Trading Price Action Trading Ranges

The key to being a successful trader is finding a system that works and sticking with it. Author Al Brooks, a technical analysis contributor to Futures magazine and an independent trader for twenty-five years, has done just that. Over the course of his career, he's found a way to capture consistent profits regardless of market direction or economic climate. And now, with his new three-book series-which focuses on how to use price action to trade the markets-Brooks takes you step by step through the entire process.
In order to put his methodology in perspective, Brooks examined an essential array of price action basics and trends in the first book of this series, Trading Price Action Trends; provides important insights on trading ranges, breakouts, order management, and the mathematics of trading in this current book Trading Price Action Trading Ranges; and then moves on to discuss trend reversals, day trading, daily charts, options, and the best setups for all time frames in the third, and final, book of this series, Trading Price Action REVERSALS.
Divided into five comprehensive parts, Trading Price Action Trading Ranges skillfully addresses how to spot and profit from trading ranges-which most markets are in, most of the time-using the technical analysis of price action. Along the way, it touches on some of the most essential aspects of this approach, including:

• Trading breakouts, which are transitions from trading ranges to trends, and understanding the gaps they create
• The two types of "Magnets," Support and Resistance, and what they mean once the market breaks out and begins its move
• Pullbacks, which are transitions from trends to trading ranges
• The characteristics commonly found in trading ranges-areas of largely sideways price activity-and examples of how to trade them
• Honing your order and trade management skills so that you can make more informed entry and exit decisions
• And much more

Throughout the book, Brooks focuses primarily on 5 minute candle charts-all of which are created with TradeStation-to illustrate basic principles, but also discusses daily and weekly charts. And since he trades more than just E-mini S&P 500 futures, Brooks also details how price action can be used as the basis for trading stocks, forex, Treasury Note futures, and options. For your convenience, a companion website, which can be found atwiley. com/go/tradingtrends, contains all of the charts provided in the book.
Trading is a rewarding endeavor, but it's hard work and requires relentless discipline. To succeed, you have to stick to your rules and avoid emotion-and you have to patiently wait to take only the best trades. Understanding, and utilizing, the information found in Trading Price Action Trading Ranges is the next logical step to achieving this goal. With this guide, and the other two books in the series, you'll discover how to develop the patience and discipline to follow a sound system, and reap potentially huge financial rewards in the process.

Acknowledgments xi
List of Terms Used in This Book xiii
Introduction 1
PART I Breakouts: Transitioning into a New Trend 35
CHAPTER 1 Example of How to Trade a Breakout 53
CHAPTER 2 Signs of Strength in a Breakout 61
CHAPTER 3 Initial Breakout 81
CHAPTER 4 Breakout Entries in Existing Strong Trends 91
CHAPTER 5 Failed Breakouts, Breakout Pullbacks, and Breakout Tests 99
CHAPTER 6 Gaps 119
PART II Magnets: Support and Resistance 139
CHAPTER 7 Measured Moves Based on the Size of the First Leg (the Spike) 153
CHAPTER 8 Measured Moves Based on Gaps and Trading Ranges 165
CHAPTER 9 Reversals Often End at Signal Bars from Prior Failed Reversals 175
CHAPTER 10 Other Magnets 179
PART III Pullbacks: Trends Converting to Trading Ranges 183
CHAPTER 11 First Pullback Sequence: Bar, Minor Trend Line, Moving Average, Moving Average Gap, Major Trend Line 205
CHAPTER 12 Double Top Bear Flags and Double Bottom Bull Flags 213
CHAPTER 13 Twenty Gap Bars 233
CHAPTER 14 First Moving Average Gap Bars 239
CHAPTER 15 Key Inflection Times of the Day That Set Up Breakouts and Reversals 245
CHAPTER 16 Counting the Legs of Trends and Trading Ranges 253
CHAPTER 17 Bar Counting: High and Low 1, 2, 3, and 4 Patterns and ABC Corrections 259
CHAPTER 18 Wedge and Other Three-Push Pullbacks 301
CHAPTER 19 Dueling Lines: Wedge Pullback to the Trend Line 313
CHAPTER 20 "Reversal" Patterns: Double Tops and Bottoms and Head and Shoulders Tops and Bottoms 319
PART IV Trading Ranges 327
CHAPTER 21 Example of How to Trade a Trading Range 367
CHAPTER 22 Tight Trading Ranges 377
CHAPTER 23 Triangles 411
PART V Orders and Trade Management 417
CHAPTER 24 Scalping, Swinging, Trading, and Investing 419
CHAPTER 25 Mathematics of Trading: Should I Take This Trade? Will I Make Money If I Take This Trade? 437
CHAPTER 26 Need Two Reasons to Take a Trade 481
CHAPTER 27 Entering on Stops 491
CHAPTER 28 Entering on Limits 493
CHAPTER 29 Protective and Trailing Stops 517
CHAPTER 30 Profit Taking and Profit Targets 535
CHAPTER 31 Scaling Into and Out of a Trade 543
CHAPTER 32 Getting Trapped In or Out of a Trade 567
About the Author 571
About the Website 573
Index 575