Trading With Limit Orders

Back again briefly during my lunch break.

Got burned on those last couple trades, price saught out the next supply levels and I wasn't around (also never placed my orders up there). I had considered that situation and made note of it but failed to act on it.

Here are a couple more, one long and two shorts.

I have chosen the locations of my orders based on where the most recent/strong supply/demand imbalance was. If price just rocketed north from a consolidation at .xx98 I'll take the RN into account and put my orders at .x103 or so. That's how I take RNs into consideration.

Hey JJ, don't have much time to reply at the moment, but I too would like to learn this method. I don't want to come across as though I'm sharing a method, rather I am posting my experiments (with my live acct) hoping that an experienced limit order trader will come out of the wood work and shine some light on my operations.

Here are three more limit orders.

Just got home from work, grabbin something to eat before I go to campus for class.

My long order was filled and then immediately stopped out. I should probably not go against the current with limit orders.

I have canceled those shorts and put a new one in, check the chart.

It is very uncomfortable for me to not wait for price/volume confirmation. Well time to keep pluggin, good thing I'm using small position sizes I've been getting burned this week. Seems fitting that I would hit a losing streak when I try starting a thread lol.

Edit: added another at 1.3810

I think in addition to placing limits where price has recently demonstrated a clear imbalance of S/D, I'll also place orders at broken SR. If I have time in class I'll try to mark what I mean but it's doubtful because I have an essay to write during class for another class.

Here are my major supply levels that I'm watching, they're all untested and should be totally excellent.

Both TP hit

Looking back at that trade to try to take note of what was right about it, these things stand out:

A) Origin of a strong move (the market demonstrated clear imbalance of S/D)
B) Previous support
C) With trend ( we recently come into an important S/D level on weekly charts across markets, and this translates to EU running into major supply on the longer TFs, therefore the trend I'm interested in is down)

I always make sure my targets are more than my stops. I managed 1:2 on the first position and 1:4 on the second position giving me an overal r:r of 1:3. I would like to note that when placing my TPs I do consider r:r but it's not how I decide where they go; for that I look at price structure and RNs, as r:r is a way that I use to evaluate trades when they're done.

Ok enough of the past, here is what I'm looking at now. The green zone is the most recent support level of EU, and this is a five minute chart showing a sell at supply.

I would put a short at the previous support level if it was accompanied by a supply level. I wouldn't be surprised to see a turn there but this thread is about trading with limit orders, not PA/VSA. Besides, I have to leave in ten minutes to go back to work and I haven't even eaten anything yet.

One more thing about the last trade, I'm glad that the trade took place without me monitoring it, as I probably would have moved my SL to BE and would have been taken out at BE. Also my loss from the previous day would have been at least a bit uncomfortable to watch. Limit order trading is a much more emotionless way to trade.

I will enter multiple positions sometimes, and sometimes I will just enter one. It depends on the situation.

If there is confluence of SD and SR and the trade is with the trend, I'll risk up to 1.5% or so but it's not a set rule. Also, if the zone is defined I'll enter with one or two positions, if it's a wider region or if I'm concerned about price not making it I'll enter up to 4 positions. I pay a lot more attention to the total risk than size per entry. I'll make my smaller entries the ones that are closer to price (in relation to SD zone) because the stop is going to have to be bigger. The entries on the extreme of the SD zone can be more units because the risk is smaller.

Here is a minor supply level and a little short. The box I used covered up the sell so I put in a wacky arrow.

Edit: there's another supply level above at roughly 1.3925-50. That would be a multiple-entry for me

No time, here are some orders

My shorts from earlier weren't filled. I have adjusted my shorts to these levels. I haven't checked price since then and I don't plan on checking until lunch tomorrow. I really like the routine of checking once or twice a day, it has been a profitable week with limit orders so far. I'm curious to see what I will discover tomorrow at lunch.

Subscribed. I think you've got a good thread here, your method of analysis is quite interesting and I'm keen to learn. I'm in the middle of trying to pick up point & figure technique and I understand that P&F's effectively about reading naked price structure which involves recognising the accumulation/mark up/mark down/distribution phases of the market. Which is related to your reading of congestion / "supply" zones in a broad sense. Do you mind explaining further how you trade around these, in terms of how you set up specific trigger points, SLs, etc?

Quick update, of the four orders:

1) Stopped
2) Stopped
3) TP hit
4) Stopped

As you can see, 1 & 2 were filled, and before price dropped it was pushed up to fill some more shorts, where my 3 took me in. This is something I'll make a note of to consider for next week; when another S level is just above, I might need to have a wider SL (and as a result smaller position size on that particular order). Number 4 should have been a success, but my stop was way too close.

I don't normally keep my stops this close, and this scenario is a great example to keep for reference.

Chngster, thank you for the friendly words. I'm also keen to learn the most effective way to use limit orders. I don't know, so I started this thread so we can all learn from each other.

Ideas of accumulation and distribution were things I focused on when actively trading intra day using VSA.

Note that as a result of my schedule, I look at the market at around London close. This is helpful because I can put on a 5m chart and see exactly where the real money decided to enter.

