Pattern Trading is the basis for most traders systems but patterns themselves are not enough to form a winning trading method.  If they were, everyone that could recognize a simple pattern would be insanely wealthy. So, what is the missing piece of the puzzle that most traders fail to learn about and focus on? The answer is volume, and more specifically smart volume analysis. Smart Volume Analysis gives us the ability to see and profit from the hidden meaning within these patterns day in and day out with very little effort.

As an example, we’ll use one common pattern that when combined with volume becomes one of ours to demonstrate why volume analysis is the missing element in your trading.  The pin bar is a very popular pattern to trade.  A pin bar typically signifies a reversal in the market. However, a pin bar by itself is fairly meaningless  as they occur all over the place. When they work, they’re certainly very powerful but trading these without any other meaningful verification will very quickly deplete a trading account.

Some people will say “but they do work most of the time”.  This is simply not true and a hard pill to swallow if you trade them but you can show me five times where this or any pattern for that matter “worked” and I can show you ten times where they failed.  So what’s missing? How do you, or anyone know if a pattern is valid and worth trading? The answer is simple… Volume. Volume is the only real time analysis tool that will show you what is actually happening within the market at any given moment.  Just like patterns, volume too is not always enough as you will soon learn… To make it as a trader you need a comprehensive tool set capable of displaying signals and their meanings in a concise, easy to read manner right on your chart.  You also need a guiding hand from someone who knows why traders and more importantly trades, fail time and time again, and how to avoid many common trading mistakes without having to get a degree in rocket science.

“Volume is the only real time analysis tool that will show you what is really happening within the market at any given moment.”

Take a look at this example chart taken in real time after a specific Smart Volume Analysis Signal. (Please open this chart in a new tab/window and follow along with the text below):

Please note that example #1 on the chart is a typical pin bar and that it is also a valid Smart Upthrust which is printed as a blue bar in our Smart Volume Analysis Trading Software.  This would normally be an excellent place to open a long position as it is a strength signal and one of the best of our so called “catalyst” signals.  A catalyst signal is simply a Smart Volume Signal that typically precedes a very large movement in price.

If you saw this pattern and you normally trade pin bars you might have taken this trade.  If you only trade smart catalyst signals, you may also have taken this trade as well but notice point #2 on the example chart…  These are the various warnings that our software printed for this particular signal based on it location in the range and other factors.  Had you avoided this trade based on our Smart Advisor Warnings, you would have saved yourself from a loss of nearly 20 pips, possibly more as the bar had still not closed when the screenshot was taken.  Now look at example #3 on the chart.  See the huge move?  This is quite a different story from example #1.  This is the same chart, same timeframe and the exact same signal as example #1 but with one key distinction…  There  were no Smart Volume Analysis warnings on this trade.  This trade ended up being a 100+ pip winning trade had you taken it.  This is the true power of smart volume  analysis and clearly shows how adept our advisor module is at keeping you away from potentially losing trades.

Smart Volume Analysis shows you very quickly and effortlessly which patterns are valid, what their profit targets are thanks to our proprietary EOM concepts and module and the software even warns of potential dangers based on our research observable rules within the advisor module as shown in the above examples. That said I would add that while your percentage of winning trades will no doubt be much higher once applying our concepts and methods, we recognized that certain patterns needed additional scrutiny before a trade could be placed.  In  our own trading and the development of Smart Volume Analysis, we found time and time again even though the win rate was very high for our valid signals, there were times that they didn’t work. A pattern emerged and I was interested in identifying and cataloging these conditions so that I could avoid trades that would likely fail. Much of my initial research lead to our Dead Zone concept which improved our trading quite a bit on it’s own but that wasn’t enough. I found certain signals in a certain spot would almost never work no matter how good the signal was. These observations became the basis for what I trained many clients to look out for in the free live rooms but it’s difficult to remember these guidelines when following multiple charts. Many signals had different guidelines and we needed a way to easily report these right on the chart and in real time.  This is why our Smart Advisor Module was created. Every Smart Volume Analysis signal that appears is analysed instantly by Smart and the output if needed is available instantaneously on your chart based on our observations for that particular pattern (See example #2) . If there are no warnings, the trade is deemed safe and has a very high chance of working as expected and in hitting it’s EOM (Profit Target Levels).

As you would imagine, some warnings are stronger than others. Each warning and it’s meaning is detailed within the documentation site so that you can familiarize yourself with them and begin applying these guidelines to improve your trading in a very short time

For more information or if you have any questions about SMART Volume Analysis (SVA) and Smart Volume Spread Analysis (VSA) the methods, or our Software (Smart Trader) please visit the following link

A quick chart showing some Catalyst signals (Stronger Signals That tend to precede bigger moves on longer time frames)  Using EOM (Proprietary Target System) on these alone and you could pretty much retire.

As a bonus I have a test version of a future module (The Smart Visual Advisor)

Smart Volume Analysis Software – Catalyst Signals For Quick EOM Trades

There are many catalyst signals (Live Doc coming soon) this screenshot highlights just two of them.  They happen to be my favorites.

1. Catalyst Signal (Smart Upthrust)

2. Catalyst Signal (Smart Reverse Upthrust) With Additional Smart Visual Advisor Blue Bar (No warnings that I filter for appear)

For more information or if you have any questions about SMART Volume Analysis (SVA) and Smart Volume Spread Analysis (VSA) the methods, or our Software (Smart Trader) please visit the following link

To our friends and clients in the Philippines we hope that you are okay, and please, stay safe.

News Trading Using Smart Volume Analysis and Our Smart Trader VSA Software – ECB Rate Cut November 2013 – 300+ Pips

I meant to post this earlier (I discussed the trades a bit on the free Smart Trader usergroup at the time) but I ended up crashing out.

