Forex Price Action Scalping: an in-depth look into the field of professional scalping

If you're looking for ideas on how to day trade that don't include fibonaccis, MACDs, market profile, tape reading, correlated markets, or having to parse news reports in the flash of a second, this is it. A somewhat similar but more technically complex approach is professed by Al Brooks, albeit his work is much less accessible than Volman's. Volman provides both trend and ranging strategies, including range breaks and range reversals which gives you plenty of ideas to work from. There is also much to be said about Volman's thoroughness: he discusses the psychology of the setups, spends time analyzing faulty setups, and has a whole chapter on trade management talking about multiple scenarios, in a way that I have yet to come across in a trading book. The one disadvantage of Volman's approach is that it is based on a 70 tick chart, and one that displays candles in only whole pip increments (using pipettes can throw you off strategy wise, you will have a tough time setting clean entries and managing the trade). That means you're out $50-60 a month for a data feed, taking away one of Forex's advantages of having no fixed costs. You can approximate the 70 tick with a 30 second chart during the liquid NY and London sessions, or find a broker that offers a tick chart. In the case of the latter you might have to adjust the tick chart to a different value than 70, because Volman relies on ProRealTime's feed (the target setting for the chart is 120 candles per hour). Be prepared to study this book a number of times, this is not a cookie cutter system based approach and requires developing a sense of discretion, even though the author gives you some very solid ideas and guidelines for the setups. A high value book offered at a price that is way below most of the trash that is offered as trading education. Edit: Bob's new book, Understanding Price Action, is also a good read. You may even want to read it before this book as it offers a slightly broader perspective and operates primarily off the 5 minute timeframe.

I am discretionary, electronic trader who trades in the crude oil market. Since the title and description of this book relates to how I scalp CL futures, I decided to get a copy to read and see how it compares to my methods. Will post an update to this review once I've gotten sufficiently far into the book to make some meaningful comments. UPDATE #2 1/26/2013. On further thought, I'm taking away two stars. Let me explain. In my experience as a discretionary trader, I have never used fixed stops. I will go a step further and say that I have doubts as to whether any fixed stop system actually will work over the long term. I don't know for sure, which is why I can't say that it "won't," but I have enough doubts. When I first read Volman's book, I was impressed by his writing style and clear-headed, no-nonsense approach ... to the point where I didn't pay much attention to the fact that he's advocating a fixed-stop system. But in my experience with reviewing mechanical systems and with backtesting some of those, I have never seen a fixed-stop system to work. Inevitably you have enough of a series of fixed losses, that it either destroys the entire profit or results in an unsustainably large drawdown. Now Volman is not a system trader, he is a discretionary trader. Sometimes it is difficult to translate discretionary methods into a mechanical method, which means it cannot be backtested. ... Which means the only way to know whether it works is by looking at actual trading results over a long period of time. I should have paid more attention to this in my initial review. Basically at this point, I would recommend this book in order to learn some good, solid concepts of price behavior, but not to take the trading strategies at face value unless the author can actually prove that he has consistently made money using fixed stops. By "fixed stop" I mean your stop is always 10 ticks (or some constant number) below your entry point. UPDATE 1/17/2013. Okay I've read the first 80 pages carefully and I feel like I can make an accurate review, assuming the rest of the book maintains the same quality as the first 80 pages. A very well written and excellent, detailed description for various techniques of getting into and out of trade using different setups, breakouts, etc. The author uses a short time frame and the Forex market, but these methods apply equally on any timeframe and on any market with similar volatility and fluidity. In addition to the trading methods, there are general words of wisdom sprinkled throughout, which should be helpful to newbies or traders having difficulties with hesitation, emotional trading, etc. My personal reason for picking up this book was to see how it compares to my own techniques for trading CL futures. Most of what I know about price behavior is self-taught, taken from my observations. Basically I'm seeing very similar things discussed in this book. There's many ways to slice an orange, sometimes they end up being variations of the same theme. Probably any two individuals who spend enough time observing price behavior are going to end up drawing the same conclusions. So the similarities between different approaches should come as no surprise. I don't see any reason why someone should not make money consistently over the long term by implementing one or two of the author's strategies either as an automated system or on a discretionary basis. These type of strategies are similar to what I do in that they initiate a series of trades, some losses and some wins, that are based on probable setups such that over the long term the wins are greater than the losses. I can bear it out from personal experience in the crude oil futures market that this type of strategy works. It also works in gold and should work in S&P in a similar fashion. The key here is the consistent implementation of the strategy. This is going to be a very difficult thing for most if not all newbies and even some experienced traders to understand and accept. They have a tendency to think that the results of 2, 5 or 10 trades is a good indication of what can be expected going forward. Which is not the case. Basically with strategies like what the author gives, you are working in terms of probabilities that give you an edge over time, which is really to say over many number of trades. Individual losses or wins don't matter too much - it's the cumulative effect that counts. In conclusion, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn principles of price behavior and who wants to see how to use those principles to construct a long-term strategy based on short-term trades.

