Price action and candles show you all this information anyway, if you can read price you can see the thing flattening out and reversing anyway at key fib and support zones
Anyone Here...??? Have a question... I have read all of it... but why do we think the market is going up when at the ASK (Sell) is heavy volume against the BID (Buy), is not the other way around? JD
About the ACV_ Bid and Ask I haven't made a comment or showed anything on Elitetrader in years. There are traders in the forum that I have known for years - and sometimes we will talk in skype - but not in the forum. A short time ago - I had a few traders in the forum that I know - contacted me about the ACV. While I think the ACV can still be used - effectively - for "scalping" - which is mainly how I used it - I have not used it in many years. I used it to trade the ES - but the ES has changed drastically. For instance - on the DOM - years ago you would see Thousands of contacts on Each Level - on the Bid and Ask - but now you will see Hundreds. The ACV Ratio can still be used successfully - if used in the right way - which I will not get into here. By the way - back when I was using the ACV - I would often go to the San Diego area - sit at a Starbucks - Scalp off the DOM - using the ACV - with NO CHARTS. It was fun - and I did very well Scalping for a tick or two. But my trading has changed a lot. I still love to Scalp - but with my set-up now - I can do a Scalp_Trend combination - and it is much easier than with the ACV. But I do think the ACV still has value. Concerning the Bid and Ask - why does it go Down on the Bid - Up on the Ask? A simple analogy - think of it in Real Estate terms - if the Buyers are in Control - what happens to the Price of Real Estate - and if the Sellers are in Control - again - what happens. Also - Price will usually go toward Size - think about that. Things you also need to consider - Limit orders on Each Level - can be Added and Pulled - very fast - so the ACV Ratio can change - Fast. Remember - we are trading against Big Money - they Control the market. I used the ACV Ratio - on the DOM - without charts - however - you could use it with charts - looking at what happens at some Support or Resistance area. Another thing - this may sound crazy - but I Stopped using the High or Low of a Bar - for an S&R level - switched to using the Open of the Bar. To me - a Wick is like a Fake Out - yes - it did go to that Price - but I found the Open to be much better - at least for me. See the attached e-book. I used to Walk the Trendline - based on the Open of the Bar - worked great. By the way - there are many different Bar Types - I stopped using Minute and Tick charts long ago - I use Range Bar only. ----While I am in the forum---- Changing the way I trade When I first started trading Equities - back in the middle 1990's - I used multiple Minute charts - like most traders did and probably still do. I started out with a MACD - then eventually added Slow Stochastic - then more indicators on Price - and on and on. The more I added - the more I started losing. I was basically having one indicator confirming another - instead of focusing on PRICE itself. I took all the indicators off Price - developed my own indicator - which I had in a sub chart. There are other things I did as well. I was basically a Trend trader at the time. If you go into any forum - you will see a lot of Negative comments about Scalping - "the only way to make money - is Trend trading. If Trend trading is so good - why do most traders go out of business - usually within a year. My main problem - where I would lose most of my money - was when Price Consolidated - started going Sideways. I was usually wrong - trying to figure out which way the market would go - coming out of the Sideways move. I started Printing charts out every day - I probably had close to 3 feet of charts - in about 6 months. It was relatively easy for me to make money in a Trending market - so I focused on Price Consolidation - to see if there was a way to Predict the Breakout Direction. I did see a Pattern - which I used successfully for years. Instead of Price Consolidation - I call it a Range Condition. Once I figured that out - I started making money on Range Condition Breakouts. By that time - I had been doing a lot of Scalping - faster and faster. One day I realized - hmmm - maybe I can Scalp - INSIDE the Range Box - which I drew on my chart for the Range Condition. That was an eye-opener. Sometimes the Range Condition would last for an hour or more - but I could still make money - INSIDE by Scalping. That totally changed the way I traded. A little about me and what I do now I am a developer and a very active trader. I trade a Maximum of two hours in the morning. I also work with some CTA's and CPO's - along with a few High Net Worth traders. I have had a booth at two Traders Expos - back in 2003 and 2007 - and traded Live - with Real Money - as traders walked by my booth. One owner of a Brokerage firm and the owner of a well-known trading platform - were in my booth - plus some of my clients were in the booth to help answer questions. I also put on a 3-day Paid Seminar at the end of the Traders Expo that was held in San Diego that year. I will not go into any detail here - but I now use one of my Algorithmic Systems that I coded years ago. It can be traded Discretionary - or for big money traders - it can be put on Full Auto - but you still have to watch it. For Discretionary - it puts a Green or Red Arrow on the chart. I do NOT use indicators of any kind - I do NOT believe in them - I think most are TOTAL BS. For me - it is all about Price Action - done MY WAY - looking at each Individual