Price and volume
I watch how price behaves around old highs, failed breaks and areas where buyers have shown up before. Volume helps me judge whether a move has much behind it.
Market notes
What I’m watching.
And why.
I look for trades that deserve a closer look: a stock holding up in a weak market, a commodity waking up, a crowded idea starting to fail. Charts and research for swing and position traders. Not a running commentary on every tick.
Follow @MarketAutist01 / The approach
What makes
a trade worth studying?
I start with the chart, then work through the reasons a move might last. Who is buying? What is leading? What would prove the idea wrong? A good story still needs buyers.
The less obvious trade
I look beyond the names already filling the feed. Relative strength, sector changes and neglected markets can lead to better questions—and sometimes a trade.
Waiting
“Wait and watch the action of that stock or stocks marketwise.” Livermore, p. 9. I’m interested in moves that have room to develop. There is no obligation to find a trade every morning.
02 / The field of view
Where I
look
Stocks, crypto, commodities, currencies and prediction markets are all in scope. So are newer venues such as Hyperliquid. I want to understand what is moving, and what makes that market different.
- Stocks & ETFs
- Crypto
- Commodities
- Global markets
- Prediction markets
- Emerging venues
Liquidity, leverage, settlement and the rules of the venue matter. A chart does not tell you all of that.
03 / The discipline
Keeping an
honest record
The chart is only part of it. Impatience, fear of missing out and the need to be right can ruin a reasonable idea. I’ll write about those mistakes, including my own when there is one to discuss.
Explain the idea.
I’ll show what caught my attention and what would weaken the case. When an idea needs more work than a chart caption allows, I’ll go deeper into the research.
Come back to the misses.
If an observation fails, I’ll revisit it. What did I miss? Did the evidence change, or did I ignore it? The winners do not get to be the whole record.
Say what actually happened.
An idea under consideration is not an entry. When I share a trade, I’ll say whether it is considered but not entered, an actual reported position, or a closed trade—and whether the report is real-time, delayed or retrospective. Execution remains your decision.
Jesse Livermore
A reason
to wait
“There are times when one should speculate, and just as surely there are times when one should not speculate.” — Jesse Livermore, How to Trade in Stocks (1940), p. 6.
That is still useful advice. Livermore wrote about stocks and commodities long before today’s venues existed. His attention to timing, price and the urge to act is worth studying. I use an anonymous, historical-inspired persona; I am not Livermore, and his trades are not mine.
On X
Follow the
market notes.
Follow @MarketAutist Charts, trade ideas, longer research and the occasional reminder to leave a trade alone.