Reading the tape, before anything else.

Charles V.Overview. So, uh, one of the actually useful things that uh Sammy just said that I heard is in this place—and and I want to start with a with a disclaimer that I uh I was where you guys were. And um the hardest part here, in my opinion, is recognizing whether or not any of this shit’s real. Like is it just some sort of fugazi or, you know, uh uh [laughs] recurring delusion that we see because we want to, or some some other along that line uh type of thing?

Charles V.And there’s a lot of things tied to this that the problem is, is that with anything... So, for example, um I’ll start with Elliott Wave just because it’s on the screen. But we, in our uh many different layers of uh how how much we understand, if somebody basic starts to try to draw an Elliott Wave on a real-time chart with candles and volume and all this shit, and they assume that there is a a math behind what they’ve learned in their 10 minutes, one day, one week, whatever, and then it doesn’t play out a bunch of times in a row, they’re like, “This is bullshit, it’s fake.”

Charles V.That is not uh that has no bearing on reality. That’s a in almost all cases. Every single thing, the thousands of different types of indicators that are actually legitimate—which are, again, so many more than people understand—can be used to to earn profit here. The problem is, is that most people half- or one-tenth-learn this shit, and then it doesn’t work out because they’re compounding it with a whole bunch of other shit they don’t understand, and then they think it’s fake, or it doesn’t work. And then they move to the next thing, and that thing is just a bin of wasted use- uh useless time, that they now have this skepticism going into the next thing that, “Does this really work? Is this not going to work as well?” And it’s this crazy like uh compounding PTSD, in a way, that you just bring forward to all things that it Especially with social media and all the other stupid shit that people uh [chuckles] half-assed post, half-learned things, it’s very difficult to to to get a grasp on what actually works.

Charles V.And so the reason why this this beginners' class exists and where I start with all my students is you need to recognize that all indicators are lagging. They are, to a degree, some sort of uh combination of a smoothed-out average of something combined with something else that happens after price prints. And and not even just after price prints, but like a combo of multiple bars together, which is not a bad thing. But what I teach first, because it is the most important, is how to read the tape, which is actually a bar-by-bar of volume paired against the next candle, bar, and volume. And then all of the things together that is before and after versus the one in the middle, and then the range of those things interacting with the point of control or or whatever the area of interest may be. The point is, uh visually, this will make a lot more sense.

Charles V.But the reason why I have Elliott Wave on the page is because there’s two things that we’re going to go over in this class, and they’re a lot. They’re not Do not expect to come out of this class uh pro in either of them. This is not how this works. This is um Uh there’s an analogy that I I in my head makes the most sense is that if you try to understand that this place, say for example, we’re going to go on to a global stage with world-class debaters, teams of professionals that have been doing this for years and years, and they have uh combined knowledge and they group it together and they’re they’re in an actual effective team of of spectacular, eloquent uh uh They they use all of their language as weaponed. All punctuation, grammar, the compounded knowledge of all of the things, and and you’re going up against them in a topic that you, for lack of a better term, have learned just some verbs and some punctuation. And you, in most cases—I’m just speaking to all the new people—with no direction, you have no fucking chance. There’s not a chance in hell that you’re going to beat these people.

Charles V.And so, until you recognize that what you actually need to learn is in that thing, that that debate that I forgot to mention, it’s in a foreign language. So, you’ve not learned it, it’s alien. And you’re you only know a couple verbs and how to use punctuation and maybe capitalization every once in a while, you’re fucked. You’re totally fucked, there’s not a chance you can win. But in this place, if you learn to read the tape, it’s like learning to read the language before all of that shit. You have actually a foundation of which you can build on top of, which is where what however direction, whatever you want to go, uh you can create your edge on top of what actually matters, and not just half-assed standing on uh stilts on a sand uh foundation or or or whatever.

Charles V.The point is, is that if you don’t learn how to read, you’re fucked. I’ve I’ve dealt with many people, including myself. I’ve spent uh I have uh high-functioning autism and OCD, so I I actually locked myself in a room for many years, uh about three or four um somewhere in between there, uh for about 16 hours a day. Like super unhealthy, crazy obsessed, um and uh betting my life savings the entire time, and it was the dumbest fucking thing. However, what it did is force the recognition of what did and didn’t work. The problem is, is that in all that time, the thing that unlocked all the noise that I went through was the tape: the foundations of going back to what the fuck it actually was and recognizing that without that, I had no chance.

Charles V.So, uh my job, uh now that I don’t have to worry about uh money or or needing to trade anymore, is to actually help you guys because it’s fucking brutal. Until you figure this this very um critical foundational thing out, you’re fucked. And I and I’m not trying to be a dick, but like there’s many ways to trade, and, you know, half make profits and lose some, but win more than you lose. And the problem is when there’s a different trend or a different market or a different time frame or whatever the fuck, you’re screwed. You You have no chance because you’re now flopping in into a different scenario against a different team. Same foreign language to a degree, but you you just you’re you’re not equipped.

