Back on 2006/12/21, I wrote about using range bars as part of an indicator set for tracking market movements. In a tutorial at Trading Education, I came across an article by Brett Steenbarger called Fundamentals of Short-Term Trading: Part I. Steenbarger recommends using what he calls Equivalent Bars, with each bar representing approximately the same number of contracts. Using this type of bar, one would hold contracts for a duration of Equivalent Bars, which he says is helpful for risk control.
In that same article, Steenbarger also writes about Scalping. Scalping is a topic I'm
interested in learning more about, particularily the risk management side, of when to get in
and when to get out, and what type of instruments are good for scalping.
Anyway, he talks about using the NYSE Composite TICK indicator around the -750 mark along
with an idea of
volume as a basis for getting into a trade. I've read other authors use the TICK at 1000
and -1000 as useful indicators of when to reverse the market.
I suppose you could classify the TICK as an example of using inter-market analysis to
help define trading setups.
Richard W. Arms, Jr., in his book The Arms Index, talks about an indicator he created
called the TRIN. He suggests using TRIN, along with market averages and the TICK to define
good entry and exit points. In Chapter 2, he shows how to use an XY chart of TRIN and the
DOW Index to show significant intraday movements. He also provides some ideas on how to
interpret and make use of these movements.
Anyway, I've digressed. You'll find a bunch more interesting ideas in Steenbarger's
article, and you'll find more of his articles at his site.
As for the Trading Education web site, my main link takes you to their main resources
page. Their content is updated on a daily basis with market commentary, trading techniques,
and some general news regarding Business, Earnings, and Energy. The RSS feed helps get
around a bunch of advertisements to the meaty regular articles.
You can sign up for their regular newsletter called Synergistic Trading. As regular
contributors, they have well
known luminaries such as Robert W. Colby, Jim Wyckoff, and Dr. Van Tharp.
Contributors have a number of personal
blogs. Most have daily updates on market conditions and trading strategies.