Hey SusanaDT; Nice journal you've got going! congrats. I haven't looked at all the posts so this may be duplicative... here is a thread that IMO, has a lot of value to price action traders, especially newbies, and a good brain stimulator for the seasoned. http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108364 Again, congrats on the journal. It is now bookmarked! Osorico Price, momentum, and time says it all.
You know why P.M.T. is so important, or rather revelatory when I first stumbled upon it? Price + Momentum + Time = TREND I won't go into any elaborate detail this time, but if you pay close attention to P.M.T. you should understand when the trend will continue or reverse. Moreover, keep in mind that just as a bunch of minor S/R gives way to a major S/R, smaller trends will give birth to a larger trend.
To all, when figuring longer term S/R more I guess important is the word or primary how far back do you go? 10 years?, more? and when establishing S/R using candlesticks do you use the wick or body? TIA Chris
Time frames and scale size are only limited by the degree of price action seen. The more buyers or sellers test S/R levels for control, the greater probability each test becomes of turning what was once support into resistance and vice - versa. In a daily chart for an example in may take a few weeks, months or even years of seeing price action gravitate toward and be repelled by S/R levels of price satisfaction. You may have seen this first hand in intraday charts from 1441 ES where 1370 had been held as buying support for three swings before leading the way to where we're at now. On the other hand 1370 had been hit so many times that as an area of a point of control it's near ineffective, and will, eventually, have another consolidating period below 1370 or above it to create another point of control. What's important to consider in my view, no matter if you position, swing, momentum, or scalp trade is to view S/R levels as a mere measuring rod of where price could hold or could reverse, and relying on "could" isn't the best of strategies. Learning to read order flow as well as price action via Level 2 At The Book Institutional orders or Level 1.5 Time and Sales, as well as S/R levels at your own technical deducements paint an near perfect picture. Will price where you thought was a decent area of support be ripped to shreds 200 points within minutes, carrying your bracket stop 3/4 of the way with it for no other reason than the law of gravity? Maybe. And be assured if that happens: fair or not, you will hear from someone to collect on that slippage if it blew your account. It's easier for someone scalping 8 tick mini swings to pass off indicator or market internal reading as swank and not en vogue, but when the next crash comes, and there's always the next crash, they'll be the same people in dire straights. Take care of who you give credit where credit may not be due.
It wasn't meant to be funny. Of course there are no magic tricks, but if one does not keep a journal religiously, one is destined to make the same mistakes over and over again. Why do you think quarterbacks (and golfers) watch film? Those who know me know I share liberally, if not too liberally, and answer PM requests for clarification promptly and politely. The reason why I don't want to share any journal material is because I want other traders to make the mistakes I used to. I also know that most traders are too lazy to put in the work necessary to succeed. They want part-time work with full-time pay, and they want it now. They are too lazy to keep a journal, so why should I share?
Anyone who keeps a detailed journal (and none of the journals here at ET count) knows what I am talking about, the rest, don't. Imo, a really good journal really is to valuable to give away. I don't know if I would consider mine a "really good" journal, but it is valuable to me.
You're watching order flow and have your filter show only brick trades - and out of the corner of your eye while your managing a position or setting one up you notice green begin to show more frequently. That is more frquently than it had in the previous two hours simply needed to write in morse code "S.O.S." You shake your head, get up, pour an after lunch maintenance and no sooner than you get back you hear the squawk: "Deutsche Bank 20 ask 7" and bam! 3 bricks long on screen. Deutsche Bank, at the ask. Then they start rolln' in: print, print, print. You're starting to wonder if your analysis over the weekend of S/R may have not taken into account other key tests that occured maybe a year, perhaps a decade ago. You see longs truck through resistance and you buy the momentum, and you're not alone: print, print, print. "Deutsche Bank 70 bid 8". It's a magic trick that works every time, and it's the only reason support and resistance exists. 150 large for a point thrown out of the window to protect an investment, but because you're a piker from Iowa glad you're not eating chicken pot pies anymore you can't fathom being used and violated in so clear and evil fashion. "There are no magic tricks, nor smoke and mirrors, and, everyone's just so nice. Just click your heels three times and join us. We'll have so much fun - why with my five months of experience going on thirty years, what could possibly go wrong?" heh
For anyone to state a "JOURNAL" is needed to be recorded everyday has been in print for many years. A journal is not necessary to record (remember) mistakes made, thats just silly. Myself i can remember every mistake i ever made and still make. In the beginning we all make rookie mistakes over and over because we come into the game with visions of grandeur and think "how hard can this be". I have to admit i never in the beginning gave 2 seconds of thought to how hard it would or not be.............i just saw an opportunity to make a lot of money, A LOT of money. After initial excellent results in stocks i moved on to commodities and found out the game was not so easy after all. I am a fighter, if i see value i stick with it, i am as smart as or smarter than the average person, GET the picture? The only log or record of my trading expreiences are in my head, actual experiences are imprinted relative to how much i lost. The best learning trades cost the most and anyone that says different is full of rubbish. Thats where the real true value of helping others comes into play. Helping others AVOID a few mistakes by telling them what works for ME. For someone to say he wants others to make mistakes like he did is beyond me as a decent person. That is like saying if he did jail time others should do jail time and by the way he recorded his experiences in jail and relishes them. A trading journal is about relating actual trading experiences and not a place to stroke your ego by pushing some acronym you came up with while sitting on the can and feel the rest of the world should know how smart you are. A trading journal is not about giving your "IDEA" and definition of what support and resist are. We all know what they are. A single persons ideas etc not not needed in a journal of what a LINE is or is not. Drop the ego trips and lets stay on track with expressing "WHY" this works for you or WHY it failed you. A JOURNAL is not about reinventing the wheel, it is about rolling the wheel down the road and how it performed for you. The readers will decide if YOUR experience under battle hardened conditions has value for the reader, thats all we want to hear. STUFF the egos. You 2 know who you are.
Observations from the Village Idiot: 1-VOLUME is out as "indicator" yet it is present in each bar as a 10,000 constant. Therefore volume is present as a subjective INDICATOR in the speed at which each bar prints. Some bars take a lot of TIME to print and some others print in nanoseconds possibly. 2-TIME is another "indicator" that is sorely missing or subjectively present in a live version of your (PRICE ONLY? )charts and not present at all in the hindsight version. Fast rejection (Tempo?) at extremes is a "pure price action" indicator that is very useful in my opinion. 3-When a sufficiently big order comes in, conceivably many bars could print simultaneously, this poses another execution glitch, where what "looks" like an entry or exit in hindsight, is not actionable in real time due to speed, yet those are generally fast vertical moves. 4-An idea would be to use a Price-Volume chart like yours, and a Price-Time chart. Another is to use a Constant Price Range chart, and a Price-Time chart. Maybe too complicated. I use indicators in my charts, so I will not post them due to rules of the thread.