The problem you're encountering is because Al Brook's book is poorly written and poorly illustrated. I am a somewhat experienced trader so I was able to "read" it, and it is a bad book, but not because the information buried in it is bad. There is simply no excuse for a publisher, such as the formerly revered John Wiley, to let such gibberish see the light of day. Not only that, the printing is just as bad as the writing. It would be wonderful if an experienced trader like Nodoji, who writes beautifully, would write her own book, complete with large charts meticulously labeled, in color, on glossy paper. But preparing a manuscript like THAT is a lot of work, and what active trader has the time for it? My suggestion to you would be to use the Brooks book as fire starter, or better still, send it back to John Wiley and ask for your money back! Why not read instead the Nodoji posts on ET? The ones where she gives a detailed chart commentary, explaining where and why she would enter and exit and place her stop, are especially helpful and clear. That will benefit you far more than trying to wade through the Brook's book.
Fortunately all the charts from the book are available for download here so you can print them in full size if you like. I think it's a great book. And a great mystery.
Funny to read that I`m not the only one with a headache from this book. I first read it before I started trading live on a daily basis. By the time I was finished I was depressed, felt stupid and had a headache that took weeks to recover from I`m now re-reading it having a lot more screen time and experience under my belt and it makes a lot more sense this time around. It`s still a tough read though as he starts talking about esoteric set-ups and terminology almost on page one, only to first explain them 200 pages later in the book As I understand it, the HIGH 1 concept applies to a pullback in an uptrend. After forming higher highs and higher lows in a perfect up trend, the market eventually pulls back before going higher, right? Although a pullback can be as short as a bar, for the sake of this illustration, let`s say we have a pullback that starts with three small bars with lower highs and lower lows. Now, if the FOURTH bar has a high that is higher than bar three, that bar is a HIGH 1. This indicates that the pullback may have ended and that the up trend will now continue. However, pullbacks often have more than one leg, so if the market continues to go lower and correct after that HIGH 1 bar, we are now in the second leg of the pullback. The first bar with a high that is higher than the prior bar in this second leg down, is a HIGH 2. This is the second attempt at ending the pullback. If we get a third leg down after this and then a bar with a high above the prior bar, it`s a HIGH 3. We may also get a fourth leg down and a HIGH 4, but at this point, the probability of a new bear trend may be more likely. Did that make any more sense or am I just as difficult to understand as our dear Al Brooks?
Al admitted his book was not well written but his new stuff coming on October I think should be a lot easier to read and understand is what i'm hearing.
I believe you have the posters wrong in this thread. I actually welcome the healthy debate posters have here, I like their fiery opinions. Most of these negative posters, do know what they are talking about. I can speak for the ones that I have interacted with. Gabfly and wrbtrader, both are successful traders and very smart high octane people. I have learned a lot from them. but mention of al brooks, I will say it again, does set their hair on fire -
Quite an odd way to describe an astute woman trader. I have followed her posts on CL Redux for quite some time and am pleased (VERY pleased) that I have devoted time to them. There are a few real price action "guys" in that thread and she is certainly one of those with tons of screen time and judgment. And a prolific poster as well. I am not trying to be argumentative when I say you should check out the thread. You may well enjoy following it.
Al Brooks didn't invent anything, he's just an unsuccesfull trader who earns a living selling his book that tried to make him a Guru. The book is jumping back and forth because Al wanted it to be confusing, so it adds to his guru status. He writes in his book that he hates it that many teachers don't show a p&l statement, well Al, I didn't see yours either. It's ok if you just post one here on ET buddy... There are some setups that I have used but as said before nothing that Al Brooks invented. He's just another one of those : "I found the Holy Grail in trading! It's writing a book!" wannabe traders....
Al never said he invented anything. In fact in his book he plainly states that no matter what they call it there are numerous traders that use similar methods and identical setups and he is clear that many of them were using them long before he discovered them. I would wager that his profit on Bar by Bar has been modest. There simply is very little money in books with small press runs ... VERY LITTLE!