ND’s and NS’s are most commonly traded in the continuation of a trend, not a reversal.
below: A significant move downwards occurred. A good ND is a small spread closing on the high with volume less than the previous 2 bars (or just overall, relatively low). Some ND/NS are much more clearer where you see volume drop off drastically.
Ah, I see, so the NS, and ND are basically a test to see if there are any more buyers for a ND on a downward trend, and anymore buyers when SM wants an upmove. Thanks for that - I finished reading the thread (all 241 pages of it today) but there are bits I am still mixed up with, and its cool that you can clarify a few things.
I saw this on the chart: High volume, matching the mornings volume - offloading by SM, plus doubke bottom on 5M timeframe, so I went long on my demo.
I just scalp the trend continuations, ND and NS, for 20 PIPS time and time again, it’s easy trading, you can easy get a 3 to 1 winning ratio, easy trading.
Just as in where the arrow is on EnPoint’s chart, except I use a 15 min.
Here’s my current analysis of the current situation - it didn’t bounce as I would have thought with the high volume - instead it is either accumulating or distributing. I have labelled 1+2 as low volume areas. 1 I would have presumed this was a ‘no demand’ on a 5 minute candle, and would signal an imminent downtrend, reinforced by 2) which is possibly another ‘no demand’ which reinforces a downtrend, especially with resistance to a higher price on the next bar. This all points to distribution, with the high volume bar in fact being SM shorting further, and in 1 + 2 investigating whether anyone wants to take the market up - thus we are in for another drop - ie: I should cut my demo long. Comments are welcome.
I would suggest starting your analysis higher up (daily) and working your way down. Example:
On the daily, the trend is clearly down. We’ve plowed through resistance near 1.4350 (the 50 fib and previous resistance turned support). But the day is basically over, and we’re now sitting on another important level (red dotted line).
On the H4, we can see that this down move is just about exactly as long as the previous down move. This combined with the previously mentioned resistance makes this a logical place to stop. Though that isn’t a good basis for trading, we need more info.
On the H1 there’s not much going on – just the typical end of day dropoff. 1.4153 might or might not hold through the asia session, but we’re probably moving sideways for at least a little bit. My analysis would stop here – no point in even looking at the 5m.
The next trading opportunity I’m looking for is probably going to be a short after a retrace to the 50 fib. I would set an alert for 1.4304, just under the 50 fib and previous support. Once that is reached, I’m watching for stopping volume, zooming into 15 or 30m, watching for high volume pin bars, and when I’m ready for entry, waiting for a no demand on the 5m.
The key takeaway is, especially for beginners, it’s easy to get totally lost in the weeds if you don’t start from 10,000 feet and drill down from there to whatever TF is appropriate, given sufficient volume. Living on the 5m chart and trading at this time of day is a recipe for overtrading, gray hairs, and in all likelihood a shorter lifespan (in my opinion).
“Living on the 5m chart and trading at this time of day is a recipe for overtrading, gray hairs, and in all likelihood a shorter lifespan (in my opinion).”
Very true… VSA is definitely a challenging way of trading. It’s not as easy to grasp as it is to follow xyz indicator. It’s an art and it takes time to master it, a lot of time. I’m still trading on a demo account and I’m glad I haven’t yet jumped onto live trading. I have some days that are good (last week), and some others that are total disaster. I find those days depressing but yet very useful as you tend to learn more from your mistakes.
There is one quote from Petefrader that I keep repeating myself over and over again: DON’T TAKE A TRADE UNLESS IT SCEAMS AT YOU (or something like that). Pretty much everytime I didn’t stick to all the rules explained in all his posts, I lose money. When you start getting positive results, it is also very easy to become over-confident and over-trade and therefore lose a lot.
In VSA, to become successful, a trader should have three qualities: PATIENCE, PATIENCE and PATIENCE. If you don’t have it, you can’t be successful. I don’t have a lot, that’s why I’m still trading on a demo account. I’m working hard on it, and I’m getting better.
Same here. I came to the thread to make sure it wasn’t just me 
FXCM and Oanda MT4 platforms look normal.
Pr0crast you are a legend. Thanks for that detailed explanation.
Hi guys, thought I might intro myself.
Im a noob whos finished school of pipsology and been demo trading for about 3 months now. Lurked on these forums for that time trying different strategies. VSA attracted me for its nature of dissecting the markets and trying to understand the true workings behind the scenes. Im a trainee surgeon in Aus, and dissecting to discern the internal workings is what I do
Thanks guys for giving so much to this thread. Ive learned a alot, and still have a loooong way to go.
I’d be very careful of using higher than the 1hr timeframe for VSA, it’s OK for long term analysis, but you can’t really apply VSA to the higher timeframes, since the volumes become irrelevant, mainly due to the 24 hour nature of the market.
Stick to either the 1hr and 5 min combo, or I find the 15m on it’s own chart a great compromise.
Just to conclude yesterdays posting - it seemed as if the buying spike was for shorting this morning - unless I am getting it wrong. I take it the higher volumes on the higher prices was selling into the peaks for a further price drop.
You could read it that way in hindsight, but like ElMagnifico reminded us what petefader said a while ago - DOES THE TRADE SCREAM AT YOU - I don’t think it does, and if in doubt - stay out.
Took this trade: I saw higher volume at the 0 fib level and what looked like a triple bottom on the 5 min tf. Closed the first long because I was frightened of losing a profit and missed out on 70-80pips despite not seeing any stopping volume. I took the next pullback long again, and closed on a higher volume pin before the 3 o clock news.
In my opinion one needs to start higher IMO to get an orientation, start identifying S/R, etc – and that’s half of what we do in this thread, is identify areas where it makes the most sense to apply VSA. But you’re right that it’s probably not a good idea to actually use VSA principles until you get to H1 or lower.
just being informed that ibfx volume issue is being resolved ^0^
Took this trade for 30 pips, but if I woke earlier I should taken the double bottom for an extra 20 pips. Took it because of previous high volume early in the London session. I really also need to be more patient on my exit because I missed out a further 30 pips. Am I doing it right?
After this, waiting for a shorting opportunity.
Took another long scalp for 10 pips, and now am waiting for a shorting op.
ok, I 've seen some extra volume on my platform - I expect that this is buying - may be wrong though. Why I think it is buying at a fib line is that the price came to meet it: so I went long, with TP at the 61 line. If I am wrong and it ends up the price falling, maybe someone can enlighten me to tell me why the volume bars were selling.
[QUOTE=goldenmember;263671]Am I doing it right? [QUOTE]
Yep, your spotting strength and weakness from volume increases correctly. As far as entries you may want to include no demand/no supply for more opportunities, but there is no “right way”…as long as you use the VSA info to spot high probability moves. BTW are you identifying the 1hr phase as shown in the first post? Trading in that direction will help keep you on the right side.
