Eureka. The reason that I was not getting a vol display was because I was using esignal as the data feed. They do not appear to supply raw vol data. Switching over to IB cured the problem.
Another wild day - Wish we would get some lower volatility days so a piker like me could trade some. Only took a short at 9:40 and again eod for 8 pts overall. Still too many swings for me to feel comfortable trading when it's so volatile, like through most of the day. Notice how price tried to stay above the thick black co rtl for most of the day until 14:00ish, and then the bottom dropped out. Then fell to the thick red co ltl. Channels work...
Spyder, All i can say is WOW. It is not only about the things that you share, it is how you share it. Thanks, redduke
Qcharts said they couldn't do the color coding because there is no open or close on the tick charts. They said they "may" look at doing it for version 6.1 depending on requests, but I'm not holding my breath. They should at least be able to code the colors based on an up or down tic. Spydertrader and I have both logged our requests. So it might help if fellow Qchart users e-mailed them or post in the Esignal/Qcharts forum. Thanks, EZ
I think a thorough review of the basics of what is and isn't an FTT is in order. In my attempt to learn to trade SCT, my typical day consists of way too many reversals to keep track of. I believe this is due in large part to my interpretation of what constitutes an FTT and not a Flaw. Yes after the fact I can see the errors of my ways; it is when I am in the "moment" that things are fuzzy. In the attached chart, in addition to the FTT's that Spyder marked on his chart (Yellow "f's" on my chart) I have added the bars that I thought in real time were FTT (light blue "f's"). These do not include the intra bar reversals that plague me. For example the bars at 11:15 11:45 and 15:30 among others seemed like perfectly good candidates for FTT's while the bullets were flying . Also to echo Haroki's post, the huge intra bar swings are completely unnerving and misleading to me. Especially during later in the day. The multiple intra bar swings had me reversing the reversals of the reversals and then I reversed again Additionally, I study the volume patterns just about every way to try to see the macro picture. This is very difficult because I constantly get drawn into a bar to bar analysis that gets me all befuddled . Even after the smoke has cleared volume is not crystal clear to me yet. The period starting 12:15 to 14:00 seems even in retrospect to be unreadable. Well these are what appear to be my most immediate deficiencies regarding JHM.
I understand what you mean Guavaman and experience the same. IMO it's better to focus on the forest first. It's no problem for me at all to call each important turn during the day but it's just that there are many more bars when I call that turn.... IMO it's really one or the other. If you trade the forest then you may or may not notice the FTT and wait for price to traverse to RTL. Then you can enter on a flaw (in new dom direction) or wait for RTL to be broken to enter, or even at a new point three after RTL break. Meantime you learn about the FTT's. On finer resolution you trade the FTT and your fingers have to be on the trigger. You enter as soon as you notice the FTT and you wash or reverse as soon as you notice it was a flaw. If you were quick to enter and quick to wash/reverse you may even have a small profit or a 2/3 tick maximum loss. There is no middle way IMO because if you wait longer to enter there are instances when you would not have taken the trade or you would have taken it and experienced a bigger loss when realising you were wrong. Well, I prefer many break even trades then a few sure losses once decided to trade on a higher resolution. For now I prefer trading the forest. Must add that the tic charts give some great insights. There were instances today when it told me the market story much quicker than the other tools. Just like every tool you have to be careful not to stick onto it but move to more coarser tools again (dom wall, str/sq, PRV, YM, channels) regards, Ivo
For more on Qchart's tick chart bar and volume colors see the "Software Used to Trade Jack Hershey Method" forum. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1555624#post1555624
I found myself in a very similar situation yesterday afternoon. I attach a clip showing my numerous cases of ftt misidentification (subsequently labelled wtf). Making "mistakes" is part of the learning process, but this does rely upon being able to identify the reason for the "mistake" in order to avoid repetition. From close scrutiny of screen recordings I can see that I am frequently late in deciding that what I see is an ftt and furthermore, late in subsequently deciding that it is a flaw. The extraordinary volatility of late doesn't help much either when one comes to reversing. I am assured that the earlier the decision is made the better but when I observe the results of earlier decsions, the frequncy of misidentification increases dramatically. The crux of the matter is how to distinguish between ftt's and flaws in real time. When using only the basic tools such as es, ym price and volume, the two appear identical until completion of subsequent bars. I have yet to witness the possibility of profiting after misidentification because the coarse tools seem inadequate when validating/invalidating one's decision. However, this does not comply with Jack's recommendation to trade one contract, ftt to ftt, using only coarse tools, so I am confused. As a case study, I will post snapshots of the 6 wtf's. Although it is far from ideal when discussing a static snapshot, any feedback would be appreciated. David