Tape Reading

Trembling Hand said:

I would actually not worry about it, trying to read the DOM or T & S.

I would concentrate on finding patterns that offer good R:R set-ups in 1, 2 & 5 min time frames. Then after you know what you are looking for THEN go about seeing how they developed in the DOM.

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Yes, this is what I am upto now. Looking for patterns with at least 1R and then let it run if no resistance is seen while my trade is running in whichever direction I chose (either short or long).

After I see them, I then look to see how the DOM reacts before I place my trade and keep watching to get a feel for the exit.

Staring at the order book all the time is way too much of a mental killer, so only choose my points to watch it closely now..........

Yeh, I can really see the value in P&F, but for now, I will stick to what I am doing. Seems to be working, another big night last night. And so far up once again on the SPI.

Today's first hour was a good example of the Boyz printing what they wanted. Pretty much a follow-on from Monday & Tuesdays action.

Was a lesson in printing the last couple of seconds of each bar. Very aggressive players today

Trembling Hand said:

Was a lesson in printing the last couple of seconds of each bar. Very aggressive players today

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Didn't catch the open, was busy getting some contracts signed

But wish I caught that last second printing!

as a newbie, which i still am,

i did succesfully day trade the ASX for a while, until time management got the better of me ( i made good profits, even while market was downtrending)

the wavelike motion of all the stocks was very apparent to me, (just not the size of the peaks and troughs.)

what i really did notice, was that the visible buy/sell ratio was very differnt for each stock, but often fairly consistent for that particular stock.

my trading buddy did not agree of the imporatance, as they obviously dont represent anyone waiting on the sidelines.

but some stocks would only really move when one side heavily outnumbered the other, others if the ratio was only slightly askew...when u got to 'know' which was which, by constant observation, i could predict direction better

that change in ratio was probably the most succesful indicator i used

(i would record total units and buy/sellers periodically)

i liken it to weight of water being pored into a funnel

very rudimentary i know, but it did seem to give me a "feel"

and everyone needs a feel

tony

Well pure order size on each side of the book doesn't really matter from what I have seen.

Sometimes large orders will simply disappear, othertimes they will flip and other times they will be absorbed very easily (in a matter of seconds in futures).

It's really the flow of the orders, what actually hits the market and how price responds, so you can't get any kind of feel from a static view IMO.

Hope you caught a few of those fades on SPI at close today TH. Was quite an evenly matched battle swinging around there.

ive started trying it with FX, using a bit of intuition, you can easily earn 500bucks for placing 90k on leverage, lol.

Trembling Hand said:

I would actually not worry about it, trying to read the DOM or T & S.

I would concentrate on finding patterns that offer good R:R set-ups in 1, 2 & 5 min time frames. Then after you know what you are looking for THEN go about seeing how they developed in the DOM.

Click to expand...

Great advice TH. This was exactly how I learnt - still learning and loving every second of it btw.

This about explains my eyes every time I learn something new from the tape...