2 pair - Bid/Ask Pair change by +/- 1 tick (not point) then change back Spike - Bid/Ask Pair change by +/- 2 ticks Usually 2 pairs repeat one pair dominates and then shifts to a new 2 pair advance netting a spike. ALL trends are comprised by dominant Spikes...
The Growth Stock Report Blog mentions trendlines all the time and with out a doubt that should be observed and traded! http://www.thegrowthstockreport.com/blog.htm
Price is always a pair. This is a strange concept to people who are used to finding price on tags and stickers and such. On TWS I watch the pair blinking and changing colors. It is hypnotic. Fortunately, where I operate I do not stare at it much. For me monitoring is a coarse thing. Watch bars draw lines eyeball volume count, watch bars draw lines eyeball volume count. It's a crude method, and compared to what I do there are people out there using precise tools to trade the sharpest edges of price change and really clean up. I am certain of that. The 2 pair and spike is a within-the-bar thing. Jack describes it using DOM (more precisely, it is monitored on the inside market of the TWS). Price (always a pair) traverses to an extreme, there is a back and forth between the away pair and near pair and then a switch (spike). It takes 3 pairs to unfold. The time varies. I have a 1m up to notice it and I can see it better on that than on TWS. It is not something I watch for, however, and the 1m is not what I recommend to others. What I do might be called an expert beginner. There are moments when I know to peek at the 1m. This is the key for me of course. There are no big secrets here. But depriving you of an aha experience that will come from diligent continued monitoring would probably not be helping.
A Q on this? Is this market or volume profiling? I see some discussions on this and it is somewhat (well very) different than what I do. At this point I'm just primarily aiming to make connections between disjoint monitoring aspects (ie. identify flags that precede the necessity to shift to monitoring a more refined vital of the market data stream). Would not price by volume be segmented trading (ie. setup oriented)?
When you take a look at the graphics on this, it takes you to a place where decision making is child's play. The key to how to display the graphics, however, is difficult to arrive at. The use of derivatives for both variables is a requirement and the null cases appear as boundaries. To do this another variable (fortunately) has to be introduced. Originally I just worked with first derivatives but then I discovered that the graphic divisions representing the possibilities could be further subdivided by, in effect, taking the second derivatives. The analysis is done by using the location on the display (this is mapping, mathematically). You will find, up to today, that there is no literature on the second derivative aspect, reading the mapping, or the general encoding processes. This aspect of trading is beyond beginner or intermediate. In ET usually as far as it goes is advanced beginner. At some point if ET ever gets to blogging, etc, it may then be possible to do intermediate or expert commentary. Unfortunately, the AGM stuff of the B type people precludes any in depth understanding of the more advanced topics related to individual monitoring techniques, analysis and skills acquisition and utilization. It is a good idea, anyway, to stick with the turf that people are familiar with as a jumping off point. Hans's comment indicates that either he is clueless or he is unwilling to give you any fundamental clues about this arena. I am not going to do any debating with ad libbing B people on this but it is an area that really opens a lot of windows.
Yes......I was in the paltalk room and really enjoy learning (back then and now). What did I "want" in the paltalk room? I wanted to see verification that the guy can put his words into profitable action. It was not done. If Jack can find the 1 out of 5 that somehow made a profit , that person was fading his calls. Jack seems to be a very intelligent person. IMO, he comes off as a professor that knows what to do but is unable to implement the process. I do continue to read his posts, however, many can be skipped after reading the first line, while others can be read a couple times. My comments months back about Jack were simply to see if I was following a winner or a wannabe. Where are all those books he's claimed to written? To his credit , he never asked for money. I'm sure Jack will say my EQ is screwed up and that I will never make it. Well, I'm making money but I want to get better (every trader should feel this way). I want to listen to the guys that are making money consistently. I want to add things to my trading toolbox that will make me better, at the same time, dropping things off that are costing me. If a student of Jack can come forth and set me strait, I welcome it, but be prepared for lots of questions. When questions are asked of Jack, many times the "answer" is harder to figure out than the question that was asked.