Anyone trading without charts?

Has anyone here ever considered trading without charts. It may sound crazy but before the days of home computers that is how trading was done. Jesse Livermore made over a billion dollars ( in today’s money) trading on closing prices written down on a ledger. For several years now I have been trading on price action alone, no indicators and my trading success has improved greatly, but still I spend a lot of time looking at charts trying to find tradable patterns. Is the next evolution in my price action trading to stop looking at charts and focus on just price.

data for trading would look like this

Not seriously, no; but I’ve often “wondered” (just because I’m instinctively contrarian, and tend towards the view that in a field of endeavour with such tiny overall success-rates, “what everyone else doing” is very often going to turn out to be misguided).

I trade price action only, without indicators, like you.

I wish you well with it, if you try this, and I hope you won’t be offended if I say “rather you than I”! :8:

Good thread…

I find charts easier because they are just a graphic version of price,

so the only distortion happens in our head (trying to make patterns

that lead to wrong trades, for example)…

I am sure that Levermore would not be against charts, if they came

with a ‘ticker’ (i.e. volume), which most of them do (at least for stocks,

futures, etc.)

:slight_smile:

Good luck anyway, and , as Lexy said, rather you than me!

Trading without chart seems tis is new thing in trading analysis, so far I am use chart to analyze the trend market but often without indicatopr and only look on price action and candlestick pattern ,but without chart and only look price it making me confuse how to making decision

There is a difference between Forex and stocks trading, and a difference between the market conditions then and now. Also, lot of people used charts in their trading, except they drew them manually.

Sometime I feel like Luke Skywaker, and Obi-Wan is whispering in my ear to let go of my charts and just use the force

Like lexys, I to am always looking for contrarian ways of trading the markets. In trading, the crowd is nearly always wrong so anything I can do to separate myself from what the crowd is doing is likely to have positive results

i wish you good luck and a lot of sucess with your “may the force be with you”-trading :slight_smile:

livermoore used his own charts. you read the book remniscenscense of a stock operator and got inspired, thats cool. but keep in mind that remnescensces of a stock operator was not written by LIVERMORE itself, it was written after his death by a journalist who spend days talking with livermore and that journalist onywrote down what he could remember from talking to him. but livermore made a short book of 90 pages (which is much less famous as its written in a dry tone, and not suited for scandalization) aswell where he explains his trading stile. if you want to know how exactly he traded lookthat book up too. thats actualy the only book written personally by livermore, all other books concerning livermore (a dozen or so) were written by third hand and usually people who have/had no clue about stocks.

so basicly livermore catched up the opening the midday and the closing prices and with that made a “chart” in his head how the price action was of the day, used his own pivot points and looked for “unnatural” behaviour (today we call that [at least in FOREX, as forex is for dummy traders] pinballs or so)

he acted upon breakouts up and down and onto a lot of fundamental news and logic he applied to his decitions. LOGIC today does not apply to markets anymore, keep that in mind, thats very important.

so basicly livermore was one of the first “chart-traders” but as back then no compuer and no candlesticks existed he did it slightly different with his own immagined charts from numbers he memorized over months and aswell wrote down in notebooks (no not computer but real notebooks)

livermores only written book by livermore: Hot to trade Stocks - Jesse Livermore

https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwiS0c7Eqa_MAhVH2ywKHel5A4oQFggfMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.r-5.org%2Ffiles%2Fbooks%2Ftrading%2Fspeculation%2FJesse_Livermore-How_To_Trade_In_Stocks_(1940_original)-EN.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHSplkPVheprJEVaapbTmz6fzlXcw&bvm=bv.120551593,d.bGg&cad=rja

Nice post Turbo… I read the famous book but did not know that he wrote a book himself… Cheers!

Trading without charts is something what was actual in the past and I guess it worked for some traders, but I don’t see any good reason why would someone trade without chart in today’s time where we are living in a Internet time and high technology.

hey, yes and its actually a good trading book with some common wisdom that is just as valid today as it used to be in the past.

you read the book by now? i just reread it after reading it for first time 5-6 years ago.its really a good book and remembered me of some very basic principles everyone sometimes likes to forget and which are true today probably even more then they were true in the past.

I have also read some of the good books and all i can say is that they are helping me in becoming a good trader and i am learning from them :wink:

I would think that if all you looked at is the price, you would be much more sensitive to their movements.

I use track and code delays for the airlines, tracking the time line of each flight from boarding until departure. Day in and day out, id look at the exact same numbers. So when new numbers show up I become extremely aware of them, leading me to investigate the why. And there was always a why.

Best luck to you Dennis

I have not read it, Turbo… But I will try

:slight_smile:

“Trading w/o charts” can mean different things to different people.
To me, it meant trading in a [I]simulated [/I]pit environment…here’s some of my experience. If you’re interested in hearing more, let me know.

NET V IMBALANCE
JIGSAW

I would also like to read that book. Im not a book reader. Heck, I have Bob Volmans book, “Forex Price action scalping”, and I just cant get to reading it. I really should tho, seeing I see myself as a master scalper almost, lol…

As for the thread,

You know, I was thinking of this very thing the other day, just off the wall. Take for instance, If GBPUSD Moves more then 10 pips in One direction, Then take the opposite side for EURGBP, without even looking at the charts. But you would have to have just simple TP for like 10 pips with a 10 Pip stoploss.

I thought of it because I trade in correlation of eachother, but was looking for an edge. Well, I think I have one, but more would be better, lol…

Want to add, just for giggles and such. I have the book on my desk in reach at all time, so I just went o leave thru it just now, and the very first sentance my eyes went to was,

page 56, It is important not to " Jump the gun" when it comes to taking trades.

Now, Here is the funny part, Is that, that, IS my biggest problem,

I think I should read it, huh

“Just as valid” and also, [U]re-worded / updated lingo and sold for profit[/U]! :slight_smile:

Hmmm… looks interesting, trading with out charts… let me try to test this in my live account. I often always watching charts and get addicted to it. Might start next week

Sit down and think deeply about the market, about the structure, about the liquidity, about the emotions of the market participants, the expectations of the market. Think about what would cause price to move, what would cause price to move 40 pips, to move 100 pips, to move 400 pips, to move 1,000 pips.

Then play out scenarios in your head about different market setups and market participants. Write down a list of 10 things which you know will generate order flow and price movement. Write out 10 scenarios where the different market participants are battling it out and who will win. Write down 10 ideal order flow setups entries and exits. Think about liquidity vacuum, stops, etc and how they can play together.

Do some research on trading w/ price ladders, aka “DOM”.

Here’s some basic info if you’re interested: JIGSAW