Bar. Trading books and taking classes I threw away most of the trading books I had purchased - many years ago. I took many expensive training_trading classes - and basically learned how to lose money faster. Why I stopped coming into Elitetrader and participating I started my ACV thread - close to 13 years ago now. I soon realized - in many threads - someone would add something to HELP other traders - then somehow the thread would turn negative. I decided I did NOT have time for that. My intention when I added the ACV thread - was just to offer traders another way - to help them. In the attached e-book This is an e-book that I put together back in 2007. It may or may not help traders - but it has meant a lot to my way of trading. However - I trade different now - don't draw lines on charts anymore - don't draw Range Boxes - etc. Especially look at the chart near the end - it was a Fed Announcement day. I had a client friend who had a roommate - this was his First day of trading. My friend and I were talking on Skype - I told him to tell his roommate - NOT to trade - near the Fed Announcement. But - this new trader must have decided he knew better - as he had taken his account - I think around $6,500 - to over $9,000 - that morning. Personally - I think he was probably trading stupid and got lucky. Well - he didn't listen - and in that 2 minute period of the Fed Announcement - he ended up with a little over $500 left in his account. The point is - we need to trade smart - not stupid. The comedian Ron White has a saying - "you can't fix stupid" - well - in most cases - maybe not - but I have to admit - back in my early days - I did trade stupid at times - and damn near had to go back to work. Finally I may pop into Elitetrader now and then - but more than likely - not to make comments. I have two sayings - "Smart Traders - Trading Smart" - and "Discipline plus Simplicity equals Success". I believe we as traders - are our own worst enemy. I wish all traders much success. Don't try to contact from the name in the e-book - it doesn't exist anymore. Traders can send me a message in Elitetrader - I may or may not answer.
Omg, Welcome Back!!! I used the things you posted for years. All different now. Trade longer term now. But coded shit load of stuff based on what you taught here.
Based on talking with some trader friends in the forum - I have decided to do some Webinars - mainly about Scalping. Believe it or not - most of the money I have made trading around 26 plus years - has been from Scalping - NOT Trend trading. Again - please read my last post from February 2019 - Scalping_My Way with ACV. Hopefully - maybe this will help some traders - and it is FREE. The Webinars will be done in Zoom. If any traders are interested - they will have to send me a Private Message in the forum. Once I get the PM - I will Send my e-mail Address to each trader - then each trader will have to e-mail me back. All Webinars will be done in Real Time - LIVE Market - this way you will actually see if I am full of BS or not. I will NOT be trading - just showing the charts - explaining what is about to happen - etc. If any trader wants to actually trade during this time - they will do it at their own risk - unless of course they do it on a Simulator. I am NOT encouraging traders to trade Real Money during my Webinars - based on what I am showing them. Here are the Webinars: Not necessarily in this order - and maybe all at once - as the first 3 below - are tied together - with the Range Condition taking the most time. Webinar - Wednesday morning - 11-25-2020 - Pacific Standard Time (my time) - 7 am to 9 am 1) Range Conditions - Declaring a RC and Trading within the RC - this is how I solved my problem - of Losing when price went sideways. This is a Form of Price Consolidation - My way. 2) My way of doing Support and Resistance - which I believe is more accurate 3) My way of Price Action trading - I look at each Bar or CandleStick - individually - see what is happening inside each bar. I could care less about what happened a month or more ago. 4) My way of doing Head & Shoulders - on a One Tick Range Bar - very important for me 5) I may show one of my Algos - in Real Time - this is the way I trade now - most of the time - although I do still Scalp trade the way I will talk about - as mentioned above - as it is Fun This will be on a First Come Basis as space will be limited - by me - not by Zoom. The Webinar will probably run up to 2 hours - unless of course - traders get bored and leave earlier - which could happen. Added 4 pictures - the last picture - I found somewhere long ago - hell - it could have been in this forum - and since my name is Bill - I thought it fit my personality - at least my friends and family think it does. Hmmmm - I might put it on a Christmas card. I wish all traders much success.
Hey there! Good to see you again! I well remember years ago your scalping resonating with myself as I too have been scalping for years and harping on how it is less risk, combined with more profit potential, than long term trend trading. The concept generally falls on deaf ears or angry ears! You were always very generous in sharing. That generosity is much appreciated! Years ago... I remember you talking about sitting in Starbucks scalping and drinking coffee. While I don’t care for Starbucks coffee (most of it tastes pretty bad to me) I used to scalp drinking coffee in coffee shops in the Highlands of Mexico in the State of Chiapas. Or in some internet cafe in Honduras. Now that was some REAL GOOD coffee. At least for my palate. While I have my own way of scalping I would strongly suggest that folks NEED to pay attention to what you say.