We have found its performance to be strongest in the London, then the U. You can use it to trade when you need to in order to accommodate your current schedule until you can afford to use it to trade when you want to. We have heard from other traders that the same market behavior is seen in the Futures and Commodities markets, but we have not used this method to trade those markets ourselves.

This is like asking someone how long it would take to learn to speak a foreign language. Some would learn in 6 months, others in a year, some will never complete the learning process. We have had a few traders leave their first class profitable, and never look back.

Obviously, this is not the norm, but still very possible. Some traders learn the method in just a few weeks to a few months. Most traders take 6 months to a year to really learn it. Also, most need to take the class 2 — 3 times to really get it down.

Very rarely, circumstances take hold of a trader and they fall away or take a hiatus. Steve trades mostly the London, but also the U.

session on occasion. session only, but you should trade the hours that fit into your schedule. An account can be opened with no money. Typically you are given 30 days to deposit money into your account before the broker will close it. Or, you can open an institutional account with tens to hundreds of thousands.

Each broker varies with their requirements, so do your research on the web and by asking fellow traders. Web Classes are the same tuition cost because it is the same information with the same amount of time invested. Please email [email protected] for more details. BTMM FOREX custom scripts and indicators are coded for the MT4 platform and perform without alteration with MIG Monsour Investment Group.

However, we have a vast amount of traders using many, many brokers. Therefore, some use a MIG demo account with the MT4 platform to do their charting and analyzing, but place the actual trade through a different broker and platform. The rumour mill also has a role to play in generating a public expectation of price movement. It is not uncommon to see the general news being particularly pessimistic for example about a particular currency only to see the currency rise against it but usually after people have been trapped in line with the sentiment.

WHAT T OOLS DO T HE DEALERS AND BROKERS HAVE? Brokers and dealers have mechanisms available to them for manipulating price to enable the process of taking money from traders, who are also their clients!

They have a number of additional tools at their disposal and include: 1. Requoting 2. Trigger all stops in a given price range which is part of the dealers functions in the MT4 platform 3. Vary the spread which is why scalping methods often fail at times when it is an advantage to them to do so. Throw a price spike to take stops out, bear in mind that they know where the stops are.

Again bear in mind that they know who is in trouble because it is part of their backend platform. It is also normal to expect that this will entail a journey of 3 pushes or candles to get there.

However, it is not that simple and the 3 pushes may occur in increments of different sizes. It is important to remember this when assessing the movement as it escapes the Asian range and to not simply expect a straight 3 candle movement. For example, the 1st push or candle may be a full 25 pips. At this point price may be held for 3 or 4 candles taking a full hour.

At this point it is pushed up another 20 pip making a total of 45 pips from the top of the Asian range and finally another 5 to 7 pip on top of that. The effect of each these moves as follows: 1. Range traders who have taken short positions at the top of the Asian range will have a stoploss somewhere between 25 and 50 pips from this point.

Therefore the initial 25 pip push will take-out the 1st of the stops. The 1st upward movement will begin to entice traders to take long positions on the basis of a breakout trade.

This is accentuated by the following period of consolidation where price is being held and traders will be expecting a continuation pattern to develop. It is further accentuated with the next 20 pip push further enticing long positions as price has now been rising for an hour and a half. The last move is almost always just a tap, identified as a pin. The main reason for this is that it costs money to move the market and this is a cheaper option for the MM.

The following diagram shows the reasons for the movement in terms of the market makers use of the pattern. It is also worth noting that a RRT pattern is really an M or W pattern that has occurred more quickly and thus has the same effect. The time gap between the 2 peaks of the M or W will usually last for somewhere between 30 and 90 min though occasionally longer.

The fastest occurs when the pattern is defined by a railroad track in other words 15 min up followed by 15 min down. Longer periods are also common and used to gradually accumulate more positions of traders who are enticed into taking trades in the direction of the technical trend.

But what is really happening here? The MM is trapping volume and it is important to notice that each subsequent spike it is not lower or higher than the previous so that any new trades taken in the direction of the spike do not have an opportunity to become profitable. They become trapped. So in the example below, the peak low is identified and followed by 2 further downward spikes.