That is the primary concept I'm working with at the moment.

How do I try to decipher where real money entered?

1) Where are we in terms of weekly supply/demand levels?
-If we've just hit a supply level and have turned, look for rally base drop
-If we're between SD levels, use discretion to determine which level we're heading for and either look for rally base drop or drop base rally.

2) I'm even more focused on finding a place where price action has demonstrated a clear imbalance of SD. This is simply congestion followed by candles that are very strong (compared visually to all other visible candles)

3) When SR gets broken, and the level coincides with 2 and 1, this seems to be the most high probability trades

Ok I gotta go back to work, not sure how coherent/complete this post is.

One thing I want to remember is to try not to use such tiny stops, just look at my chart and see how my stops were way too close. I was thinking (when I placed the orders) that if my stops were smaller I could use a larger position size and have a smaller target. This is an example of how the emotion greed can still get to you even though you're relatively sheltered from emotions by "trading at a distance with limit orders".

After reviewing this week's trades, I'm pleased. My account isn't up much, but it's up. That's not because I've figured out limit orders, rather my wins have covered my losers.

I've noticed that I would have been more profitable this week had I not been:

1) using stops of less than 15 pips, possibly because I was thinking about r:r too much when placing my orders

2) Choosing to enter at the "lower" of multiple (and close) supply zones, for fear of missing the move

Good thread. My trading strategy is very similar since I discovered Sam Seiden a week or so ago. It's the most honest take on the markets I've come across yet. I've been trading daily charts all the way down to 10s but like I said, I've only been looking at the markets this way for about a week. I look forward to watching this thread and sharing my experiences with supply/demand. Keep it up!

Nice avatar man.

Thanks I'm glad you like the thread I look forward to having someone to collaborate with. The idea of trading without being there for the "action" seems much less "exciting" I suppose, but I feel that it can add to your edge if you know just how to set your orders.

Using a Sam-style SD analysis blows me away time and time again. With this outlook you can see price being driven to those areas every day. I came across Sam's style of SD analysis more than a year ago but disregarded it because at that point I was looking for a system still. Even after deciding that it wasn't for me, I continued to notice how profitable I would have been had I been employing this kind of "market view".

I needed a kick in the ass to be forced into doing this trading the way I do it. I probably spent a total of 15 minutes each day this week trading. My brain feels the difference, because for the past couple years I've been watching the market 40hrs/wk on average. That's not even a joke, I sleep by my flatscreen that has a VGA from my laptop, and a wireless mouse and keyboard. I used to wake up and be on charts until classs, then during class I'd be buried in charts till it's time to leave. Then waiting for the shuttle...then as soon as I get home...then when I'm hanging out with my lady at home... seriously until I fell asleep. I did this for a couple years and all of the live trading that my brain learned can't be applied and now I get 11:45 am - 12:00 pm EST to place my orders. I am very new to this style of trading, and am very optimistic.

Hm this post is pretty pointless I suppose, what I meant to say was I look forward to learning with you pal, and nice avatar.

Haha, yeah I definitely feel you on the limit orders. I've been scalping EU on a 10 second chart for about 6 months now and I've done OK but it takes too much out of me. I'll have to throw up some charts Sunday before the week starts. Are there any pairs that you've have more notable success with trading this way? I suppose trending pairs would do well but I can understand why ranging pairs would do well also. All markets are a function of supply/demand. Go figure!

Nice trade!

Wow success on 10s chart doesn't come easy. My style of trading is kindof the opposite of that I would imagine. 10s would require a watchful (red) eye, a solid trigger finger, and lots of free time.

Get some charts out dude. I've recently decided to just focus on EU. The reason being I've spent the vast majority of my time trading her.

I've had better stats during ranges. This is because you don't have to worry about your order being too far north that you will miss the move (in a down trend). Ranges are much easier for me. It would make sense that a ranging pair could be my best friend. If anyone reading this thread has any experience with this topic (pairs that range more than others) I would enjoy hearing about it.

Yep SD is king, brother.

Thank's a lot pal.

Here are the levels I'm watching. The most recent has produced a small bounce. I am considering placing orders at each of these levels.

This upcoming week is the last week of fall quarter, and that means one thing: finals. I only have 3 classes this quarter, but working 40 hours per week makes it very difficult to keep your head in the school-game. I've been preparing study material all weekend and I have dozens and dozens of pages of outlines for my various classes. I'm going to try to sneak these outlines into work next week. Last week I managed to get an outline ready for one of my classes on the topic of asset protection.

Not that anyone needs to know any of this.

I'll be thinking about how I'm going to place my orders around these levels, and I'll get back on here before the night's through to show them.

Um, decided to place these now, because my alternative is reading a textbook full of federal regulations regarding various retirement accounts written in extremely tiny print, by an author who cares little for readability.

Frankkn:
Your description with limit orders is very interesting, as wel as your successful results. Congrats! I agree that it must be awesome to place your orders and not have to fret the sporadic movements of the trade. This will in turn help your daily mood and stress level, allowing you to make pure decisions off your hard work and research instead of being clouded by past negativities. Your doing great man! Very cool!