I often say Smart Volume Analysis “prepositions” for news well ahead of the news, and what the likely direction will be based on what the Volume is showing.  Normally you would drill down as news aproaches if signals on various time frames conflict.  Sometimes there is no need and the setups are fairly obvious like we had with the ECB news.

Two trades are shown.  EURUSD and also USDCHF (Which is inversely correlated to the EURUSD)

Here are the screens as they were unfolding after the cut and the indications of direction prior to the news.

Enjoy.

**The screenshots include annotations on the chart so click for the full size version.

For more information on our concepts, software, and proprietary Smart Volume Analysis and logic based trading initiatives, visit us at our website: http://www.smartvsa.com

If you have any questions about SMART Volume Spread Analysis (VSA) the methods, or our Software please visit the following link

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted here as much of our activity tends to be concentrated on the Free (for all) Usergroups and Pages (Linked below)

I hope you all had a great summer and now with the news regarding the US shutdown coming to an end things should start to pick up quite nicely.

Here is a quick screenshot detailing how to use “Catalyst” signals to easily predict when to enter and take advantage of much larger movements on longer time frames.  Before they occur!

As always if you have any questions please visit us on our website support system and let us know.

Thanks.
James

Catalyst Signals on Daily Chart Using Smart Volume Analysis

Click for full screen version

Text from screenshot:

Huge moves easily “predicted” Smart Style.

Using just two excellent Smart Volume Signals on longer time frames (in conjunction with our proprietary Smart Advisor and our Background Scanners) you can see clearly when the big moves are likely to happen.

Signals used in example: Smart Upthrust and Smart Buying.

Using Smart Selling and Smart Reverse Upthrust and you can catch the moves the other way.

Each signal is a coded color so they are easy to identify and profit from.

Find out more at www.smartvsa.com

For more information or if you have any questions about SMART Volume Spread Analysis (VSA) the methods, or our Software please visit the following link

Forgive the lack of posting here.  It is Summer and aside from not trading very much, we’ve been busy getting the trade alert service fixed up and ready for full launch.

Today I wanted to post a bot trade from Monday on the H4 chart.  It illustrates pretty well why a good signal in a great spot is worth waiting for… This seems obvious but so many clients fail to wait for the right set up and instead “chase trades”  They look for any reason to go with their “gut” even if a signal isn’t agreeing or in the right spot.

We have a large number of articles that deal with this topic on here and our “Live Docs” site but here’e the bot trade from yesterday.  The outcome was 180+ pips to the wash and new HVZ (using them as targets) of course it easily smashed the EOM if you were to use that.  Even going signal to signal as I often do it was a really nice ride (58).

For more information or if you have any questions about SMART Volume Spread Analysis (VSA) the methods, or our Software please visit the following link

Smart User Interface Explained (Includes the soon to be released Smart Volume Indicator)

Click the image for a full resolution image
Text from Screenshot:

1. MTF VBS Visual Background Scanner (Current Reading Smart Background For Each)
2. EOM Targets and Last Signal Name and Meaning
3. Smart Advisor (Seeks To Mimic How We Look At Signal Location And Other Factors)
4. Smart Volume Directional Bias Method (D1) Bar Weakness (Only Weakness Signals With No Warnings Are Taken)
5. Smart Volume Directional Bias Method (D1) Bar Neutral (Signals With No Warnings Are Taken)
6. Smart Volume Directional Bias Method (D1) Bar Strength (Only Strength Signals With No Warnings Are Taken)
7. Smart Background (Alerts To Weakness or Strength in the Background)
8. Signal Bar (Referenced in EOM Section #2)
9. Trade Bar (This Trade Was Fine Using Four Step and Directional Method)

If you have any questions please visit us on our free usergroups or submit a ticket via our support link

Added new modules:

• SMART Signal Module ND SO – Shakeout on no demand (dual colored bar)
• SMART Signal Module NSP RSO – Reverse shakeout with no selling pressure (dual colored bar)
• SMART Advanced Signal Module Golden Hamster
• SMART Advanced Signal Module Franger (3 Bar Pattern)
• SMART Advanced Signal Module Raincoat (3 bar pattern)

Renamed Signal Modules:

• SMART Signal Module SMART No Buying Interest*
• SMART Signal Module SMART No Demand*
• SMART Signal Module SMART No Selling Pressure*
• SMART Signal Module SMART Supply Test*

*Unconfirmed signals have been renamed to SMART <signal name>. All confirming logic has been removed from the modules (however they are still present in the dll). The only change other than the names is that SMART will now paint all prior unconfirmed signals as if LeaveUnconfirmed setting from previous version was set to true.

Added new Advisor warnings:

• Shakeout with reduced demand
• RSO with reduced selling pressure
• Potential Smart Buying
• Potential Smart Selling

Modifications and Optimizations:

• SO and RSO now take precedence over no demand/nsp.
• Advisor now warns for potential Smart Buying and Smart Selling patterns and the dual colored bars modules
• Made changes to the two finger salute/fosters flop (smart selling/buying checks)
• Smart buying/selling optimizations and Advisor warnings for UT’s and RUT’s that could potentially match.
• Optimized Market Top
• Optimized Bag Holding
• Optimized Mount Fuji Fakeout
• Updated Smart Zones MTF to be able to have multiple timeframe zones on the one chart (as per a request in G+).

Added new indicators:

• SMART Wyckoff Wave*
• SMART Wyckoff Wave Volume*

***NOTE: We do not provide any support for the Wyckoff Wave indicators, so use at your own risk. Mostly due to the fact we don’t know much about the subject. You may find more information under the topic Weis/Wyckoff Wave if you want to know more. We have only included these indicators as per customer requests.