Has anyone read this? I am reading it and am pretty disappointed in the content. My opinion is It seems less about market profile and more about his software and most is written by a guy called Steven Hawkins who cannot convay a clear message. Am i missing something here? My problem with Market profile so far in my following of it is everyone of the experts seems to have different interpretations -the CBOT stuff, Jim Dalton, Steidlmayer/Hawkins, the TradeRaven guys - there does not seem to be a consistant understanding anywhere. Does anyone else have this view?
Hi MJUK - Your impression is similar to mine, and many other readers. The first part, Pete's content, is a worthy read. it's pertinent and very relevant. as you said, the second half focuses more on tying the material to his software. and that's okay too. Pete maybe a trader and educator, but he is also a businessman and a software vendor. he realizes he has a captive target audience reading his book, so it makes a lot of sense to introduce readers to the software he feels best represents the ideas he presents. it is less about differences of understanding and more about style, interpretation, and application. it's similar a musical score. if you give the same composition to five world-class pianists, you will hear five different interpretations of the same piece. it isn't their understanding, it is their individualities that produce the unique works. it is because their understanding is so thorough that they can take the material and make it their own. same for the MP related folks you listed. and it goes for other market perspectives too, not just MP. hope this helps.
Books affect everyone differently. This did more than any other to turn my trading around. What affected me more was not the technical aspects of MP as it was the CONCEPTS of how markets work. The heart of the book is pages 70 & 71 IMHO. This book was recommended to me by a friend of mine who was a pit trader since the late 80's. That book and Market Wizards were the only two trading books he ever recommended that I read. To each his own. What works for some does not work for others.
great point BK. too often people look to MP for recipes. people fall back to looking for red light/green light signals, and that's not what MP is about.
Exactly. He compares trading to buying and sellng land and such. When you are in the market to buy something you don't go out and pay top dollar. You shop around and look for "bargains." Or if you have something to sell you want to sell it when there is demand for it, not when there is an overabundance. I see so many "Help me out" threads on ET where they post charts. So many are buying highs and selling lows with a tight stop; then they wonder why they are not making any money.
Hi - Yes that is a good analogy. I suppose the only way to apply MP will be to observe the profile and price action and draw my own conclusions. Thanks.
Yes that chapter is certainly the most relevent but again it is hard to pull the key concepts out of Hawkin's writting style. I prefer Steidlmayers stuff from CBOT.
Try to locate a copy of the "Kevin Koy" book in a library. It does the best job of making the profile "practical". Focus on the parts of the book having to do with properly categorizing the different types of market activity, i.e. initiating or responsive range extension, daily extreme(s) and TPO balance. You should immediately be able to come up with reliable trade signals based on those well-defined bits of information.
There's a good thread on ET here somewhere about MP. Something with 3-2-1 in the title but I can't place it. Seemed decent.
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=127338&highlight=steidlmayer ****************** I enjoyed this book...the first half of it. One of the most simple and yet important concepts is that markets change, and traders therefore need to adapt and re-define their strategies. Easier said than done though.