At the OEC there are specific strategies that utilize the levels discussed on the "Chart Setup" page; the "Open, High, Low, and Close" levels on weekly, daily and intraday charts.

These "pivot trades" focus on price breaking out of a key area or failing to break out of a key area. While these are great trades - they are not always an option and so other strategies are introduced to provide more opportunities.

The more strategies a trader has - the more opportunity there is to catch a trade - but conviction comes from understanding the opportunity so just learning the strategy is not enough.

Inside Day Breakout Failure

This is a trade that comes into play when price fails to break out of yesterdays trading range and is a very easy trade to see, to plan for, and to execute.

While this trade is not something we get every day, it is a great trade for range days and for weeks where we have a market waiting on economic data (like an FOMC week).

When we can tie this trade to something else (time, order flow, reversal candles) then the conviction increases and our opportunity to successfully manage the position increases.

5-Minute Measured Move

The "open range" we focus on is the 5-minute measured move (from candle high to candle low, including the wick). After that 5-minute candle has printed we want to measure the candle and plot those levels above and below using 50%, 100%, 150%, 200% 250%... you get the idea.

If the market is range bound - the levels we have plotted will become the reversal point; if the market has begun to trend then these levels become goals that we aim for and look to get past.

Tweezer Tops / Tweezer Bottoms

This "2 Bar Reversal" pattern ties in nicely with pivot points such as the Open, High, Low, and Close but it is also a nice signal for reversal on smaller patterns such as angled support and resistance.

We want to try tying this signal or pattern together with something else:

• mid day reversal

• globex levels (high or low)

• Econ Candles

• MA Cross over

• Time

• Measured Move

TRB

The TRB (or "Trend Line Breakover") setup is a great trade on all timeframes and has a visual pattern that is easily identified. It can be used off the higher timeframe to provide intraday bias and directional cues and it can be used intraday as the trade setup.

The TRB just "sets up" the trade but we still need an entry and a price target. It is also good to tie this setup into something else like

• Time

• globex levels

• MA Crossover

• Measured Move

Economic Gap Close

This setup is focused on a "liquidity vacuum" getting filled; price retraces to "close the liquidity gap" and this can provide opportunity either as a "gap close" play or as a trade once the gap has been closed (generally as a reversal trade).

The setup is the economic event and then a big candle and obviously we would not expect to get one of these setups every day - but we can anticipate the opportunity each month when CPI, PPI, NFP or some other premarket economic event is announced.

Often - I use the Economic Gap Close for bias and then trade other setups off that bias. For example, suppose we have a CPI report and we get a big candle that takes the market down 23 points.

After evaluating everything - I'd likely use the economic "gap close" setup to validate long plays. If the market continues to drive away and expand the gap then we know the data was VERY BAD and that the short is likely to be powerful.

Opportunity

There are always opportunities to trade; from "candle by candle" trading to specific intraday trading strategies like I introduced above. As traders get more experience and skills they can begin to utilize more and more strategies.

If you are losing more often then you win; stop. Step back and consider what your trying to trade. Are the trades looking at each new candle as a potential opportunity or are you trading with a specific strategy?

Focus on trading the easy stuff; grow the account and your skills while learning more complex things along the way. The strategies listed above are the "easy stuff" but trading is hard and even the "easier trades" are not "easy."

Patience is the hardest thing about using strategies like I listed above. On days where we do not have a setup - we can choose to walk away or choose to trade "candle by candle."

Avoiding losses (to decrease our loss rate & increase our win rate) is easier than getting "more wins" to increase our win rate and this means we want to continue waiting for a opportunity rather than forcing the issue and attempting to trade without a setup.