Charles V.And so, I’m going to try to equip you the best I can. Uh and and it is just simple math. And so, uh if you take the time to recognize what I’m telling you without skepticism is true—and I’ll you’ll believe it when I show you in a second—all of the things I’m going to show you, the paths, the the steps after this, after you I’m going to give you step one, step two, step three, they all are real. And if you study them, just like again, that that uh surgeon analogy, your patient is your money. And if you don’t study properly and put them on the table for open heart, you’re going to have a bad time, no matter what type of excuses you want to throw at it. You can learn this if you put in the undistracted, not-flipping-back-and-forth-between-topics time. You can You can block your your days into “I’m going to read the most uh, again, the tape first, and then impulsive versus corrective for I actually recommend to do it for an hour each per” uh or or whatever the the case may be.

Charles V.But the point is, if you just stop before actually learning how fully it works, how to read that thing fluently, you’re screwed. You’re You’re just going to do the same with every other thing. Um so the point is, first starting at the most basic foundation of it all: these are just two two candle, two uh versus their volume. And so, in this example, as rudimentary as it seems, and then we’re going to apply this on a real chart in a second, I need you guys to grasp the concept. So, what this is, is a move down with higher volume, and a move up [clears throat] with lower volume.

Charles V.Now, what most people uh understand—and I’m using the air quotes—is that a move up that is weak, that shows low volume, is is not to be trusted. This is false. Everything is relative, and you must understand how to read that relativity. So, for example, if whatever preceded this resulted in a move down that was about half blocked—so supply came in, demand pushed it back; it made, for for lack of a better term, I’m just going to use these are gas, the amount of gas required to push whatever this is however far. Excuse me, and I’m not talking about uh wicks, I’m talking about only closes. This is a whole other conversation of how to get to the right time frame with the right closes. But recognize this distance, this simple thing, took this much gas.

Charles V.So, when we compare it to the next bar, which, more complex term, but is actually a sweep or spring and reversal, which on traditional markets is actually how gap uh, in the sense, it’s a gap-up works. The point is, is that this, picture it a think of something like a uh gravity differential. So, a push or a attempt to go down, but something is not letting it go. Whereas this one, the inverse happens and you go about 2 and 1/2 times as much 2 and 1/2 times as far, just candle to candle, but also take only about 30% of the volume. Actually, we’ll make this just for um easy whole numbers, about half of the the volume required.

Charles V.So, if we just compare this, actually here, simple terms. So, the distance is double, the effort was half. The math, the equation to this, is currently at whatever range this is in in the rest of the scheme of support and resistance and other candles, this after this print, there is currently We’re taking this is double as easy to push up, so 200% easier to push up, compounded by less gas. So, half the gas. So, that 200 plus half gas turns into 400. That 400% or 4x easier to push up. Now, it doesn’t need strong volume, it needs a push that’s failed, which is a result of exhaustion. It doesn’t need a lot of push to go back up, because they’ve tried for long enough and now are weren’t able to make it down, punching a wall of whatever thing that doesn’t uh show on this chart.

Charles V.So, I’m going to show you real world now. But does that make sense? Like, do you guys grasp that math? And I just need everybody to say yes before I move on, or else it’s going to get brutal.

StudentNah, yeah.

Charles V.Good.

StudentUnderstand now.

Charles V.Good.

DrewYep.

StudentYes. Yes.

Charles V.Okay. Ren?

StudentYeah, I can understand that.

Charles V.Okay. Good. So now, uh disregard Elliott Wave for now. Uh we’re just going to go to actually printing. Um it doesn’t I’m trying to choose a less complex area, but they’re all the same. And and actually, I think uh a couple of you guys have seen this maybe on uh It’s a very um Well, they’re all the same, but it’s it’s a very easy way to grasp um what’s happening on the higher time frames. You can go lower, but unless you have an understanding of how these things work, it’s lower time frame always equals more noise. Higher time frame, more signal.

Charles V.So, your job is to recognize first, start higher time frames, which is we’ll start at a monthly when we’re actually doing high time frame down, and then the weekly, and then the daily, and roll these things together. And so, what I want you to recognize is just uh simple uh math of this thing. So, when we take I’m just focusing on this point, just just this. So, if we take this bar, this distance closed required this much gas. The reason doesn’t matter, but the following bar, which is something I want to say maybe 10 times as far, but only slightly more gas, that tells us the trend is definitely easier to push down. It does not tell us targets.

Charles V.Now, what we need to take into context is—and this is again, I’m going to roll it later—there was a massive push back. So, about half of this entire stretch was demand. And even with that, it still closed this far down, which means it is definitely 100% easier to push down. Now, what we want to take note of is after this move, does the strength continue or lessen? And so, next bar, that amount of distance with this amount of gas, it’s clearly not easy to push down. The next bar, less so. The next bar, supply, which is bearishness, is tapering off, so even less.

