Hi Tim,
I really appreciate the reply, I will study of those links carefully over the next few days.
The course I was looking into was called Platinum Trading systems -
http://www.platinumtradingsystems.com/
Its run by a guy called Nirav Shah, can't really find much about it. They want 3k for the full course.
Has anyone heard of these guys?
Cheers!
I've never heard of this course but I implore you not to do it! 3k is a LOT of money-that's more than you will have to trade with isn't it??
Just had a quick look \at the Platinum Intraday Strategy video, as far as I can tell he's just mapping out the swing highs and the swing lows and putting nuy or sell there? Of course if you ask I'm sure it'll be MUCH more than that
I can highly recommend the totally free babys school of pipsology to start with to get the basics so you know the terminology etc but there are caveats (see below)
http://www.babypips.com/school
And then I'm going to get a bit heavy with you. I was you once. I have spent thousands (no-really) thousands on being trained. Almost all of it was absolute b*lls, with a nugget here and there that never went away and formed core ideas in my head. So maybe they were worth it?!
But I implore you, do not waste years like I did getting bogged down in stochastics, moving averages etc. Price does not reverse 'because it hit a moving average.' To clarify, EURUSD is the most traded fx currency. Are you telling me that professional money managers are going to hit the buy button, or fight the buyers at this point if taking the other side of the trade, because it's hit a moving average, or it's reached a price area and the stochastics have started to cross?
It's absolute lunacy. As a caveat, moving averages work very well in trending environments, but as markets only trend 15-20% of the time, the rest of it will chop you up (believe me, I know). Oh yeah, you'll here 'you should then identify whether you are in a trend or consolidation zone.' Sounds easy doesn't it. I can do that now, but only because I have totally ditched every bulls*it piece of advice, many that is on these pages.
People use indicators because it is outsourcing the decision making process. "Mmm I'm not sure but the rsi is high so I'll go short." But the RSI is based on past price action-what has that got to do with RIGHT NOW.
I'm trying to give you a shortcut to avoid the wasted years that I had. What you need to do is to learn to understand price action and why it moves. Look up volume profile videos/articles. It's a bit heavy but wow, you will be taking a huge shortcut by doing this now and immersing yourself in auction market theory.
The trouble is that there are no fixed rules like a game of football, and who do you trust is telling you the right rules (even me!).
I just looked at the support and resistance section of the school of pipsology and disagree with it somewhat so you can see my point!
So, nearly at the end of my rant. I am going to give you some solid advice which in my opinion, if you absorb will get you to where you want to be.
If you go to this page you'll see the chart that is marked out with the major/minor support areas
http://www.babypips.com/school/elementary/support-and-resistance-levels/support-and-resistance.html and image is below with my own scrawlings.
Understand this. If price has reversed and has reversed a good amount (e.g. the two blue arrow areas on the chart), then the area where price reversed SHOWS YOU WHERE PEOPLE THOUGHT THE PRICE WAS OVERVALUED, AND EITHER STOPPED BUYING, MORE PEOPLE STARTED SELLING, OR A COMBINATION OF BOTH. Do you think that is relevant info? The fact that this has been deemed 'minor resistance' is a mystery to me. Does that look like a minor area to you? And here is the biggest secret of all, if an area that has these moves is then beaten, then it is major support. It is a price point that institutions look at. How do I know this? Well, who do you think moved the EURusd on billions of volume, people on mt4 with their rsi? Swing highs and lows, and areas where prices keep performing the same price movement, show us where the big boys don't want to trade. And if those areas get beaten, then guess what, they are EXCELLENT places to trade.
I could waffle on and on but it will be confusing (might be already).
Remember this: Price is always bouncing because some people have been proved wrong and need to exit (clue-they don't use stops).
Look at charts. See where prices have reversed in an obvious way. Understand that this means people have taken positions here. See if price reverses at this area again. Then, if this price is beaten, understand what might happen when price returns to it.
Look at the attached chart again. Look at those two blue arrow areas that the author has deemed 'minor resistance.' Do you now understand why that is total rubbish? Do you see any proof that shows you why it is absolute rubbish?
Look to the right, see the two blue lines I have added on next to the 'minor support' area. Look at what happens when price dips below these areas, and then comes back up. What happens to it? Does it move higher, or does it run into a brick wall?
Understand that you need to always look left on a chart. Understand that you need to map areas where people keep going long, or keep going short. Understand that the more times it happens, the stronger the area is if price breaks these areas. What do you think will happen if price comes back to these areas-bearing in mind that a lot of people aren't using stops and are waiting to exit their positions for minimal losses?
With this in mind, I want to set an exercise for you, you can do it now, or in 3 months, it doesn't matter. In terms of looking at where people are buying and selling in a typical head and shoulders pattern and where they have been proved wrong, can you explain the pattern in terms of why it works in the areas that it does?
If you can, then you will have made more insight than most people ever will
Apologies for the rant!