Sweet... thanks guys... I have dumped indicators for some time, but just realized today my book collection has not reflected the change.
NQ has some resistance on the left from Jan 8, 9, 13 and 15 to absorb. ES appears to be in the clear except from Mar/02
NQ. S1 today,( 93.5 ) looks to have been a fairly strong S area in the recent past. If price drops that far, it will be interesting to see if volume comes in and how price will react.( Or if price stops short of that area, maybe impatient demand?) Up above, I still see quiet a bit of R from 1518 - 1531, it might take some more time to absorb the supply through this area. Yesterday, I was focused on volume bars, and trying to write down whether I was seeing supply or demand at certain times. The result of that effort, was after a while, I got totally confused, and generally not a very accurate reading. When I reviewed my work this morning, it's obvious that I need to switch to longer time frame bars, to be abel to keep coherent records.( switch to 45 min bars for my V study )
I didn't trade yesterday, I was all worked up on trying to get a gripe on S/D with volume bars. At the time of the test, I wrote down, demand was stronger than supply Today I'll turn off my color on the V bars, see if that helps
I found I was being distracted by the green/red color of my volume bars. I see volume distinctions much better now that I changed all the bars to one color. This is a good thread sulong. Good trading, jd
I turned off the color on the volume bars long ago. When charting programs came out with it, I thought it would be useful, but it's far more misleading than useful. As for your confusion, I'd ask what it is you're confused about, but I suspect that the most beneficial exercise would be for you to write down exactly what it is that's confusing you as you do your work, rather than try to collect your thoughts and questions into something presentable. In other words, at the moment you're wondering what the hell is this, write down the bar, the time, the bar interval, whatever else you're looking at (MA or whatever), and what it is that's puzzling you. Then type it up here. Don't worry about what it all "means". Focus on the specifics for now and concern yourself with principles later (inductive rather than deductive, since the deductive seems not to be appropriate at this stage).
Don't abandon the shorter intervals too quickly. While 1m bars can be more epileptic than informative, even 5m bars can be helpful. On the other hand, you should definitely maintain a variety of bar intervals, at least 5, 15 or 30, 30 or 45, 45 or 60, daily.
Something you may want to think about, and which may be helpful to you, is to frame your work within the context of extremes. Most of the best signals will take place at extremes, whether you're looking at volume or candlesticks or divergences or even indicators. Why? Because extremes attract interest. They are where price movement is most likely to take place, whether breakouts, reversals, or retracements. Therefore, when you're analyzing volume, don't be too concerned with what's going on "in between". Focus more on what's going on at the extremes, the attempt at a new high, the apparent bounce off support. Note also the effects of "big volume", since big volume tends to drive traders from the market (after all, they're what created the volume in the first place), particularly if that volume moves price dramatically in a brief period of time. We're looking at a good example of this here in the NQ. Big volume drove price down to the ADR quickly. Therefore, even though we hit a pivot level, we can expect to spend some time down here to bring traders back into the market (so far, it's been a half hour). An aggressive trader might go ahead and enter here anyway, seeing the volume as an exhaustion, but with so fewer traders, the probabilities aren't so easy to assess. Even if we don't fall further, we could sit here for hours. Some traders don't mind that. Some are driven crazy by it.
edit. pr = price So far the V on this price fall is comparable to that of the spring action of 02/06 ( more now) My notes from this morning - 1 min bars. Open at pivot 6:43 ( note: Pacific time ), price went up on 1400 V, then fell back on consecutive lower V. Maybe a pull back? ( placed a buy at 1507,got filled at 6:44) 6:47 price not moving up, move stp to BE+ 1 tick 6:49 stopped out, V came in big time with large dn move, found support just below pivot, rallied on less V 7:00 price now at R1, V higher than that on the move up. Price not moving V =1800 7;00 5 min bar, highest V yet today. 7:02 pr. falling on V =500 7:03 V =1200 pr.bar making a t shape 7:04 V = 800 pr. stall 7:05 V = 750 pr. up bar 7:06 V = 400 pr inside bar 7:07 V = 433 pr inside, dn 7:08 V = 825 pr new lo 7:10 V = 1000 pr outside, up, 2 ticks away from pivot 7:13 V tailing off, pr hovering around i tick above pivot - pr just touched pivot 7:16 pivot tested for 3 bars, each with declining V 7:22 V =1850 pr fell through pivot 7:23 V = 1525 pr continue dn 7:25 V = 1200 pr looks to find support 7:26 V = 350 pr made higher h/i 7:30 V = V tailing off, pr moving up slowly - maybe a RET to pivot? stalled at 04 7: 31 V = 500 pr lower l/h, open of 7:32 bar 02.5 ( note. I placed a limit sell order here, that did not get filled.) 7:33 V 825 pr testing lo 7:35 V = 3100 pr new lo 7:36 v = 5850 WOW! pr caved in 5 pt+ drop, through s1 by 4 ticks 7:38 V falling back to normal, pr higher h/l 7:44-46 V relative high, pr new lo-R2 7:49 V returning to normal, price creeping up 7:50 V higher, price falling 7:55 V is falling, price stabilizing, rinding R at LRL 8:01 V still falling, pr moving in a range = 91-86