learning to read price action with p/f charts

a chart that shows bullish and bearish signals
dow 15 minute data.20 point box size b 3 reversal

Hi dentist007,
One of the 'classic' P&F formations I've never been comfortable with is the High Pole. Will you be tempted to go short around 10,220? I'd sooner wack in a short now, while price is near the top (probably!) on the grounds that it's likely to at least retrace some of its gains before advancing much further. What's your expert view on these things?

The thread's shaping up nicely; are you going to get into developing a simple trading strategy based around P&F charts in due course? I hope so!

Tim.

timsk...we dont want to jump the gun ..
just wait awhile and it will all fall into place nicely
i shall say something now,that you wont find in any book..the key to it all is how you present the data on the chart.usually,the audience will just be youreself.but what you should do is imagine you are presenting the chart to an audience.you want to get the meaning across.the simpler the better,so what you have to do is change box sizes to get the best presentation.in fact even change time plot.ie for intraday,start with 1 min ,then go to 5 min.as you get to a higher timeframe then increase the box size.then you will be able to see the price action emerging in a readable form
here are 2 charts of the nas 100.



IMG]http://i49.tinypic.com/2805w1y.png[/IMG]

both charts are 1 minute data plot.they have different box sizes.the first one is only a small bit of help.the second is more informative

so..we are looking at the presentation of the chart.
you need to look for the chart that gives you some useful information.it might not be there,so if you dont see it...then its not there
then,look at the bias of the chart.we know what a bulish and bearish signal looks like...now for a sweet little trick,which i subconsciously had in my mind but was alerted to it,and made it a must when taking a first look at a chart..thank you for this to mike at cla alloys in houston
the signals MUST be consecutive.otherwise,there is too much chop
so look for CONSECUTIVE rising lows and double-tops..bullish
vice versa for bearish
do this for the last two signals on the chart.if they are consecutive ,you have a chance of some trend and putting on a trade.applies to all box sizes..and time plot

nas 100 today
1 min plot
black elipse points to where the chart got bullish.market gapped up above the breakout area.carried on to res area.you can see consecutive rising lows and breakouts

a nice example on the dow
5 min data
a good area of support at the green line.play the bounces from the green line...then at the end,price action got bullish.then it popped at the yellow line to 10400 region
the next chart fomation is bearish...long columns up and down..indecision..downward columns with big retraces