The important feature to notice is that each of the spikes is higher than the previous which prevents short position holders from taking any profit whilst potentially encouraging new shorts in this region. In the example below, you can observe that on the lower boundary of the wedge, the peaks become slightly higher each time it comes down to the line. This has the effect of ensuring that none of the trades that are taken short in these regions can turn a profit.

Similarly, on the upper boundary of the wedge, the same thing is happening with each of the peaks becoming progressively lower and trapping the higher level longs and pulling them down.

There is no way of predicting which direction the price will ultimately breakout. This will be determined by the net volumes that occur. In other words, if there is a greater build-up of short positions over the long positions, then the wedge will break up. Some caution needs to be applied when interpreting price movement that exceeds the high or low but closes back inside the noted high or low price.

In these situations, the market-makers have spiked the price beyond the high or low to both trigger stops as well as to further induce traders to enter in the wrong direction. These levels can then be predictably used by the market maker to plan strategy. With this understanding you can buy or sell stop hunts against the herd and in line with the market maker moves. Simply buy the Level III corrections and sell 3rd level rises.

THE ANATOMY OF THE HALF BATMAN PATT ERN This pattern commonly occurs at a Level I Consolidation and is similar to the Straight Away trade. Essentially, there is no need for a 2nd move back to the high because there are already traders trapped from further up and the MM does not want to provide an opportunity for them to close their trade at a profit, or even a small loss.

Instead, price is moved down providing an inevitable loss to the traders. It refers to the pattern that is seen in a 15, 60 or minute chart over a period of a week. Each time price moves down a level they can be referred to as achieving or making either a Level I, Level II or a Level III move. Level I and Level II have relatively similar patterns of behaviour stop hunt.

However Level III tends to be choppy with a wide range and represents an area of profit-taking for the institutions and signifies the beginning of an accumulation period for another cycle. The reasons for this behaviour can be understood if you consider what happens during the rundown: 1.

On day one, you the retail trader are selling and the institution buys from you. On day two, you are selling and again the institution buys from you. However, on day three the retail trader is again interested in selling and the institution buys up heavily. Now they move price up aggressively triggering stops and taking a profit. In effect, they are using a scaling-in method to book their profit. After the market has run down for three days and traders have taken losses, these individuals react by pulling away from the market quite literally and having a few days off before coming back to trade.

During this period the market is choppy and relatively stagnant until the traders have returned to play in the game again. To remember the patterns use the following: 1. Additionally, the areas of reversal in both are often synchronised so that they occur at the same time in different timeframes. Using this knowledge it is possible to convert a spot trade into a swing trade when you enter it from a peak formation high peak formation low.

Another way of recalling this key issue is "The patterns are the same no matter the timeframe". So it is obviously important to count the levels so that you know what part of the cycle price is in at the current time. Quite obviously if you are able to enter a trade at these peak reversals then you are in a good situation to run your trade for the full extent of its journey. This is the only place that has a high level of certainty in directional movement.

It is also important in making these assessments to consider the bigger picture and where the market is in cycle. This includes looking for a midweek reversal which will generally correlate with one or both of the intraday reversals. With an awareness of the longer cycle and assuming you are in the correct place within the cycle, it is possible to convert a spot trade to a swing trade from one of the 3 day cycle peaks to the other given an appropriate entry. This would involve going from one peak formation high to the next peak low and may take several days.

On an intraday trade, it is still important to understand where you are within this larger cycle as it will help you to make a judgement about how far a run my last.

For example, if price has just passed the peak high and is at a Level I accumulation then an intraday long trade after a bearish stop hunt, while valid, will not be likely to produce consistent results.

Hence, it is a good idea to not take trades against the longer trend at a Level I accumulation. The Dharma period occurs after the US markets have closed and before the London markets have opened. During this period there tends to be little activity and the market just cycles back and forth between two price points. This occurs because Bank A will buy a quantity of currency from Bank B [1].

This causes price to rise. This is followed by bank B selling the same currency to Bank C [2]and this causes price to fall. This process goes around in circles and so the price simply oscillates back and forth. After a while, the range begins to widen [3]. This has the effect of triggering pending orders placed by breakout traders. However, when they are triggered, price is quickly pulled away and they will often be stopped out on the other side of the range which is also widening.

