Hey everyone, Just looking to share some ideas and see how others are using profiles on 24 hour markets like currencies, certain indices, etc. Aside from the occasional equity options spread, I mainly trade spot FX. Using profile levels is very helpful in determining s/r levels, etc. One thing I have found you can do is break the profiles into 8 hr segments to display what is happening in each session. That way it keeps London, NY, Tokyo, etc separate. It's not perfect, but it can offer some insight as to what each session is doing separately. I know that many people use midnight to start their profiles on 24 hr markets, same way they use midnight to calculate their pivot points, etc. I have seen some good s/r levels come out of this stuff, but I can't really figure out why anyone would start the profile at midnight, as it doesn't really seem to correlate with any particular market activity. Maybe it's just because it is more simple to just calculate everything that way. I was just wondering what some of you guys use for profiles on the 24 hour markets. A few years back, Bolter had some interesting ideas on looking for the market open in relation to the previous profile's value area/POC, etc. He had some really good ideas but it seems like it would tough to implement this into a 24 hr market, since open and close is so relative. I'm not an MP purist by any means, and I have been using MP to augment my trading for a couple years now with good results...but I am always up for discussing how others may have found more efficient ways to use MP in 24 hour markets. Thanks.
If I remember correctly, AlleyB had something interesting to say about MP on currencies on Traderslaboratory, you might want to search through his posts. I just create 24h profiles on currencies...they are usually ok but very often do not work as well as with the indices. FX is a bitch anyway.
I wonder how market profile is different from other trading methods. For example, suppose price values increase and are greater than the value area range limit. A trader has four choices: buy, sell, stay in or stay out. A trader that buys is buying a breakout. A trader that sells is selling at the upper limit of a trading range. Nothing new here.
What's the difference between looking at a bar chart and using moving averages? The bar chart can tell you exactly what a moving average will if you feel like doing the math, etc. It helps break down the information into a format that some people find more useful and intuitive. Any more negative pointless comments, or would you like to discuss the topic at hand?