Bob Volman Price Action Scalping

[stehlikpetrmsncom]

If the lack of tradable setups makes things more difficult, then this week was definitely hard to trade. On the other hand, personally for me it made me more picky and focused on the "good" setups. Possibly slower environment is beneficial for less experienced traders, me included, because it becomes not that easy to overtrade. Not sure I can make any conclusions or should pay attention to statistics of results. At this point I feel I need to spend much more time in front of the screen trading before I can analyze my performance accurately.

That's interesting, I find it so much easier to overtrade in slower environment. But I agree about the statistics, pay little attention to it in the beggining.

 

[BLS]

Another ARB. Generally don't have any confidence in trading the breakout-pullback-type ARBs, but for some reason this one looked not too bad. I didn't buy it where the arrow is on the chart, but on the pullback to the same price. Maybe that big green bar made me believe a bit more. Anyway, 5min before the data decided not to wait for my stop to be hit so exited earlier.

I took the RB on this one since I had my range barrier one pip lower. I think I trailed too aggressively though.

Took an ARB later which looked good to me at the time but I'm starting to wonder if I took it out of frustration.

 

[shotgun77]

A difficult week in my opinion. Just when I thought I might be finally able to reap profits from the markets I end up the week with losses again. How did you do this week?

Strange. This often happens to me. Whenever I set my expectations low, I do better than expected. Whenever I think I'm thoroughly prepared and ready to go, I do worse than expected.

 

[stehlikpetrmsncom]

Strange. This often happens to me. Whenever I set my expectations low, I do better than expected. Whenever I think I'm thoroughly prepared and ready to go, I do worse than expected.

I guess that could help. I'll set no expectations for the next week, that's probably a way to go

 

[vanica]

Took an ARB later which looked good to me at the time but I'm starting to wonder if I took it out of frustration.

As I said, I don't think I'm good at ARBs that's why wouldn't look for one as a counter-trend trade into possible 50-60% retracement.
I've heard and read a lot about the importance of 00 and 50 levels for institutional traders. Do you guys know anyone who works for one of the big banks and how it actually looks like from the inside? I mean, do these levels still bear significance when they are approached second or third time in a day?

 

[Giorrgi]

You can see the data in Edit -> Last -> Tick, check how many items (ticks) in each hour. I started recording the number of bars by hour from ProRealTime since late October, will post my numbers later so that we can find the equivalent of 70 tick ProRealTime data from MBTrading ticks, though I believe it doesn't matter too much if you just use a 30 sec equivalent.

I've tired 30 second oanda bars and I do not think that it's anywhere near adequate for volman's method.

On the other hand MB Trading's free data (that I plugged into ninja trader to get ticks) is pretty close to the charts that Bob sent us (at least the latest charts).

 

[cha-ching]

I've tired 30 second oanda bars and I do not think that it's anywhere near adequate for volman's method.

On the other hand MB Trading's free data (that I plugged into ninja trader to get ticks) is pretty close to the charts that Bob sent us (at least the latest charts).

You mean 30 sec chart from MB Trading?

 

[virtuesoft]

This week has been very frustrating for me. I haven't taken a single trade. I just haven't spotted anything that I've deemed good enough to trade. Part of me thinks I'm too cautious and picky but I've made a profit in each of the previous three weeks so it seems to be working. I'm glad to hear that a few of you guys also think this week has been bad. It will be very interesting to see Bob's charts this weekend.

 

[Giorrgi]

You mean 30 sec chart from MB Trading?

No MB trading has tick data.

Oanda's 30 secs (and I think generally any 30 sec charts) aren't very good. For example just before a break during the squeeze they won't show developping tension (dojis under barrier) but instead one big candle. I compared some oanda charts with the ones you guys were posting about 2-3 weeks ago.

 

[shotgun77]

Bob did have this to say last week:

try this experiment for the coming week: abstain from all wagers you are not hundred percent sure about. Just skip them. And then only take these trades that are begging to be taken advantage of. It would be interesting to evaluate if that brings any changes about in the overall results.

so you could think of this week as that experiment.

 

[virtuesoft]

Yeah, I took on board what Bob said last week. However, I have been only taking setups I've been certain about for a few weeks now so it didn't really change the way I've traded this week. Bobs words really just confirmed to me that my cautious approach is correct, at least for now, while I'm still learning. I just think it's been a really crap week. I did have a spot of bad luck too. There was a decent DD on Wednesday but I was out jogging when it formed. There was also a decent BB this morning but I got up a bit later than normal and I just missed it. If I hadn't missed these two trades I probably would have been looking back at this week in a very different way.

 

[stehlikpetrmsncom]

Yeah, I took on board what Bob said last week. However, I have been only taking setups I've been certain about for a few weeks now so it didn't really change the way I've traded this week. Bobs words really just confirmed to me that my cautious approach is correct, at least for now, while I'm still learning. I just think it's been a really crap week. I did have a spot of bad luck too. There was a decent DD on Wednesday but I was out jogging when it formed. There was also a decent BB this morning but I got up a bit later than normal and I just missed it. If I hadn't missed these two trades I probably would have been looking back at this week in a very different way.

