The Secret Life Of A Day Trader: Getting Back Into The Flow

It has been a while since my last post, but I’m back now. The reason why I haven’t posted is not relevant anymore, at least not to anyone but me. The people I once believed cared, I now realize, only care about one thing. Personally, I’m at peace with that. I intend to keep my word as long as I breathe the air that God allows me to.

Humility is a lesson learned the hard way. Nothing can humble a man (or a woman) faster than the market putting you in your place. How you react to that will determine your ultimate success or failure. I have failed many times in my life, each time I have come back stronger. This time is no different. I believe in myself enough that I don’t need anyone else to believe in me. I never have needed that validation, and there is no point in needing it now.

As a trader, through the good times and the bad, I never stop trying to become better today than I was yesterday. Over time my style has developed and I am the trader that I am today because of all those that I have learned from over the years. To each person that has touched my trading life, and you know who you are, I thank you.

Now that I have said my peace, let us get on to the charts.

Volume Profiling & Time Profiling

My trading style has evolved over time and the main focus of my trading style is to identify key trade locations using levels that the market itself gives to me. These levels are determined by utilizing volume profiling and time price opportunity.

Each trading day I start my analysis on the daily chart. Since I do not hold any long-term positions, this is the highest time frame chart that I find relevant to my style of trading.

The levels plotted on this chart are as follows:

1. Current Year High price – 7358.5
2. Current Year Low price – 6172.50
3. Developing yearly Value Area High – 7019.50
4. Developing yearly HVN or Point of Control – 6962.50
5. Developing yearly Value Area Low – 6537.50
6. Developing yearly VWAP – 6810.25
7. Developing yearly chart Mid point – 6765.50
8. 50 Day moving average – 7033.00
9. 100 Day moving average – 6901.75
10. 200 Day moving average – 6646.60

The next series of levels I plot are based off of the 4 hour time frame chart. It is from this chart that I get my monthly ranges.

The levels plotted on this chart are as follows:

1. Monthly High – 7262
2. Monthly Low – 6987.50
3. Monthly Value Area High – 7138.25
4. Monthly HVN / Volume Point of Control – 7114.50
5. Monthly Value Area Low – 7032.25
6. Monthly Chart Mid Point – 7124.75
7. Monthly VWAP – 7101.25

Once my higher time frame levels are plotted, I then focus on the previous U.S. trading session to get my daily levels. I plot these levels using a 30 minute chart with a combination of Volume profiling and Time Price Opportunity profiling.

This chart remains open and in close proximity to my trade trigger chart. What is highlighted on this chart is:

1. Time Price Opportunity profile
2. Volume Profile
3. Single print zone

Now I’m not going to go into a detailed explanation of how I trade off of these levels once they are all plotted. What I will say is that as I observe the price action react to my plotted levels, I often find that they offer ideal trade locations and many of the levels also make attractive targets.

So there it is, I have my levels all plotted out for the start of the trading session for tomorrow. If you would like to see how I did, come on back and check out my results. I will post them at the end of the session. Please feel free to leave a comment or a question below. I always appreciate feedback positive or negative. The only request I make is that the feedback is relevant to the subject matter.