Caps & Decision

S&D = Caps&Decision + S/R

What is Supply and Demand trading?


Goods are bought and sold at what their perceived value is at the time. The same applies for financial instruments, with the expectation that their price will change in the future and will be bought or sold at differing prices, potentially bringing a profit for traders.

Prices adjust according to willing buyers and sellers, in-turn creating supply and demand zones, the sellers represent the amount that is available for sale (supply) while buyers represent the amount available to be bought (demand). It is when there is an imbalance between buyers and sellers that we see a change in price, for example, when there are more willing sellers, price will begin to fall until it finds more buyers and when there are more willing buyers, price will rise until it finds more sellers. Knowing where these areas are on a price chart will give you an edge, and allow you to follow the interests of big/smart money, the real market movers.

Identifying Supply/Demand zones

First we look at the chart for an area where price strongly shot up from (demand) or dropped away from (supply).

The next step is to mark the base of these moves.
We always mark the outermost limit of a move, marking the inner is a personal preference for each of us depending how loose or tight one wants to keep their zones.

RBD DBR and RBR DBD

As price moves it creates (swing) highs and lows, the extremes of these moves can be marked as “bases”, just like the ones marked above. When bases are created after a “rally” or a “drop” they form a Rally-Base-Drop (RBD) or a Drop-Base-Rally (DBR).
Let’s mark some on a chart.
Price can also create small bases along a rally or a drop, these smaller moves are known as Drop-Base-Drops (DBD) and Rally-Base-Rallies (RBR).
Let’s find some on a chart.

Balance vs. Imbalance

During the formation of a base, we consider price to be in balance. This is because there is not a significant difference in the amount of buy or sell orders in this area thus price doesn’t rally or drop as long as this balance exists. For price to start moving in a direction there needs to be more of one type of order (buys or sells) than the other causing price to rally or to drop, it is at this point a base is confirmed and a decision that price was either too cheap or too expensive has been made. When price moves away from a base there are naturally unfilled orders which remain, so when price returns to the base in the future we can expect the remaining orders to be triggered causing a reaction in price. It is this what supply/demand traders try and take advantage of.

When Supply/Demand breaks

After a level is tested many times or during a strong move, Supply and Demand levels eventually break. This can be due to the once remaining orders being triggered and gradually removed, or an overwhelming amount of orders in the opposite direction breaking the level. Orders can even be removed manually by a trader who formed the level.
Every broken supply/demand level holds some significance. Where once were more sell orders (supply) now more buy orders remain/exist, with the opposite applying for demand levels. This means upon return to a broken level, we could see a reaction in price, these levels are often referred to as “swap” levels.
It is at these levels where we can look for conformation to take a trade. This is how the look on a chart:

Part 2: Supply and Demand as reactions to the FTR

Wouldn’t it be nice if we were able to trade supply/demand levels knowing when one will hold or when one will break? Well believe it or not we can, because as hard as it may sound supply/demand levels are NOT created equally! There are some that are much more important than others, and some even further beyond important. Most articles on supply/demand will mostly have you read about “reactions” to levels, because that is what is important right? Sure, they are important if all you want to do is look at the far right of your charts and gamble, but what are the supply/demand levels themselves reactions to
Hopefully we have pricked your attention, because this is going to be the first time something as important as this will be covered in a supply/demand article and it is very exciting to be writing about. I can already hear you all screaming; hold on! Supply/demand levels can be reactions to other supply/demand levels! Or Support/Resistance levels! Or MA’s and fibs! Please…If you are still using MA’s and fibs, let me direct you to our technical analysis article.

The truth is; supply/demand are often reactions to the Flag Limit (a RBD or DBR after a break of a high or low). You can read about the FL here. It is these levels that are the important ones, the ones that will contain price in a range, and give you the heads up when price is going to change direction. Sure there are other areas and reasons supply/demand forms, just like the ones you yelled at me earlier, but these are lesser important levels, ones that are much more subjected to breaks and fake moves! 
Knowing the important ones will keep you on the right side of the market at all times.
Here is some help on defining these levels, but remember, to truly understand them you need to find and mark them out for yourselves!


There are plenty of other supply/demand levels which I did not mark, but they would all hold lesser importance than the ones formed after the breaks of highs or low. However, important levels can also break so it is important to monitor these levels for signs of reversals. When they break however, they hold a lot of importance.
You can see from the image above I marked a DBR after a break of the highs to the left of it. This is a level that forms after a break of a high, it’s a FTR, and we can expect it to bounce price, but it doesn’t, it breaks. The FTR that proceeds is the RBD that is the important one, this is where we want to keenly look for PA.


