Who here uses tape reading as their primary way of identifying entry/exit? Did I even phrase that question the right way? Do you use tape to enter/exit? If not, what is the true significance of it.
hint: search for tape reading will yield tons of info a little definition http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=93256
Interesting because I'm going to start doing that tomorrow. The only thing that will be on my chart is the asked price and time and sales on another page.
Reading the tape takes a lot of time investment. I primarily trade stocks through reading the tape. That doesn't mean that I don't use charts to help identify support/resistance before taking to watching the tape. Once I have identified support and resistance areas (use a couple of different indicators and methods for this) I watch the tape and use what I see in price/volume/time to establish my position and later liquidate that position. It really isn't that difficult, but it does take the time dedicated to just sitting in one spot and simply watching for long periods of time without necessarily taking any actions. I suspect that many here at ET would inherently have a problem with that. Good Luck!
Also forgot to mention that tape reading is about the only way in real time to identify accumulation or distribution. TA can indicate these things but lags and usually the move is already well underway by the time the indicators identify the movement. This is one of the biggest advantages to being able to read the tape. Effective tape reading will enable one to identify when the pendulum is swinging from risk to reward and back to risk. Good Luck!
People have different ideas about what it means to "read the tape." There's a very good thread elsewhere on ET where people claim you can only tape-read NYSE stocks, for instance. I don't use that narrow of a definition. I identify setups I'm wanting to trade using a combination of charts. But, once I decide I'm interested, I turn away from the charts and chose my entry and exit entirely off the bid/ask prices and sizes, and the last print price and size. That's what I think of as "the tape." I put them all in a little quote box arranged so I can see all the numbers at once without moving my eyes. I'm mostly scalping and my trades rarely last more than a couple minutes. If my trades lasted hours I don't think I would do it the same way. I tape-read my entries because I think I can tell with high accuracy when my entry will give me at least 1 cent of immediate lift (I am aiming to grab some of the last shares that will be available on the ask at my intended buy price).