Charles V.And now what we’re trying to do, when you’re when you’re moving down like this or up, it’s directional doesn’t matter. And that’s something that’s hard for people to wrap their head around as well. But the point is, whenever we have a bar that’s uh failed, we want to note is there a close beyond this distance? So, I’m going to put these lines on here, and if it gets confusing let me know. But the point is, our job with each candle is to recognize the math, and then also recognize is a close occurring beyond the extension? This is how we grade either momentum, which is follow-through, or weakness, failure, or reversal.

Charles V.And so, as this compounding effect of supply reducing, but also not making much ground, we then have the this is called stopping power. So, when it sweeps all liquidity, goes all the way down, comes all the way back up, same difference, though, that amount of push up versus this one, it tried, but was not strong. That tells us is a high likelihood we still have further down. Again, doesn’t say where, that’s not the point. Now, this, I’m I could draw another line here, it’s not relevant in this instance. But the point is, this one tells us there is still a want to go down versus just this candle.

Charles V.Now, this is where it gets really cool. This next bar is called the change of character—CHoCH is how you print it—and it’s uh phrased as a control bar, or intention, or um it’s a multitude of things. But the point is, it is uh, in this instance, an engulfing bar that engulfs the Now, what we do is we take the math of the highest close—I’m just going to take these off for now—the highest close versus the highest close. So, this thing engulfed all this down with this much gas. So, what that means is we’ve not only done that, but also 30% more.

Charles V.So, that tells us if we stacked this gas on top of this gas, on top of this, on top of this, the bar, the volume bar, would be somewhere up here. And we are we only required this much to engulf all of it plus 30%. So, I’m going to put you guys on the spot a little bit, and I don’t care if anyone can’t answer, um but just do me a favor, try. So, this is where the the learning actually takes place. You have to force your brain through uncomfortable situations to actually think about what like critically think about the the math of what’s being discussed, so you learn. If you avoid it, I promise you, you will avoid it on your own time and homework as well. [chuckles]

Charles V.So, the point is, just try for a second to take this math, whatever this is, uh the distance traveled combined against all of these. So, just literally stack this up to here, up to about here, up to about here. That distance is something like 5 to 600% this amount of gas. We’ll call it just 500% just for for round numbers, plus 30% ease on top of that, roughly. So, somebody tell me roughly how much easier it is, if you can, how much easier it is to push up here than it was here. Anyone? Wish I had the cricket sound bar. [laughter] Drew, you want to give it a shot?

DrewWould it be a Would it be about Would it be about 300%?

Charles V.Well, no. The the base, remember, just just this one, just this bar without the extra 30% close, if this closed right exactly here, that imbalance by itself is about 500% up, easier up, yeah. And then 30% on top of that.

StudentShould be somewhere around eight times, about eight.

Charles V.Yeah, ballpark. And and and the simple equation is, if we can roughly estimate that this is 500, so 5x, then we just take 5x times 0.3. Ballpark. This is not a an exact math, it doesn’t have to be. All we’re doing is comparing relatively what that means for strength. It doesn’t mean we’re done going down. There are uh liquidity hunters and market makers and the composite man and a whole bunch of other terms you can use to to recognize this doesn’t mean up forever.

Charles V.But what it does mean is there is the first sign of true demand coming in, where the effort from the pushes down, so the supply, is lessening. For whatever reason, reason aside, we are sitting on the what at this point is the strongest area of support in all of history from here. So, if you don’t recognize that, you’re fucked. But also, we can stack these knowledge, this this uh understanding of layers of confluence together, and then identify that this area is the key where we should look for uh an actual strength. And as soon as this prints up, I’m going to go back and show you how to actually do that layered, so you can recognize this this math, this range existed before we got here, like all of the ranges, and so uh unless we’re in blue sky.

Charles V.But the point is, is that now if that thing is about 800% or eight eight times easier to push up, whatever whatever the math roughly is, that’s much easier. And what that means is, is that we want to tell again, next candle, is this candle, remember, these things they are all compounding, whether or not you recognize it. So, what that means is in a different time frame, this candle plus this candle is one body up to here and one wick. That is not strong. However, that close here still closes above this one, and the differential would need to be weighed on that time frame to actually get a a better scope.

Charles V.But simple terms, when something is retraced immediately after more than 50%, that is not strength. So, we can tell that there is now stopping power in this direction going down. It’s not pushing further, but it’s telling us that it’s not ready to go up quite yet because of the amount of distance covered immediately after. So, what we need to recognize then, the follow-through: is that thing giving us a strength of close? And just like the inverse, that close above means something. Very, very strong uh tell.

