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2012issue C1149-55

From tactile charts to written trade rules

Hand-drawn Point and figure chart work from the high, low, and close was used to name channels, trendlines, compressions, and momentum shifts, then accepted setups were written into a next-session plan that already named entry, invalidation, and profit-taking. TradersWeek editorial reading: the trade was handled as a procedure that could be refused if those names, or a reason to stand aside, were missing.

  • Hand-drawn Point and figure chart work from the high, low, and close was used to recognize channels, trendlines, compressions, and momentum-shift conditions.
  • Physical limits on short-horizon scalping forced a daily written plan that named entry location, invalidation, and profit-taking before the session.
  • Phase classification from a 50-day and a 200-day moving average sat first in that plan, with the cleanest change signal when price and those averages converged.
  • TradersWeek editorial reading: a setup was treated as incomplete unless it already named the invalidation, the profit test, and a reason to stand aside.
Entries in this reading3 entries
Current trackPoint and figure chart37 readingsPre-trade checklist43 readingsTrading psychology process53 readings

Tactile charts as named conditions

Hand-drawn Point and figure chart work from the high, low, and close was used to recognize channels, trendlines, compressions, and momentum-shift conditions. The same X-and-O structure was later read as a visual stand-in for crowd psychology at breakouts and breakdowns.

Each evening, accepted pattern setups were written into a next-session plan that could be rechecked as a discipline artifact.

Microsoft daily closes, May to November 2011

Microsoft compresses near $24 in June, thrusts to about $28, then gives back that entire advance in the August break before repairing through higher lows into a $27.16 close. Weekly readings were taken off the Microsoft daily pane on the printed StockCharts figure; the final print is the session close quoted on that figure, not a visual guess.
Microsoft compresses near $24 in June, thrusts to about $28, then gives back that entire advance in the August break before repairing through higher lows into a $27.16 close. Weekly readings were taken off the Microsoft daily pane on the printed StockCharts figure; the final print is the session close quoted on that figure, not a visual guess.MSFT · daily · 2011-05-02T00:00:00.000Z to 2011-11-08T00:00:00.000Z

Closes were sampled at the labeled week ticks and at the obvious swing highs and lows. Only the 8 November 2011 close is the printed figure. The S&P 500 overlay and the MSFT:SPX relative-strength pane were left off because this reconstruction uses a single price axis.

A written plan before the session

Physical limits on short-horizon scalping forced a daily written plan that named entry location, invalidation, and profit-taking before the session. TradersWeek editorial mapping treats that plan as a Pre-trade checklist: the session was a check against names already written down, not an open search for action.

The standing risk rule was not to add to losing trades, to add only when momentum already favored the position, and to take profits when that momentum shifted.

Phase, opening range, and the watchlist

Phase classification from the relationship and slope of a 50-day and a 200-day moving average was treated as the first layer of that plan. The cleanest change signal was when price and those averages converged. A price 10 percent or 15 percent away from those averages was treated as a less clean phase-change signal. Fully extended bullish or bearish readings were not treated as the best risk-to-reward spots.

An opening range formed in the first minutes. A later break of that range on a five-minute or thirty-minute window was treated as a directional follow-through hypothesis.

Live work watched about 25 to 30 charts and narrowed them to a top 10. Volume spikes were read as urgency. Sideways action was read as inactivity.

The same procedure after the floor

After leaving the floor, the same procedure still required a written plan, recognition of hope, fear, and greed, and a filter between rumor, news, expectation, and realized reaction. TradersWeek editorial mapping treats that filter as the Trading psychology process in this record: a check that rumor and expectation were not substituted for the written plan or for the market's realized reaction.

Educational research material, not investment advice. Historical source context does not establish present-day performance.
25 of 30 in the Point and figure chart track
201345-51 pp.Next on Point and figure chartCombine a Point and figure chart and Moving-average crossover inside one System optimization procedureA Point and figure chart ignores clock time and records only price movement that meets the chosen box size, so smaller moves do not create a new box.
All readings on this track · 30 readings
  1. 1988Constructing trend definitions with filters and lines
  2. 1989Reversal count as the clock on point-and-figure charts
  3. 1989Point-and-figure setup and session-average entry windows
  4. 1989Two-scale point-and-figure trendlines and stop placement
  5. 1989Adjusted net asset value, tighter reversals, and written stops on a fund point-and-figure chart
  6. 1990Stack option odds after point-and-figure signals
  7. 1991Constructing a point-and-figure downtrend-break
  8. 1991Constructing point-and-figure box and reversal charts
  9. 1991Constructing a close-tested one-two ladder on a point-and-figure chart
  10. 1992Point-and-figure, breadth, and volume as falsifiable hypotheses
  11. 1992Three-gate stock selection with ranks and point and figure
  12. 1993Constructing combined stochastics and point-and-figure relative strength
  13. 1997Point-and-figure box scale and reversal construction
  14. 2000Cotton weekly point-and-figure: late-stage decline, named weekly close
  15. 2000Constructing point-and-figure charts for support, resistance, and breakouts
  16. 2001Swiss franc: seasonal permission and a weekly point-and-figure breakout
  17. 2001Constructing point-and-figure boxes and reversals
  18. 2002Point-and-figure construction: box, live column, and three-box reversal
  19. 2003E-mini point-and-figure box-size and a descending-triangle breakout
  20. 2003A reconstruction critique of point-and-figure daytrading
  21. 2004Point-and-figure column moving-average crossovers
  22. 2005Box-series transforms for trend and channel work
  23. 2006Constructing bearish point-and-figure support breaks
  24. 2008Point-and-figure forex breakouts and triangles
  25. 2012From tactile charts to written trade rules
  26. 2013Combine a Point and figure chart and Moving-average crossover inside one System optimization procedure
  27. 2015Point-and-figure time and volume limits are conventions to test
  28. 2016Measurement-first critique of indicator defaults
  29. 2017Point-and-figure construction, reversals, and column-based overlays
  30. 2019A 2019 charting case as a three-check trend classroom
By fieldDecision process69 readingsBy year201281 readings
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