Just to put a smile on everybody's face: this is how I see the Learning Process ... After knowledge accumulation you notice that you can achieve the same results with less efforts. Eventually you'll break out up through the resistance line of the pennant ... <img src=http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=1590432>
Now I'm just guessing, because it's pretty hard to understand Spyder sometimes what with the way I interpret things and my mind wanders all over the place (those memories!) and the double meanings inherent in every noun, verb and adverb depending on personal context and my varying emotional state at the time....but what I think he is saying is study the chart he posted bar by bar and have an honest go at seeing when you could differentiate continuation from change. It is a non-trivial exercise; no trader is above doing this exercise. I'm guessing too that it was not a random chart he just had lying around but one he chose carefully so we could all learn something important...so pretty please with sugar on it, do the exercise he suggested.
Sarcasm is not appreciated. I'm taking the heat for a number of people who have the same difficulty as I have. Your post completely misses the point of everything I've been saying. If you really care, you'll respond to this specifically. Lets take one you say, step by step, in real time, because in real time, traders need to make decisions now, not after the fact. You say "that we cannot possibly end up with an FTT on this current bar". For traders that are currently at my level, we see this statement as a mystery. You have still not answered the question I have posed, which is a question at least 6 people have also told me they have. The question is, how do you handle this tick by tick, in real time? Let me narrate a scenario: potential FTT, change, so reverse, oops PRV just sank to low volume, so change back, reverse again, oops PRV just shot up again, change, reverse again. This happens all the time. Additionally, there are times (and not an insignificant number) that volume on the FTT bar is <60% of prior bar and it indeed turns out to be an FTT.
Let me try rephrasing... I understand it's ridiculous to ask for a rule that states look at PRV at so many minutes into the bar, etc etc. But, somehow, you must have some sort of unconscious algorithm that tells you when to look at PRV. Cause looking at it all the time does not work.
Even hypo got answers, so you know you are welcome here. To answer your question, right now it makes no diff to me what kind of flaw it is, as I was taught to hold through all flaws. However, it's pretty awesome to know the diff between each of them. Say if I know it is not a hitch, but a stall. Then I can anticipate the longer time it takes for the primary direction to resume. ps. PRV tool is pretty importance tool to have, if you don't have one then you can use the volume project sheet to project the final volume.
I look at the PRV like a hawk. (edit: a statement has been deleted to avoid topic diversion.) Jack mention in another thread that he can trade off the volume bars. i.e. with the price bars covered. This shows you how important is the volume information. p.s. we have done some exercises a few months ago -- to reconstruct the price bars, using the volume bars. Those were good exercises. The results from different people turn out surprisingly similar.
Stating absolutes without qualification is confusing the hell out of people who have brains that work like mine. If what you say is so, then how come see (fairly often) bars with wider range and equal or lower volume (friday had 6 such bars). Would you please describe how you know when to ignore significant (more than say 3 or 4 ticks) price movement on lower volume. This has been one of my real difficulties. Thanks
I apologize for bringing this into the discussion. Please allow me to withdraw the statement. because whether Price drives the Volume, or Volume drives the Price, is a different and lengthy "discussion" altogether, and this is not the right place or time to get into it right now.