tiddlywinks, I’m sorry to have come across as anything other than thought provoking and did not mean to offend you. We’re on the same page with the importance of volume.
Oh, come on, tittily my friend. No need to get all riled up and scare our homey from Aloha land. He's just an innocent bystander. Plus, this is what's so great about this site as opposed to other websites with their monstrous "now play nice" Woke BS: You get what you asked for. Now play nice, or we might all jump on your ass.
You'd be surprised how many non-liberal arts graduates who cannot write effectively. When I was in college in the late 90s, local industry communicated to the university's business school and informed it that it produces good accountants, but they cannot write effectively. As a result, one semester before escaping with an undergraduate degree, the business school implemented a requirement of three writing-intensive (WI) courses are required to graduate. The university assisted by creating WI-variants of existing courses (e.g., Poli-Sci 101-WI).
Recently watched the end of day review video from Al Brooks's channel on youtube. A teenager is doing review of the days action bar by bar. No disrespect to Brooks I did learn something from his material, but I found this bar by bar review end of day pretty BS, its more like hindsight analysis. He is explaining it in a way like he can predict what the market will do every moment with 100%, but the true is there is no certainty in trading. Brooks explain a lot of the reason why a move happen but he talks very little about trade management.
Over a period of years I have suffered through most of what Dr. Brooks has published. Also have watched every video and interview available. At this point I have gone beyond price action. I combined a form of VWAP and Volume Profile to create a framing mechanism that works for me. I think most people have to find that middle road for themselves, going beyond mentors and books, until they find the key that turns the lock. For me it was learning a different way of thinking about markets. I noticed that once I adjusted my way of thinking about how prices move, I was able to recognize more (of the many) opportunities that occur during a session. The difference was that I was able to stop giving back profits by overtrading, and finally I learned to identify and trade only "prime time" periods. For the ES, its the first 2-3 hours. Finally have to mention that the finding a "method" that works is only part of the solution The other part is learning mental discipline. By that I mean that most folks think in terms that I characterize as infantile or passive. They are looking to get something (that works) with as little effort on their part as possible. In contrast, winners seem to be willing to take on challenges, and do whatever it takes, even if it means painful self examination. I would expect some pushback but basically this has been my journey.
Your active hour is only the first 2-3 hours, what if you are at a loss? you just going to give up opportunity the rest of the day?
Its a fair question. The answer is simple. Until a trader finds a way to handle the volatility, he or she should not trade (especially the first hour).