Time and Sales

[cpatte7372]

Hello,

Can someone please explain to me how you use time and sales in your overall strategy?

Thank you.

Carlton

[DuaneG]

Hi Carlton,

The following is one of many ways to utilize the Time and Sales feature.

Personally, I prefer to filter my Time and Sales window to display just the actual trades, this means filtering out both the bids and asks from the results. By doing this, I have to concentrate less on the theoretical and more on what orders are actually being filled.

Once filtered, I color my "Trades At or Above Ask" and "Trades At or Below Bid" (within the properties settings of the Time and Sales window) to determine if buying or selling is taking place at any given time. Trades at or above Ask, indicate buyers are stepping up and paying the asking price which in turn can drive the price higher should the volume be sufficient. The inverse is true as trades are executed at or below the bid price. This would tend to indicate that the sellers are anxious to get out of the trade or instigate a short position. I may focus on the spread to see if the gap is narrowing or widening and then determine the direction of the consolidation to assist with my decision.

Again, this is one of many strategies that are used when evaluating Time and Sales. I'm sure that other members of this forum have taken their respective strategies to a higher complexity. I welcome other members to post their thoughts on this subject to facilitate the growth of ideas and different perspectives. Please let me know if you have any questions.

[cpatte7372]

Duane,

Thanks for this feedback. I'm going to have to take take time to understand it

Cheers

Carlton

[seeds]

access to time and sales window

hi, how do you access the time and sale window?

thanks

[ACM]

seeds
In the main menu select File->New->Advanced Chart->Time and Sales.
Alternatively click the New icon in the main toolbar
Alex

[tharnett]

Carlton,
Knowing time and sales is crucial for the active trader to understand and pay attention too. The only problem is the amount of data and the inability to look back and see what happened in a timely manner is very frustrating. We developed a graphical way to represent time and sales in a way that represents all the data but in a very clean way. You can watch as trades occur on or below the bid and at or above the ask. All without making your eyes go buggy watching trades scroll by.
In my opinion, you are on the right track. Price and volume are what it's all about. The two basic pieces of any trade. When you get so you can understand and make sense of this data, you will begin to see the undercurrents of the markets. Feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss more.

[cpatte7372]

tharnett,

Thanks for responding to my post.

Would you happen to have any literature on Time and Sales? Alternatively, can you recommend a book?

Cheers

Carlton

[tharnett]

Carlton,
You can learn a lot from our website by reading the different pages. We will be adding more content in the future on understanding price action and time and sales as we represent it. The only book that I really know of that attempts to address time and sales in particular is Techniques of Tape Reading by Chris Schumacher. We are in the process of writing a white paper that goes in to a lot of detail describing the undercurrents of market momentum and pressure. It will also help add clarity to time and sales, depth of market, and price/volume dynamics. Hope this helps.

Cheers,

[cpatte7372]

tharnett,

I visited your website and one can certainly learn a lot from it.

Please let me know when you've added content on Time and Sales. In the meantime I look forward to reading your whitepaper.

Cheers

Carlton