Charles V.We now have This isn’t a range though, this is a little bit different. This is the extremity, so the two lowest closes. So important to recognize that this is an area of importance, this is an area of importance. And I I’m going to just kind of zoom out for a second to recognize uh help you guys understand what this is. This, from the lows—and again, don’t uh feel like an idiot because you don’t understand this yet, if you don’t. But this thing that we’re that we’re printing right now is a five-wave. That tells us directionality and the way that the market wants to move. And when we have it printed with an ABC that follows—again, for reasons that may not make sense, this is actually what it is—that’s one thing.

Charles V.And then to slap what is the actual just visible range of this thing on top of it, that cluster, that that area of high importance here is a incredibly strong uh thing to to um to roll into your calculation. But what is uh easier to understand is just uh this thing, once it breaks up this Don’t I don’t want to roll into too many time frames to confuse. That region, that is the what was the downtrend breaking, that is the last touch of what mattered with two lined-up closes that is the creek being broken. And then remember, impulsive shows directionality. What that means is after this goes up, however far it goes up, it doesn’t matter, once we have a corrective—and again, this will make sense later, which this absolutely is—we need to gauge when the interaction comes back with what was the break of the downtrend, which, if uh assuming you guys don’t know this, the area of the C’s highest probability retracement point is to the fourth wave.

Charles V.If these things compound in uh an area that have a lined-up level of confluence on top of the golden ratio, all of these things start to stack and really matter. Again, whether or not you can see these in the beginning, I I know I’m going to take all these lines off because, you know, it’s super confusing. But the point is, this is very important. And again, they won’t look like it right now because there’s uh too much to understand. But the point is, if we have the recognition that this is a high area of importance, and that these two closes also matter very much, we then have the the tell of did this candle that started the entire push down, was any actual progress beyond that made or not?

Charles V.And then this candle, where a whole bunch of liquidity was sitting, was that same thing, progress made or not? It was swept, so all the stops here and here, they’re eaten up. And while this was in printing a apparently strong bar, immediately reversed. This is called spring. And so, this is the tell of the opposite of momentum, which is reversal. And then the same math applies: this candle versus this candle, we have a clear imbalance of uh uh distance covered, but the ratio is actually about the same. So, all things being equal, which are the candles that matter, it’s easier by about 30% to push up now, after we’ve swept the liquidity.

Charles V.And so, again, I I don’t want to go too far down the rabbit hole to confuse the fuck out of you guys. But the point is, on a monthly, that’s what this looks like. This is just a rounding pattern that, again, whether you enter here or here or down at the spring, they’re all solid entries that result in way fucking higher. And so, you don’t need to actually understand these things. Uh this is just for a basic concept of of what’s actually printing. But the point is, is that when we have these things rolled together, our job is to roll the right time frame together so you can recognize what you’re actually looking at. Because there’s uh you can do this a thousand different ways um uh incorrectly. But the key is what is the highest signal time frame that tells us the greatest amount of information? And on this one, this is uh a very clear tell that in this region, we have this bar showing not just a break of what what is the creek, the downtrend, but at the distance of C having no follow-through, and then control-barring up with an imbalance, trying to go down, sweeping liquidity, and then closing up again.

Charles V.And if you guys have even been on the the tape page at all, we know what this means. This this all is so fucking critical. And this is a um I want to say not super beginner example, but the point is this math carries forward to all examples in all time frames. And all you have to do is just recognize, if you read the tape, this is again, on a uh an area that wasn’t as obvious. But I’ll show you just one quick quick uh what is more obvious uh area so you can recognize that when we have these things that are within clear legible areas that are uh outlined well in advance—again, this is a range underneath, this is uh five years, something. Um all of these areas matter massively. And so, what we’re trying to do, in this instance, on the right time frame, is zoom out. This thing, this double monthly close backed up with what was the strongest area of support in the entire range, we just want to roll forward and see at that extremity that was swept, did it continue or did it immediately reverse more than 50% of the opposing push with almost no effort while closing above these three areas?

Charles V.This is a massive tell, but if you don’t know what you’re looking for, it means nothing. It’s just a weak move that didn’t have any volume. And as Drew knows on all the recorded classes we have, we entered a whole bunch of times here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, for reasons that will again make sense later. But before I go down uh more of a crazy rabbit hole, did that make sense? And did any of it not make sense?

DrewNo, that was good for me.

Charles V.Good. Yes?

StudentYeah, some of some of it made sense, but a little bit didn’t.

Charles V.Which didn’t?

StudentUm the part uh about the resistance and stuff.

Charles V.Okay. So, let me I’ll zoom in more on a POC. And what I want to do is, I’m glad you said that because we need to understand this in real time and how it actually plays out. Because if any of these questions linger in your head like, “Did That doesn’t really make sense,” you probably won’t actually understand that this is how it works. And so, recognize reading the tape is bar-by-bar, but also by range. So, just that same fifth wave that I had printed before, this is another ABC, which means direction is up. This is a corrective, which means the direction is not down. And when we have a higher high and a higher low, what we then want to see is in this range, after that higher low is printed, what’s taking place? So, if Do you guys understand what a POC is?