How to trade Supply and Demand Areas

Conventional supply and demand trading teaches the game of probabilities; by trading enough zones, with a decent enough RR, one should make money. These levels are in general blindly traded with a stop just above, and a target at the next level, this is very often done with limit orders, longing there is a decent enough RR (2:1 is usually good enough).
If a proper plan is in place, this method will make you money, but it is still essentially gambling, and here at RTM we don’t gamble. We want to be absolutely sure a level is going to hold, and once we know, we want the very best RR on every trade we take (yes 15:1 can be more common than you think!). By looking for PA in the correct spots, there is no reason you shouldn’t be able to get into great trades, with great rewards and very little risk. You can find everything you need to know about PAin the markepediasection. So get to work, log your progress in the homework section and join our great community.
By Harry & Pedini




Which is supply, which is demand




When price makes a rally with a strong pole up (this whole lesson works vice versa for poles etc down), there's sure to be some profit taking by the institutions, allowing price to drop back into the pole.
Price will very often flag at the top of the pole, as the institutions either begin to add long positions to take price higher, or begin to hide short positions to turn price.
To understand the break of a flag, be aware of Order Flow and Liquidity gaps
This article deals with the latter scenario; price rising (rally), flagging (base), and then dropping (drop!)
The flag was a way for the institutions to keep retail traders buying in the expectation of an advance in price, giving them lots of orders to sell against.
  
Seen in a slightly higher timeframe, this is a very uniform cap on price, and in every TF there's a really strong pole moving down from it
The cap price is obviously way too high, so when price returns to it, the sellers are waiting.
There are often other signs that a cap will hold, such as the engulf in the chart above, or compression on approach

Caps are simply excellent places to look for price to turn!
Here's a video on Price Caps
http://youtu.be/469ZS2YxjhE
Homework:
Mark at least 200 caps on your charts - there are so many to see that it won't take long.

Draw a box from the cap to where price hit it later. Note how price approached the caps, and how it reacted. If price broke the cap, note what happened next. Was the cap still relevant?




