Bob Volman Price Action Scalping

[Giorrgi]

Here's a trade i just took. The range was really long so I couldn't fit it all on one screenshot. This was a countertrend breakout trade (but the trade had been over for 1h30).

Basically I saw a bunch of tease breaks but reentered when a proper squeeze formed. there also seemed to be odd vs. obvious principle at work with that little doji being slammed back in the squeeze.

One the negative side, you could also say that this is a false break since prices seem to go straight up, but there was a little pullback to the EMA and afterwards some squeeze.

I exited with 1 pip gain.

 

[vanica]

Here's a trade i just took. The range was really long so I couldn't fit it all on one screenshot. This was a countertrend breakout trade (but the trade had been over for 1h30).

I wasn't looking for a successful breakout at that point because the move up went through the whole range and there wasn't enough buildup for me to feel safe about going long.

 

[vanica]

Morning session. Sorry for unclear charts again.

 

[samich1262]

I am still looking for too much squeeze on my IRBs. For some reason I wanted another lower arch on this IRB before taking it. Felt a little silly after skipping it. Here are reasons to take this trade:
1. Trend continuation
2. The 40 level holds and is used as support.
3. 5 large tops right on the 40 level
4. There is some EMA squeeze.

My reason for not taking it: Wanted more EMA squeeze, but what we got was really plenty for this, I think. It's a pretty tight squeeze and with all of those other reasons to take this trade, it was kind of silly to wait for even more confirmation. It does give some level of squeeze, so the requirement is met. What do you guys think about the setup?

Conversely, check out the DD that just happened. I skipped this, which was a good decision because of these reasons:

1. The range broke from the bottom without as much buildup as I would like.
2. There was no ceiling test of the box that the range broke from, therefore the setup is weaker (I have just started looking for this in the past couple weeks)
3. The dojis in the EMA are not more compressed than the other bars in the pullback, therefore in context, they are not really dojis.
4. The setup was in the 50 level in an unproven trend.

So there were at least 4 reasons to take the first trade, and 4 reasons to skip the 2nd.

 

[vanica]

View attachment 148148


View attachment 148150

I am still looking for too much squeeze on my IRBs. For some reason I wanted another lower arch on this IRB before taking it. Felt a little silly after skipping it. Here are reasons to take this trade:
1. Trend continuation
2. The 40 level holds and is used as support.
3. 5 large tops right on the 40 level
4. There is some EMA squeeze.

Hi Samich,

As you can see I took the IRB a bit earlier. It met all my requirements and, to be honest, I still think it was an ok trade. I continued keeping an eye on it and it did look like it was setting up another short entry, but increased volatility closer to the break scared me off. Those two bigger arches inside it made me look for more buildup. Well, at least we got the context right

 

[stehlikpetrmsncom]

I'd wait for another bearish sign like lower high. I can see the idea behind the trade, I just think it happened too hastily without enough time to persuade others to join.
The bears did show they can defend the bulls, but I don't see any sign that they started defeating them (just the break).
But that's just my view.

 

[billyd]

Caught a little piece of the London Open trend. My chart is in pipettes but looked like a clear DD/SB. Retracement could have been a little deeper. Price just breached through 1.2980 level. Actually another DD opportunity right after if I had missed the first one.

 

[virtuesoft]

Caught a little piece of the London Open trend. My chart is in pipettes but looked like a clear DD/SB. Retracement could have been a little deeper. Price just breached through 1.2980 level. Actually another DD opportunity right after if I had missed the first one.

I considered taking that DD but I decided to skip it as I felt the pullback was a little shallow. Perhaps I was being too cautious.

 

[virtuesoft]

I am still looking for too much squeeze on my IRBs. For some reason I wanted another lower arch on this IRB before taking it. Felt a little silly after skipping it. Here are reasons to take this trade:
1. Trend continuation
2. The 40 level holds and is used as support.
3. 5 large tops right on the 40 level
4. There is some EMA squeeze.

