[Reaver]

Okay,

What you will be seeing here is a work in progress. It is important to understand that I am not making recommendations or saying that I am any sort of beacon for anyone to follow......this is strictly for my own accountability and also for one to hopefully get some ideas to form their own conclusions and methods from.

I contemplated putting this in the journal section, but figured instead I'd post here to contribute to this new swing forum since I have a hard time actually explaining exactly how I trade, no one wants to be spoon fed (even if you think you do, you don't), and I imagine I am not the best guy to learn from anyways....

If you see some changes in the method, roll with it, as that is what I am doing. I am always making adjustments and error-corrects to fine tune.

The markets are dynamic and I intend to reciprocate that notion.

Understand that I am learning this stuff along with anyone watching me...market analysis is a life-time endeavor, not to mention I am moving from classical TA (which friggin works IF USED PROPERLY FOR TRENDFOLLOWING I don't care what anyone says lol)...but unfortunately absolute simplicity works best in trendfollowing TA and that kind of rote simplicity makes for a boring day.

I am still going to incorporate some basic trendfollowing ideas for context and also to see if they can augment the auction market analysis...which is the goal, looking for synergy here.

USE EVERY RESOURCE POSSIBLE TO GAIN THE ADVANTAGE OVER YOUR ENEMY (yes, the market is your enemy- even the trend is not your friend, it is a mark for you to manipulate and take advantage of! lol)).

So with that being said, let us begin.

[Reaver]

Okay,

To get a start on this, I will explain a little of what I am doing....

First, a disclaimer: for my data I am using Cisco Futures data and I do not have permission to post it....no worries though, you don't need to subscribe to it to get my points...I am attempting to recreate the concepts as best as possible using my charts here, which give me a standard look at the market and say similar things that my Cisco Data does....

LOL I wish I didn't have to even say this but I am most definitely not spamming, as JayRemy and Ant can attest, Don doesn't play around with his copyright material! By the way, Jay or Ant, feel free to add commentary, since you both studied the same stuff I did for the most part as far as the TCP stuff goes.

Anyone else feel free to chime in as well with any questions, concerns, laughter etc.

Now on to the chart explanation:

[Reaver]

Okay,

I imagine I will be posting mostly daily charts, though I may drill down some if I feel like it would help explain something, feel free to request it as well.



1. First, I have a running price histogram using all visible bars on the screen (thanks Jperl for the idea). This gives me a good view of the bigger picture and what the market is doing as a whole. Also, I have a PVP (peak volume price) marker on the histogram, this is the same concept as POC, but POC is only valid in a balancing market, at least in my opinion.

2. Secondly, I have price histograms set up for every trading month (appx 20 days) , as this is a good number to use for gauging overall market condition.

3. I have a vwap to see what the average price by volume is (of course). Thanks again Jperl. TinGull too for mentioning how you use it as well.

4. I have an MMA (no that MMA, Nick1984 ) a multiple moving average set up to gauge short term (3-15 days) and long term (30-60 days) sentiment, if you will. Another way of looking at this is calling blue the traders, and red the investors...not the most accurate description...but it helps, at least for me. Thanks Walter for your posts that gave me the idea to look into this...it's not the same as your VMA, but thanks for the idea of using an MMA....and don't worry I am not encroaching on your territory, brother.

5. I have a volume breakdown, or buy/sell volume indicator to help interpret the volume indicator below it a little more clearly.

6. Lastly, I have old reliable, the classic volume indicator,to let me know what is going on with the transactions and how the participants like it.


By the way, it would be great if someone would help me figure out how to make the image inside the post itself larger.....

[TinGull]

Good stuff so far. Are you planning on a wheat trade? What sort of signals are you looking for to place an order? By the way...I'm writing this post at a live show I'm doing sound for...thought you'd appreciate!!

[Reaver]

ha ha Tin you Lucky dog that's awesome man, I would love to hear some live music right now...just something about it soothes the soul. Even if it's loud and hard.

