Frequently Asked Questions

General

Q: Is your analysis only suitable for day trader?  Most of us are unable to monitor the market all day.
A: Actually, my work is absolutely as effective over days and weeks as it is intraday work! Over the years I have worked with groups such as the AAII and their local Special Interest Groups (SIG's) which are 100% focused on the longer-term.

Q: What chart website do you recommend?
A: I use eSignal. My package is $450/month due to several exchanges, etc., but  there are other great solutions available at lower costs as well!

Q:  I was wondering how I can sign up for your mentoring program.
A:  Send an email to students@powercharting.com and I will send you our Mentoring Questionnaire so as to best meet your needs.  FYI, we are planning to have both group and private one-on-one sessions.  Currently there is a wait list for the private sessions.

Support and Resistance Levels

Q: Why do you use the combination of 200 period SMA along with the 20 day period EMA? Is that a "perfect combination"?
A: That combination is what I've found to work well for my style and my personality on that specific chart. I have many more, but those are what I demonstrate here in this conservative format.

Q:  I was wondering how far back in time do you go for support and resistance levels.
A:  For the long term price pivots in a stock you could easily go back 10 years. 
 
Q:  Are your support/resistance levels shown in your videos the same for daily and intraday? Or do you have different levels for day trading vs longer term trades?
A:  I absolutely use those levels for both daily and intraday charts.
For additional information pertaining to support and resistance levels, please review the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIaFXwnqyc0

Pivot Points

Q: How do you calculate pivot points?
A:  My trading platform automatically calculates many of them.  You can also click on the following link which has a great pivot point calculator.
http://www.mypivots.com/calculators/pivot-point-calculator.aspx

Q: Are your daily pivot points for the S&P cash index or front month E-Mini?
A: All of my pivot points are based on the continuous eMini contract (i.e. includes overnight data). They will always apply to the front month for your trading!

Q: Do you keep and use pivot points from previous days on your chart when calculating the next days? Also do you use the pivot point calculation on weekly and monthly charts to find pivot points?
A: For calculating pivots I do use the previous day's activity and I do use weekly and monthly pivots as well. Furthermore, once a pivot point or support/resistance level makes it on to one of my charts, it is very rare for me to remove it.
For additional information pertaining to pivot points, please review the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSELXz0d8LI


Intraday Setup Levels

Q:  I believe you use 15 minute bars. So when you analyze the bars, do you look at the open at time=0 minute, and close at time=15 minute, or do you consider the entire trading range within that timeframe to determine what your bar looks like?
A:  I use Tick, 1 min, 5 min, 15 min, 30 min, 60 min, Daily, Weekly, and Monthly as the primary sources of my decisions. I absolutely use the entire range of the candlestick in my decision process!
 
Q: What do you look for to get confirmation of breaking below a support level?
A: One of my common conservative setups for confirmation of breaking a support level is to look for two solid bars that are LESS than 50% above there lows below their individual lows.

Q:  "Sells do not sell"; "Buys do not buy". What does that mean? If the sell does not sell in a down trending market, then it means that the price is too high?
A: For example, when we have good news (i.e. oil prices dropping) the market should go up. However, when the market does not respond as it should, this would suggest that the "buys are not buying".

Q: Could someone watch BULLISH DIVERGENCE on the hourly rsi and go ahead and EXPECT a big move up just from that?
A:  No, I wouldn't expect a move "just" because of one indicator... However, it gets my radar tuned up to the new potential trade!

Q:  I have a question about today. It looked like the 2 and 2:15 PM ET bars broke through 1396 on volume followed by a lighter volume pullback but then it continued on up. Did that setup simply not work or am I misreading it? I was out and not trading at the time, but it would have faked me out. Also a similar thing appeared around 11:30 AM-12:15 PM
A:  Far more importantly is that the 200MA and 20MA's were trending up overall and acting as support. You do not short under those circumstances, those are not short signals.