Can I ask how long per day do you trade and how many trades do you do per week on average?

 

[virtuesoft]

I'm currently taking about 3 trades per week. I was trading more often but I decided to be more cautious about a month ago.

I trade for about 9 hours a day. I wake up at 07:00 and I switch my computer on straight away. I usually go for a jog or a workout at about 11:00 for an hour. I have lunch at about 12:30 but it's always at my desk. I stop trading at about 17:30. At about 20:00, I spend a bit more time reviewing any trades that I have taken, any that I've missed, and generally how the day went. I keep a log of each trade and a diary for each day.

At the weekend I spend about 2 hours reviewing the past weeks trading.

 

[BLS]

More charts from Bob

Week 45 turned out to be a pretty decent week for European traders. Much less so for those based in the States. The timid action of the election week provided very few setups, but as the charts once again point out, there was no need for losses if you did not allow yourself to get trapped into bad or otherwise premature trades. As was suggested last week, in these low volume sessions it is advised to just stick to the most promising ventures and let everything else pass by. This would have seriously paid off during the European hours and even in the US session it was still possible to come away with decent profits, though less spectacular for sure. Of course, in the bigger scheme of things a good week, a mediocre week and even a bad week are completely irrelevant. My sincere wish is that things by now are slowly starting to make sense, even if you are still not profitable yet or hopping around break-even for what seems like an eternity. The charts do not trick the eye, and the trades in them are not being invented out of thin air. They all comply with the way how things often play out, and what you find in the charts of this week is nothing different from what you came across in the charts of the previous weeks. It is an endless stream of price technical repetition, as it always is. Do take note of how once again the conservative approach provided very few losses and although a serious amount of trades failed to follow-through for 10 pip, most of them could yet again be scratched with minimal damage. I hope these charts are helpful.

 

[vanica]

Thank you for sharing Bob and BLS. Very much appreciate your help with making difficult first steps. I guess this week's charts added the most confusion because even on my end of week analysis I didn't see more than half of the possible trades. This is a good example of what devoting time and effort to learning price action can result in in the future.

 

[matty_dunn]

Can anyone please tell me at what level they set their targets and stops given the spread/commission of their broker?

My broker offers a spread that usually sits between 0 and 0.3 of a pip, then I pay 0.7 pip per round turn. At the moment I set my target to 10 pip (receiving 9.3 pip profit on a winning trade) and maximum stop at 8.6 (risking up to 9.3 pip).

Do others increase their target to compensate? E.g. I could set my target to 10.7 and thus receive 10 pip of profit on a winner.

I do notice that a lot of runs end after 9-10 pip and am wondering if it's worth it to increase my target.

Would be grateful for any feedback.

Also, thank you again BLS and Bob for the charts. SOOOOO appreciate it.

I find it really helpful to go through the week's charts and identify possible trades (real time and with hindsight) then compare them to Bob's.

I'd also like to share that I sent Bob an email directly just to thank him for everything and he replied promptly. Such a generous man with his knowledge and experience.

And thank you to all the members who write on this thread. Although I don't get a chance to comment much I really appreciate reading about all your work.

As it stands I work full-time during the day and trade (still on a demo account) for as long as I can keep my eyes open at night. I live in Sydney, Australia so London opens about 7pm my time at the moment. By the time 12am or 1am rolls around I'm exhausted. The weekends is the only real time I have. However, I am looking forward to contributing more in the school holidays (I'm a teacher).

Thanks again everyone

 

[stehlikpetrmsncom]

Thank you Bob and BLS, the charts are very helpful. I'm starting to think that confidence has a much bigger say in the results than I previously thought and it is important to find the right spot and not let yourself become either doubtful of your skill or cocky. These charts help in that respect because I see many of the setups I watched pass by for various reasons were in fact a very good opportunities. I'll try to trust my judgement a bit more next week

 

[shotgun77]

Thank you, Bob and BLS, for this week's charts. I really appreciate the helpful annotations.

 

[virtuesoft]

Can anyone please tell me at what level they set their targets and stops given the spread/commission of their broker?

My broker offers a spread that usually sits between 0 and 0.3 of a pip, then I pay 0.7 pip per round turn. At the moment I set my target to 10 pip (receiving 9.3 pip profit on a winning trade) and maximum stop at 8.6 (risking up to 9.3 pip).

Do others increase their target to compensate? E.g. I could set my target to 10.7 and thus receive 10 pip of profit on a winner.

I do notice that a lot of runs end after 9-10 pip and am wondering if it's worth it to increase my target.

Would be grateful for any feedback.

Hi matty_dunn,

I just set my target to 10 pips. I don't take the commission in to consideration.

 

[virtuesoft]

Thanks Bob and BLS. Fantastic charts as usual.