profitable routines

Trading is like the mining process.

One studies the terrain intensely in preparation before bringing in the gear.

Next, probes are taken from various spots within the whole terrain. After further examinations, one finally goes to work with placing processes towards a high probability, low-risk specific location.

In trading, if too specific expectations are brought to the intraday process, and worse, one tries to "feel" the market, disastrous outcomes are typically the result.

Ego-driven methods like this create a counterintuitive environment with many unwanted results.

Yet applying a process to the intraday market behavior and letting price or time or other market components lead to low-risk entry points is instead a process-guided methodology where a possible outcome is projected but not the path on how to achieve such an outcome.

Let us illustrate:

Most market participants have their charts enriched with indicators and oscillators, and some support and resistance zones are defined through horizontal support resistance lines or horizontal support resistance zones at best.

This is the most intuitive process since most chartists use price charts with a representation that includes time. (left to right)

yet again, there are better guides for trading processes than intuition.

It is directional support that, in most cases, is much more useful to identify in conjunction with other edges a low-risk entry point.

As such, a process that is based on the simple premise of identifying a directional price channel on a 60 min or 15 min intraday chart where there are two points required to be connected by the upper bounds of the channel and two points for the lower bounds to be able to draw a trendline, can be beneficial.

Applying this directional trendline, trend channel, and methodology with daily discipline and nearly automatic can identify a touch point(= a third or fourth point in a future time where price meets these channel lines for possible low-risk entries.

For illustration:

(out of today (5/25/2023) ES trading session)

With a risk-reward ratio toward the financing point greater than 1:4, This methodology has identified an extremely low-risk entry point in today's price action that a pure horizontal approach would have missed.

The key in this process methodology is not to be outcome-focused but merely draw trendlines once sets of 4 significant highs and lows have been established and let the market decide from there.

This process-driven approach keeps a trader engaged in simple routines versus constant mental debate about where the price might be heading.