This is actually the first time I write a book review, but since Bob Volman's book is so good (in my humble opinion), I decided to take the time to convince others that 'Forex Price Action Scalping' is worth every penny. Simply said, it stands out from all other Forex books. No 'getting rich quickly plans', no setups that will make a 'killer profit'. Just sound advice that will make you a decent scalper, if, and only if, you are willing to put in thousands of hours training and learning the craft. This is a serious book for the serious trader and, as mentioned before, has many parallels with the book on trading price action by Al Brooks(books that is, since he rewrote his first work and spread the information among three books). Al's book is a real masterpiece, but a very hard read. I believe Bob does a better job in writing a readable book. The only thing I miss, are some insights on how to deal with/ or to refrain from news. Apart from that, I really like the fact that this scalper gives us an insight in the work and methods of a Forex scalper - this in contrast with the many books on scalping in futures markets. If you are planning on becoming a serious Forex trader - then by all means BUY THIS BOOK!

If you're into scalping as a full time endeavour or on the side during lulls this book is a buy. Smart well written and loaded with use-able information on chart setups, interpeting charts and seeing what is really happening. Great for scalping currency's, however it of course work equally well for the YM, ES, CL, etc.. His ideas work equally well on stocks. Point blank, its worth every penny..the author knows what he's talking about and is a master as simplifying the daily messages of the market. I have found it especially usefull in spotting entry points and in seeing what ISN't an entry point. I am very pleased with the book. (obviously) If you scalp....this in time will become "The Book" on the subject.

I'm an intermediate level trader and find myself scalping more often than I like so I thought this book could help me enhance that skill. I read through a few of these setups and realized I need to stop scalping because reading price action is no easy task. Volman has provided a wealth of setups and variations with which to trade but the shear number of variations and the speed at which you need to be able to identify the setups is beyond my current skill and desire to develop. Some may find this book a gold mine but I had two frustrations with it other than the general nature of scalping I've mentioned already. 1. Its based on tick charts only which many software packages don't support, or don't support at the minute scale he references constantly in the book. The whole time I was wondering if these setups will work on time charts and/or on index futures. He never claimed they would, but a call out of their universal application or lack thereof would have helped clear some of that confusion for me. 2. The shear volume of text in this book is astonishing. It's much larger than the page count implies. It is rather dry, repetitive and a challenging read...but such is the nature of learning technique and setups as opposed to concepts. I constantly had to flip back and forth to see the charts referenced on different pages which made the read more challenging. Can't say I have a solution to that, but a challenge all the same. Ultimately, this is a book that serves it's purpose well. But if you're on the fence about whether you want to be a scalper or have never used tick charts before...it may not be for you. I gave it 3 stars because it achieves what it aims to but had the listed drawback above. In the author's defense, this is not an easy subject to write a book about, so I applaud the effort to cover a topic that has very little written about it to date.

! Easy to read even for novices 2 Clearly details specific set ups with tons of chart 3 clear explanations regarding market forces as expressed in each bar in the chart 4 "Real Life " analysis of traders psychology e.g. who does a trader experience when trapped in a trade? who to do? 5. Focus on the price chart alone is a great practice . It is more than enough to tell the whole story for the trader who has trained his eye to know the road I am convinced that a trader who spends the time studying this book and then goes of a journey to apply the principles will be rewarded handsomely

This is one condensed, usable- the-same-day book! I love now having names for and understandings of things I routinely see on YM (Dow futures) 233 tick and ym 1min charts. One could even play a 3-min chart with his methods, and I even saw a double doji setup on VTI (vanguard ETF)on a daily-weekly grid of charts once! Easy read from a down-to-earth, entertaining and very real person with real experiences and real challenges who gets into some psychology that will make you burst out laughing. I use this book everyday also. Author contact information is given, and his work will help you "pass through the gate of simplicity." Once you see it, you will reduce what is on your cluttered charts, although I can't give up my ADX, MFI and Gutman's statistical z-scored MACD, yet. So, I still have my hand on the open gate and fence! You may still want to have a second computer with technical indicators you're comfortable with on it as a crutch temporarily or as a confirmation glance chart- -since I watch a 1-minute chart, I have my complicated 1min on another monitor that I check after the primary one with the 20 EMA. Truthfully, I put down Al Brooks' Reversals (last 75% of it) to jump to this one and then go back to Brooks' extensive, exhaustive/exhausting/repetitive text. The first reviewer is right- this is a different angle on the easy version of Brooks' content. Brooks' book series is great too, no reason to slander it, been working on them since the start of this semester. I wish I could solely use a 20 EMA like Brooks and Volman, since "all you need to know is embedded in the price action in the candlesticks". But, if you can't look at a narrow range and tell where the true trend will emerge and where the tease and fake breaks will originate or what trend phase prices are in, then you need this book. Warning: Do not think you can read this book and be ready to jump into leveraged Forex trades or even the es (futures on S&P) with real money right away. Rather, paper trade in simulation or paper money mode, like for forever, then maybe add a few understudy indicators as confirmations, try ym and QQQ on 1min side by side, ym on a 233-tick, a 3minute SPY or VTI, or VXX or VIX- -after you can see Volman's patterns on the the safer movements of the indices (entire haystacks, then try some concentrated products' symbols- watch soymeal for example to learn from an explosively-surprising fast mover; note: I did not say trade the volatile soymeal. Seek professional advice on instruments to trade or your broker's trade desk staff for informational guidance).