StudentWhat was that again?

Charles V.Do you know what a POC is, like a a point of control, an area of support and resistance?

StudentUh no, I don’t.

Charles V.So, this is the cumulative volume of the highest interacted region that tells you what is the most Think of this as clay or some sort of like uh rubber. This this line is the densest area at which we should have an interaction with. If we don’t have an interaction with it, that’s also tells something. But it also does not mean you need a precision, “I won’t go past this thing, and then immediately bounce up.” That’s not how it works at all. We recognize that this thing is like a it’s like a coiling rubber band that has a strength that as we’re going up—and this existed beforehand—it’s punching the ceiling, punching the ceiling, punching the ceiling. And each time showing us impulsive up, which is directionality, and then corrective down. What that means is that it’s telling us it wants to go up, but it’s not ready yet. And so, what we do to actually measure this is gauge what is it telling us on a bar-by-bar. And so, to to do that, I’ll just uh let me take this thing off so you can see better. Um so that bar, that that line, uh roughly here.

DrewAnd just while you’re getting that ready, Charles, I was just going to mention for Emilio, um cuz I just found it useful that you can manually, on your TradingView, uh you can manually apply uh that tool or you can use it as a whole um under the indicators. Um but probably best to stick with in case it...

Charles V.Well, no, it’s it all matters, it’s just the the application of the tool, right? Just like when you try to slap it on and you don’t know how to use it, you’re going to have a bad time. Right? So So, just recognize this: this is a strong move up, impulsive move up, this is strength, and then it has a corrective move down. Now, after this thing, this peak happens, what we want to do is observe is this direction pointing down by via an impulse or not? And this, whether or not you understand it yet, this is a corrective, not impulsive, not directional move. This is a retracement. And so, the point is, after we have this breach past this, we gauge is the strength increasing or decreasing? So, this POC is already printed. What we’re doing is recognizing this bar. We’re we’re comparing all light bars, so this bar—and and I’m talking about within an interaction of this thing—this bar versus this bar versus this bar versus all of the bars with their their volumes. We’ll do the bearish ones after, but just your goal here is to recognize is the effort and the result increasing up or down?

Charles V.That tells us is the strength increasing or decreasing for whichever direction we’re we’re measuring. So, this one, this required uh a bunch of volume, that is a lot, versus the next one, less volume. So, what that tells us, same math, right? Take the distance of here, distance of here. This required something in the range of half the gas, made probably about I don’t know, 20% less distance. Just this bar versus this bar tells us we are now having a uh increase of effort, not necessarily of participation, but this is exhaustion pushing down. Same thing, this is a weak candle, weak candle, no follow-through, sweep the lows, come back up, all the math we just saw on the other one applies here.

Charles V.Now, the difference that we’re trying to to take note of: the directionality that is not immediately reversed matters. So, remember on the other example, when we talked about the uh the close above the downtrend, so this is another creek, what we’re trying to identify—and this is not a precision-drawn line, it doesn’t need to be—but these two closes, this is the directional, remember, we’re comparing. This range, this is volume plus volume combined, and then dwarfed. So, this stacked on top of this tells us a massive imbalance of way easier to push up here that was not immediately reversed. It came back down after, after what is a five-count uh fulfilled with a corrective down, which is actually incredibly important tell, too. But that thing breaking, we have to compare these and recognize this closed above this area, which is so fucking important.

Charles V.And without understanding why, it’s probably sounds like hocus-pocus or some random shit. But if you read a volume price analysis, like A Complete Guide to Volume Price Analysis, all of this makes sense in a much more linear, not autistic way. And so, just recognize this is all actual math. And so, just moving forward, um recognize higher high, higher low. We then see is there an ability to push past this point occurring more or less than it did? So critical. And so, in each instance, bar-by-bar, is this bar Remember, this to this to this, just moving forward, that is a way bigger attempt with way less result. This is, same thing, way less distance covered with way less result. This thing engulfed it, but how much more effort did it take? And did it have a follow-through after?

Charles V.The tell is most uh of the time, when you have this sort of uh question, this, you know, “What’s actually going to happen?” look at the next candle: immediate reversal or not? Punching a wall or not? If you don’t have this line drawn here, you don’t know that it is a wall. That’s That’s the really important tell, to recognize structure prior to interaction with structure. And so, now in all this this ranging uh behavior, I’ll just delete this so it’s easier to see. Hold on. So, with all this ranging behavior, this thing is now in established higher low after a higher high, after a wave one and two, which is the start of wave three, which is the most energetic. The point is, if you don’t know any of that, that’s fine. But the interaction with this point, when we have a range that’s tightening that is showing us inability to go down, and remember, everything’s relative, so this thing pushing up was immediately engulfed. But did it make any distance? That’s the ask. Is there a increase of supply or decrease of supply?

