Great post Whister. That's why I'm working with Volume profile now. Using an eSignal efs that worked very well last week.
Rajin and whitster - help me with: "For me, I pay attention to Volume @ Price (and.or Time @ Price - market profile), and order flow (time/sales)." I watch the book and depth pretty close, but man, those numbers flash by so fast it's hard to get a read unless it's at the open. I use IB/Trader Workstation/Sierra Charts. Is there a setup I'm not looking at ??
Here is a chart with Volume Profile along with PP and MP. Messy as hell but it works. Working on a way to clean it up some. As far as RSI - Couldn't trade without it. Gotta speed it up. The default is only good on longer time frames.
Tom....I'm new to the YM but have been trading stocks full time for three years. Don't watch book sizes at all. They can make it look any way they want. Same as buys and sells. It's the volume at price that matters to me. You'll soon know if you were right or wrong. Example: Yesterday when I went short @ 11172 there was some huge buys coming through. Either those guys are worse traders than me or it was BS and really was sells..... That has scared me out of many trades before.
there are no "buys and sells" for every buy there is a sell. that's a given there is order flow though you cannot have more buys than sells or vice versa
=========== Understood most of that, especially the trend part; & the ''wide /narrow range it works''. If you meant it works in a narrow range,also fine, more power to you; to me thats different from wide/narrow range. Not necessarily the best way, but collecting interest in a sideways trend works[ also called narrow range,collecting interest works well there also] Not real familiar now,with that other market Whitster mentioned ; but like the idea of getting into another market you like, like trending, 'wide to narrow ''trend or range, if needed. Ym is pretty good about some sort of trend/peak to valley,vice versa; don't think any would have to ''know'' S& R levels, don't have a bit of a problem with others doing that, or RSI. .
True - but - just like stocks are they (the specialist) just making a market? Another words, at times selling or buying something they don't own? They ain't gonna buy a short back higher or sell a long lower than the price they paid as a rule....
futures are different than stocks futures are zero sum for every person long YM, there is a person short YM at the same price point that is NOT true of stocks. in light of this, that is why i said what i said. also, futures don't have specialists.