brooks really is a recluse and trades for a living. He could care less if you or anyone else gets his book or trades like he does. He shares because he can not because he has too. As far as an audited statement, you have that ability in your hands so do it. First, Brook's book is available for free on the net, if one can use Google. You can apply the techniques, if you are capable and if valuable use what you find. If the information is worthless to you, you have nothing but a bit of time invested and move on to look for something else. You've already determined that Brook's information is too confusing for you so I guess that question has already been answered and you can go find something else that you now can make work for you. Good luck on your search unless you have already found consistency, then well done!
hello proflogic, you wrote some great posts about Al Brooks and price action trading. Just curious, what makes you think that al brooks is a savant? i have thought about this as well, he has some unusual powers of observation. I think his genius also lies in being a minimalist, he strips away all that takes away from his focus. cadaver is probably the best example of a Al Brooks student made good. cadaver writes a daily blog where he publishes his trades, amazingly consistent. http://cadavertrading.blogspot.com/
I know.. beating a dead horse... but here goes again anyway... Every variable you introduce into the trading decision hurts performance.. including volume....
I thought the book was terrible - it was poorly written, poorly edited, and poorly put together/presented. It was easily the worst trading book I have ever read in terms of mechanics/presentation...I can't comment on the overall content, because it was too hard to get to and decipher. I tend to be a pack-rat and keep all of the trading books I have read (over the past twenty years) on a bookshelf in my office. A few months ago my wife went to sell some books to Half-Price Bookstore, and I pulled Brook's book off the shelf and gave it to her to take!
Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. Savants have a tendency to be minimalists. It is an act of genius to solve a problem and keep the soution as simple as possible. It is an act of desparation to find a solution by making things as complicated as possible. The more complicated the more you can cover up that the solution isn't actually a solution at all.
On a volume bar chart anyway, it isn't a variable and it isn't introduced . . . its the host of the party.
Was it poorly written, poorly edited and poorly put together and presented . . . yup. But if you take the time to understand the concepts you can understand that Brook's brilliance isn't in his ability to write because he has none.
x2 it has to be read like a poorly written textbook. expect to spend time digging through parts in the book and his website to discover his terminology