Charles V.And so, as it’s moving along here—and I I’ll show you actually a Well, I’ll show you this first and then show you There’s multiple entries in this point. But after this pushes up, same thing, we have a rough uh equalization. There is no real move happening here. And then this engulfs with about half the volume. Not a big tell, but does the next combo or does the next candle tell us a strong push is attempted and any real ground made? And then the actual change of character shows itself: it closes above this entire range. That tightening of the coil, that spring that is compressing, is now popped. Whether or not anyone recognizes that at the time, the market doesn’t care. But if you’re paying attention, you can recognize that is a a massive tell to what is actually taking place.

Charles V.And then if you draw all the layers of confluence together—the the fair value gap, and the the bullish order flow, and the on a smaller time frame, effort versus result, and the retrace down to what is the OTE—like all of these things stack up so critically that if you just pay attention, you can Like we we caught all of these things in real time. And it’s not just these, but across all the the charts we’re actually looking at. Um but the point is, did this interaction showing you an actual clear-as-day area of what is resistance and support, and the interaction, an inability to go in a direction, and then that punch of the wall and then spring back, did that Does that make it more clear visually?

StudentYeah. A lot more.

Charles V.Good. And and remember that this thing that um you need to recognize that—and may not have been told this before—but all things that have a confluence that the market built, not what I subjectively put on here, but what is actually a thing that is respected, so precision respect across time, that is an area of, in this instance, resistance. Just like this is an area of what was resistance, now support, they all matter. If you can’t see them and don’t have them on your chart, though, and there’s interactions occurring, you’re going to have a bad time.

Charles V.So, the point is to not think that you can just, you know, take this and run with it and make a whole bunch of money. The point is to recognize that there is an actual area. Like this this little candle that printed above like this, it’s called a creek jumping. This range is what we want to look for at the the last bit of uh indecision. That thing was a massive entry for me. This thing was also a massive entry. This retracement on the fair value gap, actually was right here, was also a massive entry for me. I’m still long. This is a what followed was a large move. But the point is, we’re not done. And and in this instance, we know that the largest the after the one-two is the largest and the most energetic move, which is the third. Again, that’s a secondary thing.

Charles V.But the point is, we stack and stack and load positions until the market tells us to take profits. It’s not a subjective thing. It’s not like you can put your just um arbitrary Fib extensions on there and and, you know, take it whatever distance past the the target external, but you don’t have to. You can I’m I’m a position trader. I trade swing positions across time. I can get on and we can, you know, day trade whatever, but the real profit’s in running the runners. This is how you run the runners. Um so again, I I don’t want to go down too much of a rabbit hole, cuz I will. Um now that that made sense, was there anything else that didn’t make sense that I can clarify for anyone? Any feedback or questions or anything like that?

DrewWell, that was good.

StudentYeah, indeed. Can I ask something?

Charles V.Yeah. Here you go. Did you say you had a question?

StudentYeah, yeah. Uh when I was trying to exercise the things that you said earlier, I was wondering that if I’m relying on the correct volume or not...

Charles V.On the which one?

Student...just because uh I know the different brokers and Yeah. Uh am I relying on the correct volume or not?

Charles V.Ah.

StudentBecause I know that in the spot market, we can have different volumes in different brokers or things like that.

Charles V.Great question. That thing is so critical. This why I’m looking at that chart, that pair, is because over time, I’ve vetted that that is a a highly reliable source, the the most reliable that I know. Um so I don’t know off the top of my head which that is for your market. You just have to figure it out through uh there’s I mean, the easiest way is to just ask AI, the uh one that’s knowledgeable in this. But also, there are tells to see um like, for example, I’ll show you. When we have such an inconsistency across um like this volume, for example, that’s not fucking helpful. If we take this bar out, it does have a a uniformity of uh some sort of relative usefulness. However, that tells us out of the uh just off the hop, do not use this one. Cuz it has uh imbalances, for whatever reason, like that are just clearly not uh not uh evenly distributed. They’re not aggregated uh averaged over the the large uh uh counters. Don’t use it. Just disregard it, go on to the next. There’s always a better one. Uh what market are you in?

StudentSorry, can you ask me again?

Charles V.Yeah, what what pairs are you looking at? Like what’s the market you’re trying to assess volume?

StudentYeah, two uh two major ones. One of them is the Forex one, and the other one is Bitcoin. And I found that Bitcoin is good on the Binance.

Charles V.Binance is actually uh one of the I I thought this for years. I thought this for about 5 years: don’t use Binance, use Bybit perpetual. I use Binance to to trade to to draw for learning, because it’s uh my unused chart. What’s this one? It’s just USDT.P, and then Perpetual. That. So, this is the the the best um from what I have found, the the most useful, most accurate. Uh the Forex one, again, depended completely on whatever exchange you’re using. I I honestly don’t know per per market. Um but there are ways to figure it out, and you could just see if there’s actually uniformity. Like, for example, some of them may have substantially less or more uh noise. Just compare it to the So, pick your top one or two, and then compare it to each other. And keep filtering out what one is actually the the most signal. Not on the low time frames, high time frames. And then move that thing, and then reconfirm it on a on a lower time frame.