The stop hunt involves a deliberate movement outside of the range to what will become the high or low of the day. The move usually occurs in three pushes which can be as simple as three candles though you will sometimes see a small pause in the form of a pullback in the middle of this.

The stop hunt has two main objectives: 1. Take out existing stops 2. Encourage traders to commit to positions in a direction that is opposite to where the real trend is going to be. The spread is opened up by a few pips. This allows traders orders to be triggered outside their normal boundaries and they will be holding negative positions from the outset. It is common to see price undergo a further period of accumulation lasting 30 to 90 minutes which encourages traders to take further positions.

When there are enough positions, the price is moved in the direction of the true trend and their stops will be triggered. This forms the typical W or M pattern. This is the preferred point of entry for most of these trades, particularly the second leg of the M or W. It is relatively slow moving and so there should be no reason to rush or impulsively take a trade.

One of the ways of identifying that you are in the right place is that the market will seem to be quiet, in consolidation and make a sharp move out of the range, faking "the breakout". If you are looking at the price board you will see that it is "flickering red and blue" with lots of changes suggesting that there is lots of activity but in fact there is little. When you see this at the right time of the day, you know that the reversal is imminent. Another observation during this period is that the spread widens.

This is done so that a broader range of orders can be collected and accumulated during this period, making it even more difficult for traders to take profit as they are in a losing position right from the outset.

The diagram below demonstrates what happens to the spread during this period. But these patterns do fail sometimes. This occurs when there has not been enough volume to make it worth their while to take a reversal. In these situations that price is moved to the next level to further induce positions to be taken in the wrong direction, against what is to become true trend.

This is called the extended stop hunt. However, if as a result of this move the accumulation of positions is inadequate for their purposes, then the stop hunt will be extended. This means that price will be pushed beyond this Level in the direction of the technical trend in an effort to induce more traders to enter positions and build up the positions required.

Like before, this move will be in the 25 — 50 pip range and be comprised of 3 candles or pushes. But also like before this is not necessarily the case and more or less are also possible. Again the trader must use their own judgement and discretion. Therefore, if you identify that after a period of time the stop hunt has not led to a reversal then you should scratch trade. An appropriate period of time is 2 hours following the 2nd leg of an M or W. It the trader has not moved in the expected direction by this time, something is wrong and they have not been able to build up enough volume to make it worthwhile to reverse the market.

This trend tends to move in three waves, the pause between each wave representing a new opportunity to fake out traders by reversing direction and then moving against them again. This often occurs in the NY session, called the NYC Reversal Trade. This trade is likely to return a smaller profit than the initial stop hunt reversal trade though it is still worth taking particularly if you are not able to enter a trade following the London open.

As previously noted there is a pattern which can be identified on both intraday and multi-day views. Understanding the count of the intraday pattern, the 3 day pattern, and the weekly pattern is everything. The consistent pattern of 3 moves is used to entice and encourage a particular directional behaviour.

The brakes are then applied and all of a sudden fear and inexperience are exploited to have the traders close their positions for a loss.

The notion of counting involves an awareness of how many times a move in a particular direction has occurred and this can be observed in a number of time frames. TH E COUNT OF THE 3 DAY CYCLE Look at the chart a 15 min or hourly over a week and see what is going on. For example if price is running higher and higher, there has to be a retracement. Market-makers don't have infinite amounts of capital and have to make retracements to book a profit before they continue.

This is why they have aggressive pullbacks that seem to occur out of nowhere. As an example, it is possible that you were up pips and all of a sudden you're up by only 20 because they have brought price back the previous level.

So what do people do, they close the trade because you don't want to turn pips into a loss and just accept the 10 or However, the trade was still valid because the previous low had not been taken out and what happens next is that price takes off again, leaving the trader behind without the profit. Psychology has been used to clear traders out of the position.

Price then moves aggressively up again. Market-makers form zones or levels to trap traders, hit stops and book profits. As a trader, your 1st job is to identify the zones, particularly the current place in the cycle. PEAK FORMATION HIGH The highest formation on the chart is the peak. They will pull away quickly and form out the M. During the consolidation they hit stops up, hit stops down and then drop it again. You should never trade against the Peak Formation out of Level I Consolidation.

