I'm learning about VSA and Wyckoff trading methology. But can more experienced people and experts about this topic can give me their opinion about this methods? I'm not using the VSA tradeguider software, I'm only reading books and trading with this information. Thank you.
I have studied VSA, Wykoff, and most of the other known(to me) volume-based methods. I use volume extensively in my trading. I am a FT independent futures trader. Volume et al, as a thing, is like frog legs... if someone likes chicken they order chicken. Additionally, VSA, Wykoff, etc arrive to the unlearned/untrained palate as "dated" concoctions. The lack of response or even negative response from general ET population should be expected... Conventional wisdom is alive and well within. A more specific question may attract more depth.
A knowledge-base of methods that "fit" the trader allows for the most appropriate development of a traders method (or methods). As I mentioned, I use volume extensively. That does not mean exclusively. You will find very few, if any, true traders that use a method (volume or not) defined in a book or workshop without modifications or customization of their own... They roll their own manual and/or automated method. For instance, the biggest take-away from VSA (for me) was bar-by-bar analysis. From Wykoff, association with the concept of Accumulation and Distribution. From Market Profile, naked point of control (POC), From volume by price, simple support and resistance. And of course, since I studied various methods, the volume specific understandings that came through study as well. Additionally, a method available in the public domain, including here in ET, is the Jack Hershey method. There is no book or video... just dozens of threads, 1000's of pages, and tens of thousands of posts from both dis-tractors and "students". There are maybe 10 known practitioners on this site. The most important thing for a new trader is to find one or methods that "fit" YOU, as a trader. YOU MUST "OWN" THE METHOD(S) YOU USE, WHATEVER THEY ARE.
Wyckoff's core trading technique still works today - you see it in all time frames - the bull & bear traps that shake out the herd before a big move in the opposite direction - their stop loss makes for excellent low risk entries. I pay attention to volume. The third test of the day high shows the buy side is very aggressive (up volume - down vol). This was a 15% gain inside of half an hour. The mid day narrow range is institutional accumulation.
Could you tell it was accumulation or distribution before the break out based on volume analysis or you realized it was accumulation because it broke to the upside.?
Well For example, I can see if a lateral channel is accumulation or distribution looking at price bars inside. For example if after a rising prices the price start to go lateral and each time that prices want's to go up again, it doesn't have strong and it looks that there isn't demand or the supply is coming and absorbing the demand, I can conclude that we have distribution and price falling is coming. For example, if I analyze the chart I see that the professionals accumulated and after tested if the market still have supply (Blue rectangule) because we have down bars with volume increase that didn't fall more and after they was followed by up bars (professional buying) and low volume down bars followed by up bars (Test). Looking only how the professionals don't let the price fall and how they are absorbing the supply we can expect rising prices.
So you consider that if you have volume increases in the upwaves within the congestion area you are in accumulation, but if you have that volume increase in the downwaves you have distribution?