Price Action Traders

Higher Highs/Higher Lows for uptrends and Lower Highs/Lower Lows for downtrends.

Traders who consider themselves price actin traders:

Range, Renko,Tick, or Regular Candlestick time based charts, what is the preference here? I would assume that range charts would be ideal for a price action trader?

Any other advice or notes that you have attained from your experience as a price action trader that you would like to instill on those who are just starting their journey into price action trading.

I would suggest sticking with candlestick but it's up to you. It's not as much about the chart as being able to read the chart. The # 1 place most beginners get it wrong is taking "Higher Highs/Lower Lows" literally by looking at two candles and saying "yep, they have higher highs and higher lows so it must be in an up trend.". Typically you will not have confirmation until you have at least two sets of multi-day candles to confirm a change in direction or confirm current direction. It's about higher pivot highs/lows and lower pivot highs/lows. I stumbled across an excellent video tutorial on how to read price action right before taking my first GW RTP class. Honestly, until the new Survival Series and corresponding upgraded RTP classes, reading price along with MACD indicator is the only place I had some consistency. I still unconsciously watch price as it can be another tool in the arsenal. If I find the video series or can recall the website I'll let you know. I think it was something like "Trader Doc". He wrote a series of blogs along with his wife but I don't recall his name. Tried to Google but someone else popped up under that name.

Basic rules:

1.) pay attention to pivot direction. Are you making higher pivot highs/lows? If so, you are in an up trend. Draw trend line connecting the bottom of higher pivot lows. If you are making lower pivot highs/lows you are in a down trend. Draw trend line connecting lower pivot highs.

2.)If meandering sideways then you are in a trading range. The best place to trade here is waiting for a breakout of the range.

That's it to get started from a big chart perspective. You want to get to a point where you can start reading multiple time frames and weaving the charts together. If you are a micro trader, you can pick up books like Market Maker's edge that get into breaking the first 15 minute high or low for the day and trade in that direction or start researching how to calculate floor trader pivots. These are different than the pivots I mentioned above. There are also calculations to figure out how an old school floor trader would calculate multiple levels of support/resistance for a given security. Trade in the direction when these are broken. Some sites will calculate these for you. Whatever you do, pick something and stick with trying to get better at "that" and not jump around chasing the next best thing or indicator.

Last but certainly not least, there is some subjectivity with respect to reading price but the first method above regarding pivot highs/lows along with a good indicator can worth pretty well if you spend the time getting better at your craft. I still think the GW system as taught today by far surpasses any of the price action stuff if you just learn to do it well and are disciplined/patient.

Okay, apparently got the name wrong and it appears he no longer offers the video tutorial on how to read price (or I can't find it). The guy's name is Dr. Charles Schaap. He has two sites: 1.)tradelikeapro.com and 2.)stockmarketstore.com. He is a known for trading but also for writing the best book on the market covering ADX Indicator. He has an entire system designed around the ADX and price. When I stumbled across his work 10 to 12 years ago, use started out teaching how to read price action and then layering his ADX strategy on top of price. I'm sure if you poke around his sites long enough the "how to read price" will come.

Just an observation. I've seen you ask different types of questions that are so dissimilar that it appears you are in the early stages of figuring out "your system". I could easily be wrong and apologize upfront if I am. If you don't have a system yet, my recommendation is take what you learn from the above sites and work with just that info for a while. Get better at doing just what he teaches and then slowly layer other stuff on top of that foundation. Again, recommend GW but the Dr. Schaap teaches sound practices.

Remember, don't worry about the man that practices 10,000 different ways to punch you. Worry about the man that has practiced one punch 10,000 times. You get better when you learn to use the tools you have and not jump around chasing the next best indicator like a dog thinking "SQUIRREL!".

Nctrader you are golden. I really appreciate you taking your time to give back. I love read reading your detailed replies and insights. Thank you so much!

Just had a chance to look in my files. I was right the first time. The course was titled "TraderDoc's Trend Master Series" by Dr. Charles Schaap. The course is apparently out of print. A quick google search provided a few hits containing posts by him and his wife Candy. As you can see, being able to read price is first and foremost on their list. .

[www.stockmarketstore.com]

[www.scribd.com]

[www.investopedia.com]

The last one was a post dated early 2018 so they still teach price pivots. They might have some other intro course but this will get you started and is a summary of the out of print content.

NCT