Alright, all jealousy aside, as far as the chart I posted, it is just an example of my set up....not necessarily looking for anything in that particular chart....

(although the mma could be telling me something right now...as well as the previous histogram.....hmmm)

Doggone it I may just have myself a trade set up. LOL didn't even think about that one.

Hard for me to explain up front exactly what I look for as it is strictly discretionary....

Up front I guess the key things would be using the various reference points together to form an opinion...some of the things I will be looking at of course is the mma to see the overall trend and what the two main time frame participants seem to be doing (remember that's not entirely accurate, but it makes sense to me and is close enough for my purposes), check the overall histogram to see where we are in the grand scheme of things and for major s/r I should watch out for....the shorter histograms give you some great ideas for s/r levels and what you may want to consider looking for...responsive/breakout trade, etc....

Volume...well, as that question is coming from the VSA man himself, I admittedly don't have all that down pat yet...so I definitely don't do it justice like you do, but I mainly look to volume to see if I can get a heads up on what price may be getting ready to do weighed against the context of market condition....I plan on developing those skills further by following your threads on it and researching as much as I can....but for now I am just mainly using it as a heads up tool and to help give weight to the other reference points....

VWAP, I got that idea from Jperl, and you when you mentioned you used it for overall trend...I use the mma for overall trend, but use VWAP to see it from a VOLUME perspective...compare it to the mma, etc to see of they concur or not....

Hope that gives a good enough run down to see where I am coming from so far...

Remember, I plan on tweaking this as I get more experience so we'll see where it leads.

The goal is to capitalize on what makes us humans function as top of the food chain in the world....the ability to reason and adapt...though it is questionable if many out there possess that trait or not...I am going to at least try. LOL

[chainsawtrader]

WOW! This is awesome, heavy duty stuff Reaver. Absolutely terrific and I can't wait to backtest it on ES. Pure genius, I think. Thanks so much and keep this good stuff coming, please. WTG man!

[TinGull]

•Intermission right now•

Cool, would love to see any examples of trades you've taken in the past to see what you're looking at for entry criteria. I realize you say its really discretionary...as are my entries.

[Reaver]

Originally Posted by TinGull »

•Intermission right now•

Cool, would love to see any examples of trades you've taken in the past to see what you're looking at for entry criteria. I realize you say its really discretionary...as are my entries.

Well Tin,

To be totally honest with you I haven't really kept any records as far as charts go since I just came up with this chart set up out of necessity to explain how I trade...

If you're familiar with Cisco data, I print the graphic off each night annotate the page with the reference points and place trades....hard for me to explain without sounding like a shill for Cisco, but you can check their site out and look at the Visual Graphic and TCP to see what I mean....(delete this if it is out of line) Again, I don't think the Cisco data is necessary, but it speaks to me more than a chart does since it's what I have gotten used to for this method.

I am still new at this posting trades in the public thing, but I'll tell you there was a good soybean trade this week (still is). I did not take it, for the record- for reasons mentioned below.

I'll go through it on the chart...deal? I think that'll give you an idea of what I look for. Then we'll see everything on a moving forward basis....

This chart for the way I trade like I said is something I actually concocted today to a) give me a different perspective on the way I view my trading b) see if the chart gives me some insight that I may have missed by using strictly the Cisco data, and c) give me a chance to explain the way I use auction market theory for trading....the problem I was running into is that I am not allowed to post the Cisco data, as it is a copyright violation....Brownsfan mentioned something the other day about going into detail a little more about the way I trade....and I was kind of stuck, as I didn't know how to explain it without any visual representation...necessit y is the mother of invention.

That, and with the advent of the swing trading forum....I had to jump in.

I like this so far, but if I come up with a better way to translate my data, I may switch it around.

I'll get the soybean trade posted to show some of what I am talking about.

*I didn't really do much this week because my German Shepherd was sick and needy. Hard to concentrate on trading when your dog won't shut up (And he is more important than trading to me anyway), so I pretty much sat around worthless all week wasting time.