Trend or Range: How to Know in Advance

I'm not a huge fan of doji, unless it's a spiral doji as shown in the pic below. And I prefer to see these ideally at the top or the bottom of the trend along with a confirmation bar next to it. But I ain't so sure they're the precursor to TR. They're usually a trend reversal MOFOs.

 

I have not heard of the term spiral doji.
is it a long legged doji followed by gravestone followed by dragon fly?

 

I asked ChatGPT and it references it possibly being a tri-star pattern ? Pic is my fav part

 

LOL I made that term up because it looks like these spiralling toys.

No, it's any one of them. What's important here is not the small body but the long wick, above or below, or both.

 

Fair value gap. Nowadays a lot of new terms and concepts. It is hard to learn new things.
I learned "micro gap" from AL Brooks many years ago and now I think it is a waste of time.
It is useful, but I think no people build a strategy from "fair value gap".

It seems that AI can not create a candle chart.

 

I'd rather anticipate a breakout, this past Friday 5 minute ES (Micro) :-



BTW someone, who shall remain screen-nameless once pissed on me for using BBands.

 

Aloha SunTrader,

I once hear something along the lines of: It's easy to know when's a good time to get in, but not so easy to know when it's a good time to get out.

If you subscribe to the idea of all trends start and end in ranges, figuring out the second part about a range starting is trickiest (for me).

I too would rather anticipate a breakout (at least with my current knowledge) because I rarely read well enough to hold until the end of the move. So, I'm always waiting for the next BO to happen

I hope this wasn't me, but if it was, I apologize. Everyone has their own way of skinning a cat

 

Not of much use to me to know once we are in a trading range. I use a Chandelier trailing stop, that's it - no exception. What price does after I exit pfft. Sit back and wait for next setup to form.

And second part, no not you at all.

 

C'mon, you know as well as I do that BBs are for pussies.

 

I think a range always begin, more or less, with a double top / bottom. We can, sometimes, see it coming as price lose momentum. Legs become more balanced, the asymmetry fades away.