I believe price action trading is all about swing analysis (market structure) across different time frames and understanding true supply and demand zones (support / resistance) and where to look for them. Understanding what is likely to happen when swing highs are taken out in a down trend and swing lows in an uptrend. First tests, re-tests and when its worth taking them, accumulation / distribution. I think its hard to find a resource that covers everything. It needs to be pieced together from different sources and experience. I used to be very anti sim but I have actually changed my mind and went back to it after almost 2 years live futures trading. Will only go live again after I have the sim stats to back it. Look at the Low in CL yesterday and then look back on your daily chart to see where that low lines up with in the past....
I've never taken any formal courses. Here's my journey. -Started out buying stocks at random. If the price dropped a ton, I assumed it "has to go back up at some point". Lost money. -Learned that I could "short" and trade in both directions. Lost money. -Learned about candlesticks and started using them. They showed much more info than a simple line chart. Lost money. -Learned about "trend lines" and started drawing them. Anywhere I could connect 2 dots, and used the third dot to anticipate where price would find support/resistance. Lost money. -Got a better platform. Much cleaner interface, no lag, nice drawing tools. Lost money. -Switched time frames. 1m, 3m, 5m, 6m, 10m, 15m, 1 hour, etc. Lost money in each one. -Tried many tick charts. Thought professionals aren't using time-based charts. Lost money. -Experimented with various targets/stops. Tried risk:reward of 1:1, 1.5:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, etc. Lost money for each one. -Experimented with trailing stops. Lost money. -Read random trading books. Psychology (Douglas), Trading (Brooks), Probabilities, etc. Learned a ton. Lost money. -Questioned whether day trading was a pipe dream. -Switched to swing trading for a time. Had mild success. Probably just the luck of starting a swing trading journey during a decade long bull market. Back to day trading. -Discovered ET. Lots of advice resonated with me. I reached out to one forum member in PM, and his suggestions helped me to get a grip, and do my own work. Later I switched from drawing trend lines to using Moving Averages for that function. This helped a bit. Started to avoid trading in chop. I definitely lost money in every phase, but, going through each phase was critical to my development, and enabled me to reach a point where I could test my own ideas. The real turning point finally came when I had an idea for a single trading setup. The signal was very specific and clear. I looked for every occurrence in prior months/years, and in different market conditions, making detailed notes for each occurrence. I analyzed the results of several hundred occurrences in various conditions, and refined the signal. I then developed the skill to recognize the setup in realtime, and the behavior to enter the trade with zero hesitation... Even if the last 4-5 trades were losers. Even if the first 3-4 trades in a single day were losers. Finally, I learned to avoid all impulsive entries that were outside of my trade plan. My real work is done in analysis. Trading is just "auto pilot". I login at 0930 EST, take every refined signal until no later than 1530, unless I feel like taking the day off. Your brain is what will get you to your destination. A course may give you ideas to run with. So perhaps give it a shot. But either way, you probably have a ton of work left to do.
Morning Everyone. I appreciate the effort and time from everyone response. The one thing I am learning is I have to be 100% responsible for each trade and follow my eyes and decision making skills. Please keep the good comments coming.
imjohn, Thank you sooo much John. Perfect journey write up and I commend you for posting and staying on the path to discover your own trading style. Even though at each stage you lost money, you LEARNED, alll that learning resulted to now. You nailed it when you said the "Discovered ET. Lots of advice resonated with me. I reached out to one forum member in PM, and his suggestions helped me to get a grip, and do my own work." I can resonate with this as well. I honestly found, when I review the chart at night, after trading that day. I realize several mistakes or things I could have done better. Thanks
Shhhhhhhh. Don't let the cat out the bag. And it's not always the exact highs and lows you need to back reference...
A heuristic I use is anyone who talks about "price action" is a bullshitter and should be ignored or possibly used as a indicator to think about the other side of whatever trade they are talking about.