You can't. That was my point. There has to be "nuance". I've said before on this thread, I've seen solid confirmed A ups I would never take because of the price action and vice versa. Look, the HFT's have taken the purity out of this game. Trading is very messy, dirty, and choppy now. No single price tick can possibly hold too much meaning. Ten years ago, different story.
If you have the time, I would read over the entire thread. I think I have gone over every possible question one could have in lengthy detail on this thread. It's all in here.
I think you can develop an automated system on A breakouts given enough volatility and a trending nature in an instrument. I've spent the last month researching this topic, backtesting different intraday strategies and it's not too hard to find a proper configuration with a w/l ratio above 70% with bearable drawdowns (at least, in theory). I'd say the key is having good filters to stay away of instruments without pulse and a large enough basket of instruments to choose from. The latter could be even better enhanced if you integrate spreads in the strategy, a topic that has been discussed recently. What I find more challenging is integrating "time" into an automated strategy, the "instant gratification" factor, which -in my limited experience- is a very important part of the ACD method that you don't want to leave behind.
I have forward tested just getting in at the A and C levels with certain conditions and entering with a time stop and/or volatility stop. I did not have alot of success...it was mixed. I think if you were trying to automate this thing, a separate entry signal may be necessary to have a high enough win ratio and not get shaken out of moves. Alot of the more leveraged instruments, like crude, gold, grains tend to have more cleaner breaks or at least I have noticed this. With stocks this isn't always the case I think this was part of the reason it did not work for me. However if you can filter for only getting in at momentum moves you may be able to side step that. Look for small opening ranges too! Time stops have one problem, With certain instruments that have alot of HFT you will notice that breakouts get faded alot and you can get shaken out of trending moves because of the backing and filling. Look at the ES on any given day.
Don't forget about the exits! lol that was the toughest part for the intraday plays! Lends more to what Mav is saying about nuance and PA
For what it's worth; in my extremely limited experience, (as Fisher, Mav, and RCG have mentioned endlessly) this is KEY. ACD supplements what you do as a trader. What about this for an analogy: you buy a nice new BMW. You get the oil changed, scheduled maintenance, good tires, etc. You're ready to roll. Now you loose your keys and can't start the damn engine. You're S.O.L. ACD is the BMW, your trading method is the key to the car.
Can you receive PM's? I'm sorry, I'm not going to post the info on this thread because there are some very crazy people on ET and probably on this thread as well. I'll send you a PM with the info. BTW, the meeting got moved to Wednesday night.
While stated by Mav many times, this key point only sunk into my thick skull recently. ACD is a stand-alone analysis technique that complements your core trading approach. Once you realize this, it puts ACD into context to reveal volatility levels/reference zones/inflection points to enhance your existing trading approach. The so-what of this is that you need to invent your core trading approach before ACD adds value.
Not only do you have to have a strategy but you need to be a "good" trader. I can't emphasize that enough. Yes, ACD will make you better. But if you are a bad trader ACD will not make you a "good" trader. Without discipline you don't have a chance in this business. ACD will improve upon your discipline, but there has to be some there to work with already.