My reason for not taking it: Wanted more EMA squeeze, but what we got was really plenty for this, I think. It's a pretty tight squeeze and with all of those other reasons to take this trade, it was kind of silly to wait for even more confirmation. It does give some level of squeeze, so the requirement is met. What do you guys think about the setup?

I didn't see that IRB but I would have skipped it too. As stehlikpetrmsncom said, it would have been nice to see a lower high. If not then at least a couple more dojis just to give the price more of a squeeze.

 

[vanica]

What a day! Couldn't find any single opportunity in the afternoon.

 

[virtuesoft]

What a day! Couldn't find any single opportunity in the afternoon.

Same here. There is the FOMC statement in just under 2 hours. Perhaps that will provide some opportunities...

 

[BLS]

I have to trade a bit more carefully around FOMC days.

 

[shotgun77]

I made a mistake with the ppt slides. Hopefully fixed now. Zip attached. Includes formats .ppt and .pdf.

 

[TonyIommich]

This morning US session was hell! It was a major chopfest. I didn't stick around for FOMC.

I've decided to take a bit of a break from the screens and will be doing some backtesting in the next few days. I'm particularly interested in exploring August.

Since I'm not a part of ProRealTime (I don't want a fixed cost eating away at me each month, not until I'm trading enough size to make it worthwhile), I'm sticking to the 30 second charts. Unfortunately Oanda doesn't let you see historical 30 second data past a few hours for some reason, and Metatrader doesn't support 30 second charts, so I used an alternative method which is a bit time consuming but it did the job.

Gain Capital has tick data available for free, so I am taking their data into Excel and formatting it for use in Ninjatrader which has 30 second charts and also tick charts.

In case anyone's interested:

1) You download Gain's tick data which is in CSV format.
2) You open it in Excel.
3) You delete the first three columns (lTid, cDealable, and CurrencyPair)
4) Delete the topmost row with the headings. Now you just have numbers.
5) Select and cut out the Ask column and paste it into the sheet behind. We will create a separate ask sheet.

You should now have just two columns, the date column (which previously said RateDateTime), and the price column (Bid).

6) We need to format the date to conform to Ninjatrader. Select the date column (leftmost column). On the Home tab select "Number", then "Custom". Enter into the custom format blank yyyyMMdd HHmmss and do not forget to include the space in between them!

7) Fill the empty column on the right with 1's. So you don't have to go down 2000000 rows, you write down a 1 into any empty cell, cut it out (Ctrl-C), then select the entire empty right column and then paste (Ctrl-V) into it. You will have to go down and trim the extra 1s at the bottom, which you can do by scrolling to the bottom of the last valid row with digits, then selecting the first extra 1 cell without any price or date data next to it, then holding down shift and pressing pg-down repeatedly to the end of the sheet. Then click delete and the extra 1's should disappear. I'm sure some excel wiz can do it faster than this

8) "Save as" the excel file as Text (Tab delimited). Title it $EURUSD.Bid.txt and observe case!

9) Open it in Notepad, and select replace. In "Replace what" insert a tab, in "Replace with" insert a semicolon, and do not insert spaces around it. Save the file. Repeat steps 6-9 for the Ask price, if you need it (I don't), and in that case create a separate $EURUSD.Ask.txt file.

10) Save the file and import it into Ninjatrader using Tools -> Historical Data Manager -> Import. Be sure you have the $EURUSD instrument available (Tools -> Instrument Manager) or else it will bark at you and give you the dreaded "Instrument is not supported by repository" in the log.

One hell of a process but it gets the job done. In Ninjatrader you can view the data as ticks or as 30 second charts or any other variant thereof.

 

[billyd]

Nice find! How did you get the data from Gain? Do you have to have a real account with them? Is Ninjatrader free?

This morning US session was hell! It was a major chopfest. I didn't stick around for FOMC.

I've decided to take a bit of a break from the screens and will be doing some backtesting in the next few days. I'm particularly interested in exploring August.