This is also the most common place for a Straight Away Trade to develop because the market-makers already have what they need, which is people trapped from the previous reversal. Again, they hit the stops up, hit stops down and then drop price again to Level III. L E V E L I II Having reached Level III, the objective is a little different. Price will be dropped in order to demonstrate further bearish movement by satisfying various criteria of the traders.

However, they then pull away quickly, move price up and book a profit. Level III will appear disorganised with price chopping back and forth, usually within a wide range. If you are having difficulty identifying what level you are currently in, then identify the last Level III and this should give you a point of reference depending on whether or not price has been coming to the Level III zone from above or below and what has happened since.

Additionally if you notice that price is chopping around in other words you are currently in Level III then you should also be aware that a reversal is imminent. This level often causes the formation of a head and shoulders pattern, which is a special kind of M or W formation. You should buy or sell on the 2nd shoulder. PEAK FORMATION LOW Following Level III, a new Peak Formation Low is defined and the cycle starts again.

This becomes an area where you are aiming to buy with the MM, even though all of your other indicators and prior learning will have told you that this is still in a sell zone. So you will be buying against what you have learnt previously; against the rest of the world; you will be buying against the trend.

TH E COUNT OF THE INTRADAY CYCLE The pattern is identical to the 3 day cycle. However, within the 3 levels, the amount of activity of the MM varies. The 1st level and its correction is driven by the MM and is characterised by fast moves. The 2nd level and correction is market-driven in the absence of market-makers support. Instead it is driven by emotional traders who enter the market. Because this is not driven by the market- makers the size of the moves tends to be smaller.

This is because retail traders don't have access to the size of trades or the co- ordinated effort to move price at will. The 3rd level and its correction see a return of the market maker to the table. This is an area of profit taking for the MM where further movement in the direction of the technical trend is encouraged before the stops are triggered.

Traders can become panicked and confused. During the 3 levels market-makers will buy from traders to create positions. The heaviest volumes are seen at the 3rd level. With each of the Levels is a corresponding level of consolidation. Most of the time this will correspond to period when stops are being triggered before the next Level Is started.

The consolidation zones often involve 20 to 30 pip swings in an effort to accumulate positions and hit stops. This occurs in both directions and makes the ultimate movement to the next level easier for the market maker with no buying and selling pressure being exerted by the wider marketplace.

However to make things easier a number of features and indicators can be added at your discretion. Candlestick patterns 2. Colour-coded sessions 4. Pivots 6. TDI 7. MM level counts CANDLEST ICK PATTERNS The 1st and perhaps most important thing to understand about candlesticks and price action is that in the wrong market conditions they have little or no meaning.

For example a hammer in the middle of the trend is relatively meaningless. A hammer at the high or low of the day has a great deal of significance. It is also important to understand that the Candlestick pattern can only be defined at the close of the candle. This is a feature controlled by the MM and is particularly noticeable in the hourly and four hourly charts.

In areas where it is their intention to convince traders that there will be continuation it makes sense to leave the candle as a solid green or red candle until the last moments when it is pulled back revealing itself as a spike or some other relevant shape. The candle patterns that are most helpful are: 1. SPIKE CANDLES This description includes spike candles, "Empire State candles" and oversized candles in a 15 min chart. These candles are designed to "get you excited", trade emotionally, and encourage you to enter the market.

However, price is pulled back before the candle is closed and those traders who entered on the excitement then find themselves trapped.

These candles are most often seen in the 1st leg of a reversal set up. But it is important to remember that price will almost always pull off very quickly. The other place that these candles are often seen is at Level III of the three-day cycle. SPINNING TOPS, HAMMERS AND INVERTED HAMMERS 3. DOJI CANDLES 4. In this context they are considered to be an extension of RRT formation, simply making it a 45 minute RRT instead of a 30 minute RRT.

So it is not the MM's indecision, they know exactly where they're going. RRT RAILROAD TRACKS RRT trick people into going in the direction of the 1st candle. But it is snatched away quickly on the next. They are really an anomaly of an M or W pattern. The pattern simply occurs more quickly so it is compressed into a RRT. HIGH TEST PATTERN The high test pattern occurs at the price of yesterday's high.

Any of the Candlestick patterns are possible in this region and all mean the same thing. You should change direction and trade against the technical trend. If the pattern is a double tap test, but then it fails when it closes above the high of the 1st, you do not have to wait for your stoploss to be triggered, rather you can shut it down and wait another opportunity.