Although I have not read the entire book, what I have is very helpful in teaching/ enforcing the elusive price action - esp in context to what happened on the left of the price chart. If you've come to this point in the ball game Volman points out what you don't know, you do know. The book is well written w/ thorough explanation of the thought process, charts, price action, progress of strategy building one on the other from chapter to chapter. The only thing that I question is why not futures instead of cash? He uses a 70 pip (tick) price bar which is about 30 seconds as Volman notes. Obviously in a fast market it could be much shorter in duration, 10-15 seconds. Also a 1.5 pip spread between the bid ask on EUR/USD (the currency pair used exclusively in the book) is about the same as the spread on 6E which is on a regulated exchange - other than the algos (pun intended.) If I'm guessing correctly it is most likely the no commission/ exchange fee etc. I'll stick with 6E. For this type of read it's "easy" to read If you are an indicator type person this book is not for you - although keep in mind everything comes down to price (action.)

Si puedes leerlo en inglés, es una gran herramienta para aprender auténtico "price action" en temporalidad de 5M. Tiene muchos gráficos bastante interesantes, no sólo de grandes tendencias, y el autor tiene los pies bastante bien asentados en el suelo, sin ofrecer al lector hacerse millonario en dos meses tras leer su libro.

Best book

Il libro ha un titolo un po' fuorviante in quanto parla di FOREX trading ma, in realtà, i principi in esso enunciati a mio avviso ben si adattano a qualsiasi tipo di analisi del prezzo su grafici "veloci". L'autore tratta di 7 set-up abbastanza accessibili anche al neofita, basati sull'analisi del grafico a candele a 70 tick, in sostanza un grafico molto veloce ove ogni candela viene tracciata sulla basa di 70 transazioni sul mercato FOREX. Molto correttamente, a mio avviso, l'autore non consiglia l'uso di indicatori o oscillatori esoterici, ma soltanto di una banale media mobile esponenziale a 20 periodi, per cui al lettore viene insegnata la mera (ed efficace) lettura dell'azione del prezzo e l'operatività conseguente è dettata dalla lettura che i set-up consentono di tale azione. Si tratta, beninteso, di una trattazione delle basi che non arriva certamente alla profondità e alla complessità di quella di Al Brooks nella sua monumentale opera in tre volumi, reperibile almeno in formato Kindle su Amazon.it. Tuttavia, al contrario di quella di Brooks, la trattazione di Volman è accessibile e "digeribile" anche dal lettore meno esperto. Ovviamente, come tutto ciò che riguarda il trading, il libro va letto, capito e studiato; poi va testato con piccole somme sul ForEx ove è possibile fare trading anche su mini contratti, mettendo a rischio 20$ max ad operazione. In sintesi: lettura suggerita come base di partenza e soprattutto, senza aspettative di aver trovato la pietra filosofale che trasforma ogni vostra operazione in oro. PS La pietra filosofale vi serve per distinguere i cialtroni dai trader seri. Se qualcuno vi promette un guadagno certo o un x% garantito, bene quello è sicuramente un cialtrone.

Zu Anfang hatte ich großen Respekt Fachliteratur in englischer Sprache zu lesen, da ich mir dies sehr schwer vorgestellt habe. Nach rund 100 Seiten (und vielem Nachschlagen bei Online-Übersetzern) bin ich allerdings immer schneller voran gekommen. Der Inhalt des Buches ist m.E. umfangreich genug und der Autor zeigt durch passende Charts auf, was er beschreibt. Auch ist in dem Buch eine Mail Adresse des Autors und ich konnte dadurch Kontakt mit ihm aufnehmen. Er beantwortete meine Fragen zu meiner vollsten Zufriedenheit und sehr schnell. Da ich von diesem Buch bereits so begeistert bin, habe ich mir auch das zweite Buch von Bob Volman bestellt und lese dieses bereits.

I love this book. Volman tells the truth to traders. It's not going to be an easy road. He backs up his "system" with years of annotated charts available freely via drop box. It's not price action in the "classical" sense. There's no real bar by bar. It's an overall sense of the underlying forces you're looking to decipher with Volman's approach. And then to get in he has a few "setups". BUT you must read those forces correctly first. Bob Volman is English, the UK variety, so his phrasing is different at times than what you'd expect from an American or Canadian saying the same thing. Nevertheless his writing is captivating and compelling. Could you learn to trade by this book along. YES. Actually, if you didn't bring any old garbage to it you'd be much better off. Other books on price action are theoretical with some failed trader as your teacher. Just because they write better would you follow their guidance instead? I'd hope not. Volman is so practical. I learn by watching and doing, not by theorizing, which is why I think this worked so well for me. Overall this is a great book on scalping the EURUSD. I have tried the technique on the Dow Futures (YM) and the Nasdaq Futures (NQ) but these instruments don't move like the euro or exhibit it's personality in any way. However I have since given up on the crazy index futures for a relaxing career scalping the euro. You only need one instrument. This book, style, technique is not for everybody but it sure was for me.