Since I'm not a part of ProRealTime (I don't want a fixed cost eating away at me each month, not until I'm trading enough size to make it worthwhile), I'm sticking to the 30 second charts. Unfortunately Oanda doesn't let you see historical 30 second data past a few hours for some reason, and Metatrader doesn't support 30 second charts, so I used an alternative method which is a bit time consuming but it did the job.

Gain Capital has tick data available for free, so I am taking their data into Excel and formatting it for use in Ninjatrader which has 30 second charts and also tick charts.

In case anyone's interested:

1) You download Gain's tick data which is in CSV format.
2) You open it in Excel.
3) You delete the first three columns (lTid, cDealable, and CurrencyPair)
4) Delete the topmost row with the headings. Now you just have numbers.
5) Select and cut out the Ask column and paste it into the sheet behind. We will create a separate ask sheet.

You should now have just two columns, the date column (which previously said RateDateTime), and the price column (Bid).

6) We need to format the date to conform to Ninjatrader. Select the date column (leftmost column). On the Home tab select "Number", then "Custom". Enter into the custom format blank yyyyMMdd HHmmss and do not forget to include the space in between them!

7) Fill the empty column on the right with 1's. So you don't have to go down 2000000 rows, you write down a 1 into any empty cell, cut it out (Ctrl-C), then select the entire empty right column and then paste (Ctrl-V) into it. You will have to go down and trim the extra 1s at the bottom, which you can do by scrolling to the bottom of the last valid row with digits, then selecting the first extra 1 cell without any price or date data next to it, then holding down shift and pressing pg-down repeatedly to the end of the sheet. Then click delete and the extra 1's should disappear. I'm sure some excel wiz can do it faster than this

8) "Save as" the excel file as Text (Tab delimited). Title it $EURUSD.Bid.txt and observe case!

9) Open it in Notepad, and select replace. In "Replace what" insert a tab, in "Replace with" insert a semicolon, and do not insert spaces around it. Save the file. Repeat steps 6-9 for the Ask price, if you need it (I don't), and in that case create a separate $EURUSD.Ask.txt file.

10) Save the file and import it into Ninjatrader using Tools -> Historical Data Manager -> Import. Be sure you have the $EURUSD instrument available (Tools -> Instrument Manager) or else it will bark at you and give you the dreaded "Instrument is not supported by repository" in the log.

One hell of a process but it gets the job done. In Ninjatrader you can view the data as ticks or as 30 second charts or any other variant thereof.

 

[TonyIommich]

Ninja trader is free if you aren't connected to a broker through it. If you want to use Gain's tick prices, you can just search for GAIN Capital Rate Data Archive (not sure if I can post a link here). They have everything sorted there by week of the month.

 

[cha-ching]

TonyIommich,

Gain's data is notoriously bad. Dukascopy has tick data for free.

Historical Data Feed :: Dukascopy Bank SA | Swiss Forex Bank | ECN Broker | Managed accounts | Swiss FX trading platform

MBTrading also gives tick data if you have a demo account there (and its timestamps are EST, vs Dukascopy's GMT).

Thanks for the NinjaTrader instruction!

 

[TonyIommich]

Gain's data is notoriously bad. Dukascopy has tick data for free.

Thanks for that! It actually makes my life much easier because I just download CSV in 30 second format and can display the data directly in Excel in candlestick format without Ninja Trader. Actually, I can even display it in Dukascopy's online chart which works very well too.

 

[stehlikpetrmsncom]

Thanks for that! It actually makes my life much easier because I just download CSV in 30 second format and can display the data directly in Excel in candlestick format without Ninja Trader.

How does the data do compared to prorealtime feed?

 

[TonyIommich]

How does the data do compared to prorealtime feed?

Well, in this case I'm just using the historical data so its hard to compare it to the live data you see.

For real time data I just look at what Oanda gives me and I set the chart so that the pips on the sides go in full increments of a pip as opposed to pipettes. The candles still display pipettes unfortunately, so the trick is to use a bit of judgement when entering. I watch the counter to see a whole pip print. I think after a while I will train my eye to it well. I really don't think there's a need to put $600 into somebody else's pocket each year.