You may be able to identify a close just below the previous high and not wait for price to pull away and confirm the reversal, in other words you take the trade on the expectation of the reversal.

This will create a remarkably small stoploss and a greater profit should it move back in the intended direction. This is an area where using a sniped entry with a faster chart such as a T, may be helpful. LOW TEST The low test pattern is exactly the same as the high test pattern except that it refers to the price action and subsequent changes of trend around the previous low.

News spike candles should not be used as a point of entry. You will often observe that a news spike candle pushes up very quickly and then down quickly or vice versa. Then they quickly pull back to the other side and will be stopped out. News candles are really nothing more than a means for banks, brokers and dealers to grab your money.

in the context of the market maker methodology can give: 1. A true reading of market direction 2. A reading of market momentum 3. Entry and exit signals 4. Moving support and resistance points 5. Targets for a take profit An exponential moving average, or an exponentially weighted moving average, applies weighting factors which decrease exponentially. The weightings of old data points exponentially decrease giving much more importance to recent observations while still not discarding old observations entirely.

The specific EMA's used in Mauro's charts are the 5, 13, 50 and bar EMA's. Price always returns to home base. Note that the EMA represents the 50 EMA on the next higher timeframe.

So, if you are examining the 15 min chart, the EMA represents the current trend on an hourly chart. In this way you can see the hourly trend on a 15 min chart. The 50 and EMA's are used almost universally by institutions and are even reported in public announcements.

Crossovers of these EMA's can be used as buy and sell signals. The 5 and 13 EMA's happen to match up the TDI used by Mauro and provide responsive signals.

He notes however that any other rapidly moving pair of EMA's would achieve the same goal. The context of the EMA's is important. If you are in Level III the EMA's will almost certainly be heading in the wrong direction. However, when a reversal occurs, the EMA crossover will follow and this will provide a confirmation of the direction that has been taken.

The EMA's will follow rather than lead. It is very important that you accept and understand that no indicator will have the ability to identify when a trade should be entered.

The pattern and the count remain the most important features. In fact, many people who use this method do not use the indicators at all. Identifying the count and the patterns is central and is enough to trade successfully.

Steve Mauro educates participants through his 5-Day Professional Market Maker's FOREX Course. Students can attend both web classes or live events in certain cities. In addition to the training classes, course fees provide access to a wealth of tools, information, and intense chart study.

Students and alumni can meet on a private Market Maker's forum, exchanging tips and comparing notes. Individuals also gain access to weekly market analysis and special graduate breakout sessions.

The insights and concepts expose what really moves the market--not just FOREX, but all markets. In addition to his FOREX education under his personal mentor, Steve Mauro studied business and management at Eckerd College in St.

Steve Mauro is a FOREX expert specializing in the concept of "market makers," a group of elite traders who control price action against the smaller retail traders. He is the sole educator and instructor for Market Maker's FOREX, a website that he owns and operates.

Steve Mauro educates participants through his 5-Day Professional Market Maker's FOREX Course. Students can attend both web classes or live events in certain cities. In addition to the training classes, course fees provide access to a wealth of tools, information, and intense chart study.

Students and alumni can meet on a private Market Maker's forum, exchanging tips and comparing notes. Individuals also gain access to weekly market analysis and special graduate breakout sessions. The insights and concepts expose what really moves the market--not just FOREX, but all markets. In addition to his FOREX education under his personal mentor, Steve Mauro studied business and management at Eckerd College in St.

Petersburg, Florida, earning a Bachelor of Arts. Those seeking more information about Mauro and his method can find testimonials, sample trades, pricing information, and videos at www. Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors.

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If the HOD and LOD are broken however the trade taken on this basis becomes invalid. The most important thing to recognise though is the presence of a PFH or PFL to ensure that when a setup occurs on the intraday charts, that you can avoid trading against the Peak Formation. Channa Khieng. At this point price may be held for 3 or 4 candles taking a full hour. In other words, imagine you are the market maker and what you would need to do at different times to trap traders and book your own profit. Take the initial trade and allow it to move 50 pips. News candles are really nothing more than a means for banks, brokers and dealers to grab your money.

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