PRICE CAPS

(whiteout) understand that every Rally Base Drop - Drop Base Rally or Rally Base Rally - Drop Base Rally -is a decision point.
http://readthemarket.com/index.php/en/forum/homework-dbr-and-rbd/27-drop-base-rallies-and-rally-base-drops?start=50#3491 
(whiteout)  rbd/dbr are correlated to the timeframe, so inside a D1 RBR you can find some H4 or H1, DBR/RBD/DBD/RBR, inside an H1 DBR you can find other M5 RBD etc etc.
The main point is to find decision point and assign the right value to them, that's why you wanna see how that point will react in the future.
exactly, decision point are change in value, bigger the change bigger the value.
You could pinpoint the decision even on M1, like ifmyante, or you can trade the supply/demand zone on HTF [a S/D zones is just another way to express the same concepts...a decision about the value of the price].
Obviously, as you said, is all related to the timeframe...this stuff works on every timeframe, from MNTLY to the M1, LTF are just ..faster and with more much noise, that's why is better start with an HTF, then go down.
(IF) Every DBR and RBD has its own importance and value, and nearly every one can be traded. For each one that you find, zoom out to the HTFs, and see what historical significance the decision point has.
Perhaps it's a failure to get back into an important PA Zone - these ones are special.
Perhaps it's within an HTF compression zone to the left - ask yourself would you take this trade, or wait for the tip of the zone?
The bigger picture will always help you decide on the significance of a DBR/RBD
(IF) RBD is more powerful than DBD outside it.
(IF) My boxes are drawn where open/close is broken. a DBR/RBD is itself a reaction to something in the past
(IF) in a bigger picture range, Supply and Demand zones near the edges may not hold as well as others. Fakeouts often occur, because price is attracted to the limits of the range
(Benhur) Nothing promises that zone will hold price, even at first visit.
The zones we mark on the charts are mainly a mapping of decisions in the market. Decision can take price either way.
Zones are meant to be broken, and this market decision has its own significance too.
As further you go with your reading skills, you will be able read the hints and clues for zones to hold or to break.
Your task at this time, is to train your eyes defining the zones.
Your next step, is to investigate how price is behaving around these zones. there are few things you should bare in mind while you do this work:
1. Be aware of how price had printed the zone you marked, what it was reacting to, and how the decision of price to move further look like.
2. Be aware of how price is approaching the Zones, what is the dynamic.
3. Is price come from a valid opposite zone ? Remember that price goes from Demand to Supply and vice versa.
4. Be aware of the reaction of the first touch, how deep it went inside, what had stopped it if any?
5. what are higher or lower TF tell you. SD discipline is a Multi time frame concept. We trade price levels, not candles, so Story may vary on different TF
6. (more Advanced) Look for correlations with Index and other pairs.
it might look intimidating, but actually it's should be very simple. Zones are always a reaction of past Price Action (aka: always look left).
As much as you can go back in history, the better your understand be of how price move. there is no randomness for this market, all can be explained with PA reaction, result, decision. just look for reasoning for levels and zones creation.
Like Support and Resistance lines, When zones of Supply and Demand are broken, they become the opposite.
We call them swap zones, but their significance are still valid.
http://readthemarket.com/index.php/en/forum/homework-dbr-and-rbd/27-drop-base-rallies-and-rally-base-drops?start=550#19426
Begin with the Highest Time Frame. Mark each Time Frame in different color, or changing form of line style.
Dive in lower TF, while your HTF zones are marked.
(Benhur) From some observations, I can report that news just accelerate price toward levels of interest. So IMO its not the news, its is pure price bias.
Price could turn at the extreme, so if you would TT it, its where you take the least risk.
But, if price turn from valid turning level with HTF trend, it is expected to cut through.
The DBR shows where true demand is within the FTR which forms after an engulf of an important barrier
SCALES: 
What I can see, though, is that there is a bigger reaction to the right when the DBD/RBD engulfs something of more significance to the left.  To be more precise, it's when the DBD/RBD is a decision point for that engulf to happen. I guess that's the same thing as the "source" of the engulf?
One final point, and another "driving the point home" lesson for me, is that the low marked "Tested, so expect deeper into zone" is the FTR for this H1 zone, despite how tiny it is. It does have a tiny reaction at 'z', but does not give the big move up one would like. Notice that price CP'd away from this FTR, it did not LQ away, so we should not take the First Time Back.
price caps materials compressed by madwt.
FL (Harry): very often what you see in the HTFs as an FL (in the shape of a rbr/dbd) is the reaction to the LTF original one. make no mistake, unless the true FL breaks there is no break.
so always dig down to find the true limits of it

Zone Drawing

(IF) On RBD supply, it is best to extend the zone from the top of the highest wick to the point where engulf occurs, and viceversa for DBR.



DECISIONS

https://readthemarket.com/index.php/en/forum/homework-find-the-decisions/34-find-the-decisions?start=75#8193
Mel: What is a decision point: Well it's a price point on a chart where a decision has been made to take price either higher or lower
Where can I spot a decision point ?
You will see that new decision points take place at Unfresh Supply or Demand areas.
Let's take a Supply area for example. New supply is created because of a new decision point.
Now to take this supply away and break it , the big boys will need to make a decision and put lots of money in the market to take the supply out. So you will see that unfresh demand , eventually becomes Fresh Supply once it gets broken. This happens because all the demand was consumed (multiple retest of the area) and that there was finally a decision made to take price lower.






(Harry) so a decision is made whenever price respects or breaks a previous decision, for example a previous swing high or low.

start from something that breaks maybe as its easier to spot, and take it from there.
do decision point hold forever? NO. they do break depending on price approach and significance but that creates another decision.most (important ones at least) give a good reaction on first visit, but you need to also consider how close your next possible reaction (trouble) area might be and such.
(Harry) the point of the exercise is to mark one (or more) turning points and look left to see why it turned there.
i do this every time i want to see what a swing high/low was a reaction to, obviously most are a reaction to either a previous RBD DBR or to an FL.
where it hit or if it engulfed is important too, so make it a habit and go investigate every turn
(omid) Price always want to cause mpl, so there are left orders at the extremes of the FL and price can FO to the extremes to cause MPL. from the last drop, price shoot away and break the previous lows and break out tf the FL zone so that can be important DP and price can react to in the future. the  SR of the FL (point of outbreak of FLzone) and price can FO to the true supply of the FL, MPL.
(Alecs) IF's teaches that price always move from FL to FL.
So when price change his direction, it should be inside a FL where ITs decided that price was too low or too high.
Mark the point and look left for that FL.