Charles V.This is a game of a whole bunch of uh trial and error to figure out what is best, especially when we have moving parts of a bunch of different exchanges. So, uh but this one I know I know is uh solid, including for all of the other pairs. So, I I mostly trade Bitcoin, ETH, um uh SOL, and a couple other small alts. But the point is, is that uh Hyperliquid is solid. Uh that’s where I use the majority of my uh when we do day trades and smaller stuff. Um but yeah, Bybit perpetual.

StudentOkay, great. Thank you.

Charles V.Of course. So, um I don’t want to go too far again, but I uh the thing that I meant to show you initially is the difference between impulsivity and correctness. So, have you guys uh at all seen how that actually prints? Like do do you understand um what that means? I I assume uh crickets is no?

StudentYeah, no, I don’t.

Charles V.Okay. So, uh all it is is just simple the the strength of a thing. So, I’m uh the easiest way, actually, I’ll choose this one, this is clear as day. There’s many different layers of things that are occurring, and our job is to assess which is the most valid signal. So, in this instance, I’ll just actually zoom in right on this point. And and the the coolest part is it applies on all time frames and all markets. So, whether or not there is an advanced print occurring or something simple, again, I don’t know uh until it prints. But there are really fucking clean tells that things are occurring, and it’s just so much easier to understand that if this is happening, this is the direction. And it it actually prints from the lows.

Charles V.So, in all instances, and this is how we tell moves, when there is a high area of gone way the fuck up, punched a wall, and reversed heavy, that’s a tell. And then from I’ll I’ll just do this inverse example so you can understand. Just like I drew the lines on the other one, I’ll actually show you a real-time use case. So, this, again, does not apply to just the monthly, on just this chart. This applies to all time frames, all all uh markets. Um so I’ll leave the volume just for You know, showing you this, it’s uh helpful. But Hey, buddy. Um but just for this example, focus only on the Okay. Um only focus on the distance past. So, what we’re trying to assess is this is an impulsive wave, which is a uh the initial rules I had on the the screen when and it’s on the website, I’ll I’ll send you the links and shit. But the point is, is that 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 waves up is directionality.

Charles V.However, when we’re at the fifth of a fifth, so this is actually a five-wave from beyond, it then turns to the inverse of that pointing down. And so, I’ll show you just from the top here. Assuming what I’m telling you is true, that this is the fifth of the fifth, we look for at the end of the fifth exhaustion. So, I’m showing the smaller time frame so you can recognize how much of a clean entry signal there is. So, this thing, what we’re looking for here, fuck, I wish I had the volume. Uh hold on. Okay, so what we’re trying to gauge is the strength, so volume, of the move increasing or decreasing as the fifth prints? And then in this fifth, we count the waves. We simply, again, this may sound foreign, but uh actually Drew and I did a good class that I put up um uh that’s from start to finish uh for the basic version of it. But the point is, that thing is a five-wave. And so, what we’re trying to assess of if this whole thing is a five-wave, and we know that the move starts at a one and ends at a five, again, this I don’t want to go down the rabbit hole, but assume what I’m telling you is true, we’re looking for the fifth to print. That is when the reversal or the shorting occurs.

Charles V.We then take that knowledge of whatever that line was before and slap it on what was this thing. Did that thing make any distance—I’ll delete this line just so you can understand—beyond what the close was? The answer is fuck no, it immediately reversed. And then also, this is, again, um a very, very profitable friend of mine called the uh ending diagonal, which occurs at fifth waves and usually is hidden to most. This is so critical to understand. It’s I have made uh many moneys from this. But the point is, is that when we zoom in, we recognize that thing, again on a higher time frame—and and you can do this real time on a down to the 1-minute if you want—but the point is, is there a pass here sign of strength or weakness? Remember, all of these instances, push up versus push down, is that strength or not strength? And then once uh actually, we’ll go into that, it’s too deep.

Charles V.So, the point is, now this is down to a 15-minute. That thing tells us this is not strength. We have, remember, what was surpassed immediately pushed back on, which is high volume. This is half, 50% retrace, so this is called stopping power. It’s swept, and on a 1-minute, there’s actually another spring that goes all the way up. This thing shows us not strength, with continued up more than 50%, up more than 50%, up more than 50%. And then on this, which is a order block on a smaller time frame, that tells us this is not fucking strength. And then immediately, this is called a range breaker. So, effort versus result, the first sign of this swallowing all this, same math. This is how we short the tops, long the bottoms over, and over, and over, and over.

