Pretty Buttons Capital
Identifying the 'Smart Money' and jumping aboard for the ride.
Financial Market Analysis, Trading Perspectives, Fund Management and Coaching
I began my accounting career in financial serivces, at a small Westchester brokerage firm called Monroe Parker Securites, which was part of the Wolf of Wall Street story. That job led me to a career in accounting / controlling in Manhattan, at financial firms like Alliance Capital, Deutsche Bank, and AIG. After a merger and downsizing in 2011, I discovered my passion for understanding price action in the financial markets. I plan one day to pool resources and start a trading fund. I believe that there is a common thread within price movement, regardless of the market, that can be exploited by robust traders.  Until then, I am very interested in sharing ideas, perspectives, and helping others to learn about price movement in the financial markets.
After nearly two decades of providing Accounting, Controlling, and Project Management services for Wall Street firms, I decided to pursue my passion for the financial markets.
How to Understand Price in Financial Markets I :
The image below, depicts the 'Wyckoff Price Cycle'. At the end of the day, this cycle can be called different things, and different tools can be used to give it context. All we need to do to understand price, is understand if orders (buys or sells) are being 1) accumulated, 2) marked up / down, or 3) distributed. We can identify waves, like Elliot traders. We can draw animals like Harmonic Traders. We can even read White Papers, study management teams, and evaluate project ideas, like our friends in the Crypto markets. Having said that, it's just much much more simple and to the point, to understand what Smart Money is doing, and jump on for the ride.
Keep in mind, that 'simple' and 'easy' are two totally different things. Analyzing a market, can become very simple, given enough hours of practice. Good trading also requires self discipline, risk management, the ability to stick to a plan, and although it may seem like a contradiction, winning traders know how to lose.
How to Understand Price in Financial Markets II :
The chart below is a five minute line chart of the Euro / USD from July 12, 2018. This concept is taught by many trading teachers in different ways and is called different things. This is how price goes up and down in the financial markets, and the key to it is understanding why it has to go up and down like this. This is how Smart Money (large institutions) move price. There's smoke and mirrors, slow days and fast days, and several different types of algorithms. However, every day, on every time frame, this scenario plays out, because that is how Institutions fill orders.
Whether I'm a bear or a bull, depends on where I expect orders to be, and whether I expect Smart Money is accumulating Buy or Sell positions.
Some people believe that price in the financial markets is based on Supply and Demand, Fundamental Analysis, or they use an array of indicators / oscillators. Price goes where the orders are. Smart money drives price, and tries to manipulate retail and mid-size traders, to buy high and sell low. The combination of Higher Time Frame analysis, reading structure, Fibonacci and pivots, can help us determine when price is relatively high or relatively low.