Just curious if anyone is familiar with Dave Johnston's Market Auction Theory System (MATS) that he teaches for trading the various e-mini markets (www.eminidaytrader.com) This is unrelated to Bill Duryea's Institute of Auction Market Theory, which people on this forum generally seem to like.
It's probably a variation of the "Market Profile" originally developed by Peter Steidlemayer,-------i.e. be on the lookout for initiating activity, responsive activity, minus development et al. You can probably save yourself a lot of money and hype by buying Pete's books and taking the time to read and understand the material. It's your choice.
Thanks for your reply. From the name one would think that there must be some connection to Steidelmeyer's work, but I confirmed with the vendor that this isn't so. Also, the distinctive way that price gets recorded in Market Profile is totally absent from this system. There is a video at www.eminidaytrader.com that shows a couple of interesting-looking setups. The system seems to be based on price action and not much else. I would definitely like to save myself from unnecessary expense and hype if all possible.
Then the vendor doesn't know or understand Steidlmayers work. Or, perhaps he doesn't want out of the bag what he is selling is freely available. I consider myself more than well versed in MP, AMT, etc. I've put together classes in these subjects, I've coached traders in these ideas, and even developed some unique perspectives on volume profiling. I've watched the videos at the web site. I created similar EFS's myself, and I'm no programmer. I urge you to check out cbot's free material, cisco futures free material before you spend a dime. ps- when I say check out, what I mean is study hell out of it. I spent several months going through the info available, full time, 10 to 12 hours a day. That's how much is to be gleaned.
(MD) MINUS DEVELOPMENT???----On an intraday basis, imagine a "double distribution" day profile. "MD" is the part in the middle, in between the two sub-profiles, the "cleavage" if you will, where there's only one TPO print........Visually, construct a profile for a market that trades from 10-18 in A-bracket, 11-17 in B-bracket, 12-16 in C-bracket, 13-15 in D-bracket, 14-40 in E-bracket, 30-39 in F-bracket, 31-38 in G-bracket and 32-37 in H-bracket. In E-bracket, from 19-29 is what Steidlemayer calls "minus development". So far, there's only one TPO print at those prices. On an up-day, he believes it's a good spot to place "responsive buying" orders because he expects there to be good support at those prices the next time the market trades there and vice versa for a down-day with sell orders. I heard him talk about this at a seminar several years ago. I don't know if it's in any of his earlier books.
For a simplified example, look at today's Dec-DEX. Midday, when the market busted above 3363 up to 3374, this created "MD". Look at a 30-minute bar chart. Later, the 3rd and 5th bars traded down into the "MD" and bounced back. That's an idealized scenario about looking for lower-risk entry points using the profile. I hope that helps out.
nazzdack, Thanks the explaination. I understand what you are describing. I trade those double-distribution profile the same way but never knew the single print between the two distribution was called a negative development. I like your name for it too "Cleavage" profile.
This is one, obvious, form of minus development. Essentially, minus development is anywhere the market doesn't trade. You can have minus development against single prints, against a moving average, or against a news event. The free MP handbook, available at www.cbot.com goes into some detail.