"Yes. I read it and studied it very carefully at least twice, took notes, printed charts and made my own." @Laissez Faire you should have got the context after extensively going through his work. If not, that's ok too. It just may not be a style that is conducive to you. There were a lot of different styles that I never could adapt to, where I saw some good traders bank rolling using those very same methods. "I'm fairly confident that not even once did he mention something as simple as trading in relation to yesterday's OHLC levels or other simple statistics that's extremely useful." That is true on your part. Maybe he can't see something as simple as that as it doesn't resonate with him. @Laissez Faire we're all built so differently and that is displayed so clearly in our trading. That is the very same reason, why the markets will continue to remain a reflection of human nature (HFT including, as they are designed and constructed based off personalities) and why we will always see a buyer AND seller at every single price point. One see's the glass half full, the other see's it half empty.........and there are those that only see the glass. ALL THREE ARE CORRECT!
After the signal that occurs two bars after my entry bar I'd move my stop just above my entry bar, because if price were to then break through the high of my entry bar, the HOD is then in play and why take a full loss when I can limit my loss to just a few ticks? There would be no reason for me to move my stop down further to just above the bear entry bar high because when I move it just above my entry bar high, the risk is really minimal and any PA in between wouldn't have meaning to me. However, if I'd entered a short position on the break of the previous bar low that occurred during that bear entry bar (Bar 30), my stop loss would be much wider and I personally would probably screw up the trade by scratching it or taking a loss as you described. Because of my tendency to get nervous during retraces, I chose a different method of entering trades that require stops too wide for my comfort. Taking a first entry using a sell stop just below that 28th/29th bar low wouldn't fit the parameters of my trading plan. Instead, once the signal occurred during Bar 30, I'd drill down to the 1-min chart and choose a different entry method I have which I'm not going to explain here because I illustrated it years ago here (scroll down a bit): http://www.elitetrader.com/et/index.php?threads/a-simple-price-action-approach.220303/page-2 And you can track the real time analysis of that trade here: http://www.elitetrader.com/et/index.php?threads/cl-redux.178741/page-2173 (Those were the days, a full 100 ticks - $1000/contract - in just a few minutes)
I agree 100%. I do not care one bit whether the person writing a trading book earns money or not. You can have complete understanding of the most astonishingly profitable methods imaginable and be unable to execute them in real time due to fear, thinking while trading, attempts to achieve perfect results, etc. All I care about is whether the concepts described are useful to me. I have no problem sharing this info because I know that they are methods that exploit the price behavior caused by much larger players. (If I was trading serious size, I'd trade far differently and I'd share nothing with anyone.) I also know that for every 100 people who take the time to study and fully understand Brooks, Volman, Beggs, etc., most likely less than 10 will take the time to develop a plan around these concepts and even fewer will have the mindset necessary to execute their plan.
We are dealing with "true believers"-- no amount of logic or reasoning will suffice when their gurus are questioned. was L. Ron Hubbard a price action trader? surf
Spot on! The second set was worked on, but even those leave a lot to be desired. However, some of his work would still be difficult as he goes into dissecting the happenings and psychology of each bar. I have always thought of it that way, but this guy has a solid method when understood in depth. However, I've never seen any proof (and I really don't even want any), so anything is possible. What's important for me is that some of his concepts really happened to be nice chunky gold nuggets for me. Maybe his humble background, his struggles as a trader (ask traders here to raise their hand to whether they have shed tears of frustration and you will see many hands) and finally his generosity may all be at work in tandem. I like to see the good in people as I truly believe that is the core we are built of. Most traders that I have known who tend to be "filthy rich" actually are very generous with their material and money. To them, the value of money is diminished over time and a lot of it is given away towards good causes.
I think the problem with Brooks is students are expecting him to teach them how to make a living in the markets. Problem is I don't believe he makes a living trading, so I don't see how he could teach you something that he can't do himself. He's just a guy who is very passionate about trading, has put a lot of time into it and come up with a lot of ideas, and he is selling those ideas. If one is already profitable, I think it is possible that Brooks could give them a tip or two to improve their TA skills and give a boost to the bottomline. But if one is not profitable.... I don't believe you will become a career trader by reading his books. That is the misunderstanding and it probably exists because everyone in this industry including Al is "selling the dream" and as a result folks get false impressions and feel short-changed when things don't pan out as expected.
I think these "true believers" one day sailed on the same boat as you, until they saw something that you may have missed. Surf, there are so many different methods with which success can be achieved in this business. When you come up here, I'll show you how I shake my tea leaves and wiggle my hips to determine trades with a win rate of 99%
Brook's videos are more of a nightmare than a dream lol anyway, almost half way through the course...it's actually becoming better!!!!
The one similar thread i have observed among many gurus from WD Gann to wycoff & Al Brooks--- they all have a similar very unique writing style. I feel nearly zen like when i read it. Almost hypnotic and nearly biblical to a degree. Anything can be read into the material and its difficult or impossible to understand or test due to multiple interpretations.
Brooks is a for-profit educator. Wouldn't he do the opposite if the scenario were as you suggest in your post?