When you do this for enough times you will learn a lot about FLs and about your ability to Read The Market.

https://readthemarket.com/index.php/en/forum/homework-find-the-decisions/34-find-the-decisions?start=175#31832
https://readthemarket.com/index.php/en/forum/homework-find-the-decisions/34-find-the-decisions?start=175#31961
(Harry) that's the spirit of that exercise.
open a chart and mark a turn. then look left for the reason.
do that every day, helps a lotThe point of the exercise is to mark one (or more) turning points and look left to see why it turned there.
i do this every time i want to see what a swing high/low was a reaction to, obviously most are a reaction to either a previous RBD DBR or to an FL.
where it hit or if it engulfed is important too, so make it a habit and go investigate every turn
i'd rather start with major swings that poke an eye out and see why they turned for starts



Intro: S/R by Nial Fuller

“Key” support or resistance levels are generally levels that price REJECTED FORCEFULLY and that gave rise to a significant move up or down, or they can be levels that have CONTAINED or supported price many times.
Shorter-term levels give rise to smaller movements and tend to break easier.
We should have a logical line of reasoning such as “this level has held price more times”, or “that level created a larger move”, etc.
We don’t always have to draw your S/R levels exactly at a bar high or low. In fact, it’s more important to have a lot of tails touching a level than it is to have a level exactly at two or three bar highs or lows.
 “VALUE AREA” is basically just an area where it’s obvious that price “LIKES” to be. This is essentially just another word for CONSOLIDATION, since an area of consolidation on a chart is essentially where a market has found “fair value”. These value areas typically act as S/R ZONES, and this means when price retraces back to them you can watch for price action trading strategies FORMING AT THEM. You will also sometimes have existing support or resistance levels that basically run right through the center of a value area, showing about the middle of the value area.
Again, longer-term “key levels” are those levels that clearly caused a SIGNIFICANT CHANGE OF DIRECTION in price and / or held strong on multiple tests across time. Shorter-term levels are those that caused less significant price direction changes and may be “newer” levels. Hence, In an up-trending market, resistance levels will often break, and in a down-trending market support levels will often break.
We have to look at the market context that your trade setup has formed in and use some common sense and discretion…not every little level you find is significant.
Knowing that price often bounces or repels from key levels is a very valuable piece of information. Indeed, a big portion of my trading theory revolves around waiting patiently for an obvious price action setup to form at a key chart level as the market retraces back to it.
TRUST YOUR STOPS if you’ve placed them beyond a key support or resistance level or in another logical place.
When in doubt, slow down and take a step back, ask yourself if a level your about to put on your chart makes sense and why. If it makes logical sense you should be able to easily explain why to someone who has no trading experience. For example, you might say “THIS LEVEL IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT CLEARLY CAUSED PRICE TO MAKE A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE OF DIRECTION RECENTLY”. If you just take a logical approach to drawing in your support and resistance levels you will save yourself a lot of time and frustration in the end. Don’t be one of those traders with so many lines on their charts you can’t figure out what’s happening.

What is Support and Resistance?

As price moves it creates highs and lows, these often provide “support” or “resistance” when price returns. This happens because more orders of one kind are in that area (buy or sells). When no more orders remain in these places, price will go through and we say that the support/resistance level “breaks”.
This is essential for price to move, otherwise it would be trapped inside a range forever. So support and resistance is important as is its breaks.
But first let’s see what it looks like.
It is a common misconception that the more times price bounces off Support or Resistance then the stronger that level is. Every time price bounces off them a decision is made on price value (if price is cheap or expensive). But as we said price bounces off these places because one type of orders (buys or sells) are more than the other. Each time price visits, it consumes orders. At some point price will go through as there will be no more opposing orders there any more and this is what makes a Support or Resistance level to break.
In a similar way we could draw some more SR lines on that same image.
It is very common for price to break Support and Resistance levels, old highs and lows break as the orders get depleted from them and price moves through. Broken S/R areas will often react on return as now more orders of the opposite kind remain unfilled in these places.

How to find S/R levels?

A common practice is to zoom out like in the chart below so you have a wider picture of the area you look at. Then look for places that price bounced off and mark it with a horizontal line. See how price often respects these lines, then breaks them and when price returns they often get respected again. Support becomes resistance and the opposite.
Of course you will see many times price breaking through and then reversing, often this is called a false break (false breakout, or fakeout are some other names commonly used). The simple reason this happens is because price looks for liquidity and this often happens in these places as traders trade these breakouts from S/R and get trapped, having their stops hit as price “fakes” and moves in the other direction.

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