A look at some recent patterns
Summertime is here, and, as far as markets are concerned, it's been here a while. One of the characteristics of summertime trading is generally lower volatility and poorer followthrough. Summer…
Breakouts and breakout failures: real world trading
One of the disconnects for new traders is seeing how patterns play out in the real world. When we learn patterns, we usually start from pristine, idealized examples. But in…
It’s Hard to Learn from the Market
How do we learn? For most things, a pretty simple plan works: do something and evaluate the results. Make some changes to what you do, and see how the results…
Free bars: little patterns after big moves
Bands or channels are usually set up around some type of moving average. They define what is normal for a market, so excursions outside the bands are potentially interesting. There…
Entering trades: some ideas from down under
One of the key questions that comes up with developing traders is “how do I get into trades? Where exact do I enter?” On one hand, the answer to that…
Happy New Year and a Peek at What’s Ahead
As history will remember, 2020 was a strange year, to say the least. While it might seem that, with everyone more or less staying home and shutting out social interaction,…
2020: Looking back, looking ahead
What a long, strange year 2020 has been. It’s too early to write any kind of meaningful retrospective, but I think it’s fair to say this has been a challenging…
The power of an inside bar
Just a quick lesson here, but an important one. Take a look at the chart above. Was there anything that could have helped us predict the breakdown on that last…
How to Trade Support and Resistance Levels
This is a continuation of a recent blog post in which I introduced the MarketLife PowerLevels. These levels are predicted support and resistance with a robust quantitative edge, available on…
Introducing PowerLevels
Levels are everywhere in trading. There are thousands of ways to find, define, use, and misuse levels. Many levels simply don’t have an edge. In this blog post, I want…
Reader question: What is KPos?
Kpos is short for "Keltner Position" and it boils down many elements of price action into a single number. I want to share some ideas for using this powerful tool,…
How to Get Started Trading? Answer #1: the Casual Approach
I received a question from a reader, Cian, who asks: … My goal is to become a career trader. I am 30 years old and I am currently unemployed due…
A trade I usually skip. Time to rethink?
Today, I want to share some thoughts I’m having on a pattern I usually skip in my own trading. I’m wondering if maybe these are trades I should be taking……
What is the Dominant Technical Factor?
When I discuss a chart or market, I often talk about the “dominant technical factor.” This is a useful concept that can help anyone, regardless of your experience level, to…
Failure is NOT always an option
Patience is a critical skill in trading. But, like everything, balance matters. Being “too patient” is as bad as being impatient. How do we find the balance? One answer is…
Different markets are… different
What is different and what stays the same? This is one of the key questions traders who trade on different timeframes or in different markets face. We often hear the…