What was your "a-ha!" moment?

This is the 5 minute chart of ES for tonight. Think you can put together a narrative from all the doodles that I've made on the chart? Think there will be a reversal around the corner? This is just for you to brainstorm. You don't need to respond. (BTW, I ask that you think in terms of HL and LH.)

 

Same chart as above, only different lines. What story can you craft out of these price actions? Think the price will resume higher or reverse? Dilemma, dilemma.

 

And if you're REALLY lost and don't know what the hell is going on, slapping on EMA(21) on the chart isn't such a bad thing either. I personally don't use any indicators, but a lot of traders do use it so it becomes almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. But enough said.

 

Question for you if you don't mind:

Any reason you use candles instead of bars?

I asked because someone once told me bars are better, so I switched over from candles to bars. But recently I decided to switch back to candles because it seems to give better visual impacts. Bars do give me better intuitive start-finish visual effects.

Thanks

 

I've used candles from the start, so they're easier to follow. Better visuals too.

 

Agree with schizo, both have the same information but candles make the info clearer on the run (at least for me). When I scalped I used bars as the HLOC were not as important to the strategy.

 

Furthermore, in order to interpret the "story", you really do need to differentiate between the wick and the body. Sometimes, I only look at the bodies (there's an option to get rid of the wicks). Even though this is possible on the bar chart, it doesn't stick out as on the candle chart.

 

The tails can describe the battle but the close declares the winner of the bar. Doji?, ordinarily a consolidation although noobs (and chronic dumb money) tend to view them as reversals.

 

I actually like doji with long tails, especially at the top or the bottom of the trend.

 

The long tails show that the other side won the bar but they are often traps....need impulse follow through and even then can simply form a consolidation flag for resumption. Of course there is no technical structure to show experience or the instincts derived from experience. And that is a function and product of chart time, work ethic, cognitive abilities and focus.