A valid point was raised by one of customers, one which has been addressed many times in the chat room as being an issue that will be fixed in the next update. I would like to reiterate it here for those that may have missed it and also update what changes are coming in the future with regards to the background scanners as these are possibly one of the most confusing things in VSA for most people starting out (and pros too).
First the issue with the Background scanner in SMART and how we are addressing it. In the current background scanner smart does not take an extreme volume Effort To Rise (green bar) as weakness but rather as a normal Effort To Rise and marks it as strength (the opposite is true for an Effort To Fall). If in the range scan any ETR (or ETF) happens, the calculations for determining if there is weakness or strength in the bg may be off slightly. This reading can also be effected by things such as the previously mentioned dead zones.
This is an easy fix and will be in our next update. We are also expanding on this a bit and planning for future changes such as Dead Zones and accounting for them in the calculations as well as a visual Background scanner so you can see where and when the bg is changing on the chart in real time.
Some people are confused by what it (the background) is or even how to trade the background in VSA with or without SMART. What most seasoned VSA traders do (Todd Krueger for example) is look to the shorter time frames (yes shorter) for when the background is changing, as small changes in the these time frames make much larger swings later in the longer time frames.
One way SMART helps with this is by allowing you to see all the background changes for multiple time frames on one chart using the Multiple Time Frame Background Scanner.
Once they have all switched to one direction you can safely start looking for changes the other way and counter trades in the opposite direction starting again with changes to the shorter time frames.
In other words If the SMART BG Scanner says strength that does not mean necessarily to only look for long indications only. The immediate background is in my opinion much better for that type of analysis. I personally use M15, M30, and H1. Feel free to experiment with whatever combination works for you.
If you have any questions or are confused by any aspect of VSA or SMART please feel free to contact me via the live chat or submit a support ticket via our website.
For more information or if you have any questions about SMART Trader Volume Spread Analysis (VSA) Software please visit
SMART Trader at pipbuilders.com or visit our Live and Free VSA (Volume Spread Analysis) Chat and Trading Room at http://vsa.pipbuilders.com
Good luck trading and see you in the chat.