The Volume Detective

Today's trades:


Had a few other losers but I can't remember them all, ended up +47 ticks.
Thought process just after that was obviously wrong:



TPO:



Just because its high volume up bar closing very low (doesn't matter where in fact) does NOT mean it's true weakness, or that the weakness will show right away. As you can see on the 5m it was the preceding 5 min little UT afer Doji, that showed the true weakness. Obvious bullish volume day.

Some levels for tomorrow, pink is 12h, green is 4h levels:

Missed the nice reversal on top, got in at misplaced hang man on SMA ( Regular 5m had ND also), took 17 w/ 2 lots. Exited early w/ 30m SMA touch.

13m

nice trade mate. how long u have been using this method. Can you share your strategy. thanx

Trade on the prop test account, long @ London open, only grabbed 20:


Didn't get a screen of PA

About a hundred from their goal,

Still have a lot to work on before it would make any sense to explain it. I overtrade too much, take profit too soon. Master price action and VSA and learn to embrace probabilities and study a thousand charts all day long. Realize A hammer can easily be a misplaced hang man and IH and shooting star change position a lot, use volume and background to realize what the patterns really are. And without imagination it will never work. Not easy but I get better at it every week. This chart for example has obvious IH, that's a conservative long in my book, I was long well before. Next, the hang man is ugly, but it could be hammer like candle testing the IH, it went right down to test the IH body and shove some shorts in, jumps up, next is a probable UT, its not finished yet. UT went a few tick from 6E pit open. May end up being a doji before it goes back up to London's value area. It's a lot easier when you're open to any possibility. I only trade or look at the 6E. I learned from all the books and youtube vids etc, but my true teacher was Icantmilk from these forums.
13m


edit: The reaction. Was a real UT at the 6E open.

A perfect example that happens to me everyday. I need to hold much longer than I do. Stops are always small but with over trading they add up. I already make up for the loss but holding longer until back to value high at least would help out immensely. Long at arrow, went up close to 6e open, a few ticks away.

Example of IH pattern that's practical and not theoretical. One huge piece of info is after IH, it can go up on air for awhile, so the ND after it means nothing.

5m, took profit at value high. edit: too soon I see now.



edit: The reaction: was easy 30 at least, TP too early.

Maybe ending the day now, looking for a ND and may short otherwise done. Up 46, should have been much more.

Friday, end:

TPO day style of 'open drive' for London and 'open rejection reverse' for N.Y.



N.Y. drive up to London high was great short, my order never got filled, was using M6E for that (pretty wonky in general, especially news), not going to trade news on full 3 lots just yet.

"This trade was extremely difficult to execute because it flew in the face of the most recent market activity. Even if a trader possesses a sound enough market understanding to recognize such an opportunity, the ability to execute still depends on the power of his or her own self-understanding. The anxiety created by the thought of placing a trade against strong opposing activity often influences a trader's ability to trade rationally. This is where the power of experience takes over. As you begin to personally witness and then experience more and more of these unique opportunities, you will gradually build the self confidence required to become a player, instead of a spectator." - Mind Over Markets

A guiding idea in my style, although I don't think Dalton meant for it to be as literal as I take it.

If you take and use the Market Profile but filter it through VSA and not Dalton and Steidlmayer and Co., it is still a very useful tool and not outdated and in need of "new" updates all the time. Still formulating all my ideas on it, but think on this ...
What they call value & balance, VSA calls...? (this is the biggest perceptive alter VSA adds to MP)
Other timeframe buyer/seller is almost akin to "composite trader/professional", but not quite.
Price traveling lower attracts buyers in VSA and traveling higher attracts sellers.
More will be added as I go along.

The kagi is showing strong bearish volume has come in last Friday. It has been rather bullish since the 14th.

Welcome to the forum. Looks like I have a new thread to add to my favorites.

I would disagree with one of your statements:

In VSA, price rises, or is pushed higher, to attract buyers (the herd) and price falls, or is pushed lower, to attract sellers (the herd). But you are certainly correct that VSA and Market Profile compliment each other nicely.

I look forward to reading more.

Edit: I don't know what I was smoking, that was the value low of London, NOT 6E open, at the UT level.

Thanks, I hope to learn a lot and mesh out my style more while I'm on here.

As for price rising to attract buyers (the herd variety) etc, we're both right because, professional or market maker in particular needs the liquidity to move down, so making the market go up is more attractive to them and it makes longs puke and helps them find the liquidity to get better prices so they can buy into all the selling preasure they had created when it tips to the downside, and thereby make a good profit on their short positions. Also higher prices to the retail herd, can still be very attractive to the professional who knows its still going up and up for a few more hours/days/weeks, so they can legitimately find current or higher prices attractive.

That upward movement is the herd, but who started it and why?

It's really amazing that so many systems and strategies can work and everyone has a different interpretation of the "Why", yet the ones that understand their system, even with a different "Why" than the next winning traders "Why", still make $. And a trader using say Anthony's way of trading could end up a huge loser, yet him with his understanding crushes, even though they may have the same understanding of "Why". Anthony's "Why" is that people exiting positions make markets move (in a nutshell). That's true. So is "Smart Money" guiding the markets to go in the direction they need. It's so funny how the floor traders worked so closely with SM, in fact provided a lot of the liquidity for SM, yet they rarely talk of the manipulation etc that VSA exposes.
Floor traders themselves acted as the SM of VSA many times, as Hoagland states (without even realizing or saying anything related to VSA) in this video , directing the market to go in the direction they needed to unload or grab whatever their objective was.
But all I was saying with the original statement is higher prices are attractive to professional sellers and vice versa. The guy that helped me put my trading on track (even though my style is rather different) said he learned a LOT from you, so my ears will always be open to your words!

Edit: N.Y. was not an 'open rejection reverse', it was an 'open test drive'

That was a bit of bearish volume that kagi showed on Friday. Still made all my ticks going long today. Done for the day I think, Monday's are my worst trading days.

Really beating at this upper resistance level:



Is it going to stay a little open auction day or break that upper limit.. it probably breaks through.