Charles V.And so, just as a a simple Again, I’m I’m going to show you what what I meant to, which is the how you count a five-wave. It’s from the larger time frames down, they compound and there’s fives within fives within fives and correctives layered a thousand times over, but you just have to recognize In this instance, that move that most would have cut right here and been like, “Fuck yeah, that’s a good trade,” this is the start, cuz we’re looking for failure of the fifth of the fifth, to ride it down to what is a fifth of the fifth. And just like that thing printed the fifth, we look for did this distance go down further, and then there is my friend again, the ending diagonal printing the exact same pattern, just inverted, flipped. That thing has the same internal wave count. That thing, if flipped, is the same math. Did we see a move past here that’s strength or immediately, remember, didn’t reverse or did it reverse? Roll down to Was that strength or not strength?

Charles V.Immediate reversal, immediate test of the inability to move past it with Look at the effort versus result. Look at that range breaker printing and engulfing all of these at the fifth of the fifth. This is how we use this in real time, and it applies in all markets, in all moves. There are complex counts, there are not complex counts. If you don’t recognize the difference and you’re trying to count, so you’re not properly studied, you’re going to have a bad time. So, just like any other thing, don’t try open heart surgery on what is the patient is is your portfolio until you have enough study. And don’t feel like a fucking idiot for just watching it happen and not putting money on it because it played out exactly like what you thought it would. There’s so many fucking variations to these things that you can count this a thousand different ways and and be wrong half of the time if you don’t know what you’re doing, which is not a good percentage to bet on.

Charles V.However, the opposite is also true: study the fuck out of this so it’s like second nature, and you’re golden. The amount of size I can play with sleeping like a baby You don’t understand the whole um think like a casino and you’ll be fine, because the math plays out over time. You actually must have an edge for the math to play out over time. And the anxiety and stress about, “Is this the right entry or should I get out now?” like that erases. You don’t understand, and I didn’t in the beginning either, but the point is this is all learnable. And so, I’ve put this on my site for free because I want people to actually avoid the pain that I went through.

Charles V.So, if you recognize these things occur on repeat a million times over, and then even just from the lows is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, directionality, a inability to go back beyond what was the support created with another third wave up, this is the direction. And this is, again, on a higher time frame, the the jumping of the creek with the inability to go past it, with the monthly support created and the change of character punching it, and then not closing beneath it while impulsively printing up, and then correctly retracing down to what was support. So fucking cool to be able to use this.

Charles V.Uh and again, uh I’m showing you history because I found, every single time, including Drew, when I show real time, the wheel starts spinning, “Oh, how can I profit off this right now?” The second you try to think that I’m uh If I give you anything that’s usable in a current signal, your focus is not on learning. And you will absolutely shoot yourself in the foot and not make the progress you could make if you just threw money out of the equation. This is a very difficult task. Uh whether or not you can recognize that um is the fact is something that may come now or across time. But as soon as you recognize don’t think about the fucking money and you’ll actually make a bunch of money, that’s that’s how you make it in this place. So, um did that make sense?

DrewYeah, I thought that was awesome. I think Oh, uh just if uh I know if anybody is new, uh it can seem like, you know, a lot to take in. And we’re talking about this where, you know, uh you could probably take 10 traders to draw out an Elliott Wave, um but with working with you for so long, uh or as long as that we have on this and me, you know, working to learn Elliott Wave, um the points that you, you know, have and trap and invalidations and everything, I’m telling you guys, if it seems like very foreign language, eventually stuff starts just clicking and rolling together.

DrewUm but yeah, I thought I thought that was great. I like how you were cuz I know we’re diving into ending diagonals, um but at the 1 hour 8-minute mark, um super valuable stuff and it’s all it’s all super valuable. Uh but yeah, I just wanted to, you know, give people just uh if uh it does seem alien, it does start to click.

Charles V.Yeah, and it’s not quick, but it does. You just have to Anything else that’s completely foreign, like no like I have an incredible just baseline. I’m high-functioning autism, I my superpower is puzzles and pattern recognition. I still didn’t know fucking anything and experienced all of the pain for years, because I never used the foundation and learned it well enough for long enough to actually understand how it worked. I assumed and jumped a whole bunch of different things. You should see my early day charts, they’re ridiculous. They have hundreds of lines on them, mostly irrelevant. And I just I’m like, “Oh, this is cool, I’m I’m trading. I’m a trader.” [laughter] This is not how it works.

DrewYeah. And I just that’s that’s the thing is I know how much time you put into like learning this. Um so that’s what I’m leaning on. But Ren was asking uh if you mention a um remember the Complete Guide to Volume Price Analysis? I think the author, but it was Anna Coulling, right? Anna...

Charles V.Yeah. Um I don’t know, I have it in my thing. [one sentence cut — an offer to pass on a copyrighted book as a PDF. Buy it instead.] Um you need to start there. It’s so important. It It everything that I just said, it has the uh intelligently delivered in a linear way that’s like long-form with pictures and shit, and it it just actually explains how and why things work. If you read that and then go to my site, then you’re golden. Um the site is incredibly valuable, but start start with the book.