Friday, March 20, 2009

Footprint Lesson


Hi guys,
I have been very busy with my 'other' job this week and haven't had a chance to trade much or post this week. I hope this chart helps make up for that. I took a short trade at 780 today and got a nice 11 points out of it. I had my 780 level in mind for several weeks and showed the level as the top of a 5 day balance area in my ' Looking at the Longer Term Picture' post from last Friday. I got a chance to short it today and the Footprint chart gave me all the insight I needed to feel comfortable to take it.

You may notice that I am looking here at a slightly different view of the 6 Reversal Chart. I love this setup because it really allows me to see strong Supply (dark red) and strong Demand (dark blue) very easily.

I am showing it here in the Classic Footprint chart but you can also set it up in the new multi-pane Footprints. Here is how I set this up. I choose 'Shade Dominant Side' leaving 'Shade Text Only' unchecked. Under Colors, I choose 'Manual Shading,' Level 1: 500, Level 2: 750 and Level 3: 900. Ask Volume Color: Blue, Bid Volume: Red, Total volume Color: Gold.

This sets the color changes based on Delta. These are the settings I am using but feel free to set it to your liking. For me, I just 'see' the supply and demand so much easier.

Hope this helps. have a great weekend.
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MG

2 comments:

  1. This is a great idea for the color scheme of the footprint, thanks. I am confused quite a bit by the prices shown on your chart, however. It says it is 3/20, but after the open at 9:30 the price reached a high of around 785 just before 10am, but your chart doesn't show that. Are you not charting the front month June contact here?

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  2. AJS,
    Glad you like it. I am on the west coast and the charts are set to Pacific time. So, the market opens at the un-godly time of 6:30am. this should account for the time discrepancy.

    MG

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