I have a science/medical background, so I should be used to this kind of dense and convoluted style of writing... The books read like a physiology course syllabus in medical school - super dense, with a lot of repeated readings required to grasp the material. But once you get it, you "get it". Now, I'm not that far into the books, and I'll probably have more questions soon. To anyone who has gone through all of the books: What should I do with the "Deeper Discussion of This Chart" sections? Sometimes I don't really understand what he's talking about. Should I skip these discussions and come back to them after completing all the books?
That example you posted accidentally put the "A" where the "B" should've been. He's explaining a simple concept known as a measured move (AB = CD) and from the top of the first leg down to the swing low is A-B, then after the loooong consolidation, you expect an equal (measured) move from the highs of the consolidation, which is the C-D leg. I read his original book, Reading Price Charts Bar By Bar, several years ago and although the editing was awful, the charts were difficult to see, and he used all sorts of terms that were explained (poorly) in the back of the book, I was intrigued and kept on reading. I spent about an hour studying one or two concepts/charts trying to absorb what the heck he was saying. I don't give up easily and it was worth all the hours I spent. His concepts opened some doors for me, but not until I found myself experiencing in real trading the stuff he was talking about. After reading about early longs/early shorts and trapped traders, the concept suddenly made sense as I found myself in that position while trading. Suddenly, I wanted to know more from this guy. If you want to be a day trader and can study Brooks while practicing in a demo account, I think the payoff will be enormous. All the best!
Do not waste your time reading books. Register screen time instead. There are no rules in price action. The rules you read in books are just made up.
Double bottom bull flags and double top bear flags. I think that's in chapter 1 titled Pullbacks, in the 1st book. They are different than normal flags. I can vaguely visualize them but I didn't spend the time necessary to understand them and they're behind me now as I'm reading further ahead. Either I have to go back and study them, which I intend to do anyway, and will be doing sooner if I get some help understanding them. Has anyone had some success with how he ties the explanation of these flags into the theory behind head and shoulders patterns? Brooks is the first person I've encountered that has convinced me he has a unique and valid understanding of the logic of H&S.
Do you expect to make any money with H&S? In general is there any hard evidence that these patterns make money? IMO the evidence is overwhelming that TA is a losing game. I will start trading H&S but only if someone presents evidence that it makes money.
Trading is challenging for most, you want simplicity, this guy has a complex method plus a complex way of communicating it, plus typos Run like the wind...
There are academic evidence and back testing evidence published that said H&S price actions are profitable. You can start your research with a guy name Thomas Bulkowski. There's a few others out there by others in other countries outside of the U.S...all can be searched (found) on Google. But that's really not the issue. The issue is that there's a big difference between academic/back testing versus real money trading because "most traders" will trade differently in comparison to how they back tested or demo something. In addition, just because it works for someone else doesn't imply it'll work for you via the fact that the reader will apply it to a different trading instrument, use a different time frame, have different money management rules, different capitalization, different trade environment and many other different variables. In other words, if all the ducks aren't lined up...you'll still be a losing trader with a profitable back tested trade method because profitable trading involves more than just a trade method (something most traders don't want to hear). My point, no matter what someone proves to you...you will always be the deciding factor in real money trading situations. For example, this forum is litter with dozens of journals where traders say they have a positive expectancy when they tested whatever trade method they're using but they are lost (confused) about the method not working (not profitable) when they traverse into real money trading. The trader is the deciding factor...more important than the method...too many trade journals here at ET and other forums proves this as true. Thus, I suspect you won't trade the H&S or any other TA method even if you find the evidence you seek because there's other evidence out there that suggest the opposite...it doesn't work. Yet, keep in mind the critical aspect of these so called academic or backtesting evidence that shows it works and doesn't work...they all are applying it different from each other. In other words, you'll most likely do the same too. P.S. The thread title of this thread is about UNDERSTANDING Al Brooks method. Its not about whether TA works or if H&S works. Many other threads for that conversation instead of dragging it into this thread.