Some guys with their fragile egos simply can not handle that "a girl", a "blonde chick", a "female", an unselfish Lady with charm, altruistic, witty and a very high IQ, that can think fast has become a winner in a game where many fail. The couple guys that are having a tough time with her self-taught knowledge should feel priviledged she even answers their envy. I especially like the one where they say... "i know these super traders that hang around my porch when bored and we discuss the inner working of the mkts"...........The joke is on them, haha.. Quote from Zen Student: I have not seen (nor have any of my trader friends who have institutional backgrounds) such things as trendlines, channels, moving averages, fib, etc used for anything other than consumption by retail clients. Mention mean reversion, technical analysis, "support zones" etc and half will laugh at you while the others will sneer. So now knowing (if we didn't before) that neither the institutions nor the big locals trade in this way, what use is a trendline / channels / support & resistance strategy in telling us anything about the traders alleged to be either the "majority" or the "controllers"? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hog OUT!! I also bought two of Al Brooks new books, nothing new but still good reads as reviews while watching por., OH ahh, er, well a good movie..........
If one took time to read Brook's first book (actually just preface) with enough attention, he would read that Brooks himself stated that of course the biggest money does not use those trendlines, intra-day levels etc. But that is absolutely irrelevant and cannot be the base for conclusion if PA tricks "work" or not. Because even if they are just a psychological trick, which allows retail traders over the course of practice to gauge the balance of supply/demand well enough to put odd's in their favor, who cares as long as it makes money? Or job as retail traders is to simply recognize big money moves early enough so there would still be some momentum to exploit with minimal risk. Whatever helps to gauge that institutional "inertion" is useful. For some it may be PA, for some it may be CCI or crystal ball. Doesn't matter. People tend to think WAY too much, while at the same time being caught in a cage of their rigid beliefs about what is "true" or "false", "possible" or "impossible" et cetera.
The biggest money does not use trend lines , why discuss trade p/a trends? Some P A is good , if used correctly...Example price touches support and resistance several times , them forms a trend line and breaks previous trend line. The biggest money is made from trends , where risk reward ratios are better , and profits per trade are greater.The biggest profits are made not from early entries , but from later entries with consensus of the market. Some this p/a is WAY too much ego building and analysing , instead of good old fashioned trend following. See a trend ,just follow it and don't think or analyse it .Only the dumbest traders can make money , cause they follow trends and they know nothing and don't have any ego or opinion. This p/a leads to many psychological issues because information processing ,ego and emotions are the main criteria at risk . I saw a few of his videos , but I was bored.There were one or two things I was refreshed with but nothing new ......other than analyse noise and think way too much to be able to make a living from trading.This p/a stuff isn't better than following a few simple moving averages, but everything in context can be useful.
Well, for me the best trades are BOTH early entries AND then riding the bigger trend. I agree with you, though, that having no opinion and just following the price is probably the best way to make consistent money in this business. Lines, MA's or whatever are just framework for our brain to process market information in a way of certain rules to allow almost automatic execution without hesitation and control risk by placing stops at some pre-defined points.
Check! Check! Here's where we differ. I've found that: PA involves no ego - price tells you what to do; what you think is irrelevant. You can have a bias, as long as you trade price even if it runs counter to your bias. If you do the opposite, then you're not trading PA. PA is good old fashioned trend following. See a trend, just follow it. If you aren't comfortable taking the early PA entries, jump on board later with the consensus of the market, just as you said. By the way, a strong point emphasized in Brooks' book: There is no bad entry in a strong trend, just go with it. Every little pullback on a smaller time frame is trapping counter-trend traders to fuel the next push. PA trading doesn't lead to psychological issues; ego, emotions and over-thinking while trading lead to psychological issues (such as hesitation, jumping the gun, over-trading, revenge trading, canceling protective stops and averaging down instead of switching to the other side based on the action of price). I am eternally grateful to Bighog for recommending Brooks book to me in summer of 2009 when I was scraping myself off the concrete and not sure if I had what it takes to be successful. He recognized that Brooks' detailed analytical approach with nothing but a 5-min chart and a 20-bar EMA was similar to what I was struggling to do. It was indeed just what I needed and at just the right time. Ironically, the knowledge I gained from the book and my subsequent market research was exactly what Bighog had been pushing at me all along. He'd about tried to pound this stuff into my stubborn head and I'd always thought I knew better. I had to invent the wheel from scratch only to find that if only I'd opened those boxes he kept handing me, there were wheels inside :eek:
You're very confused if you think trend following can't be price action trading. You're even more confused if you think trend traders have less egos or opinions than price action traders considering they are the same traders. Price action trading can involve scalping, day trading, swing trading, long term trading, range trading, trend trading...daily charts, weekly charts, monthly charts, yearly charts or just time & sales (bid/ask) screens. Simply, it doesn't matter what kind'uv trading you're doing...your personality and characteristics was determine long before you opened a broker account. Further, any changes you have in your persona while trading...it doesn't care if your a scalper, day trader, swing trader, profitable or loser...it's not bias. P.S. It's possible you made those statements when you were high, drunk or under psychological distress.
I think it is probable he was high, drunk or under distress or at least I hope so. if those comments came from him sober than i have no idea of the mind we are dealing with. The comments are astonishing. BTW ... that does not mean I am anti-trend following. It simply means PA and trend are not at odds. I believe most PA traders are using it as a tool to get with trend at an opportune moment ... otherwise called a good entry ... lol ... !!!
An update, Sadly I have returned the book for a refund. It was far too rambling. I'm sure there is some good stuff in there but I would prefer if it was straight to the point, I had to wade through many pages of dross before I got to some meat.
I think it is worth the "wade through" but it is a fair comment. The first book Bar by Bar was really tough!!
Let me understand, you're sure there was some good stuff in there but you hadn't got that far in the book. Yet you returned it because it was "too rambling". Why didn't you just read the stuff you called "good stuff" and ignore the ramblings unless you meant to say you couldn't understand the trade method when he eventually started discussing the trade method. Best trading books and none trading books I've ever read were boring the first part of the book. Like my kid told me the other day, he's only interested in movies that has action from start to finish and he hates the slow developing movies.