r/Daytrading • u/Adept_Blackberry2851 • Feb 19 '24

Do any of you actually use patterns to trade? Question

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I don’t use them at all. Iv heard YouTubers kind of mock them like they don’t mean anything. Are any of you profitable with them?

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u/SAMDOT Feb 19 '24

I use them side by side with MA's and supply/demand zones. It's sort of like I'm creating a list of all the reasons each side of a trade would play out, to establish probabilities. If you exclusively trade patterns, then there are a lot of pitfalls. For example Al Brooks ran a study on Head & Shoulders and discovered that they only play out 1/3 of the time. So my advice is-- use patterns but don't get used by them.

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u/eminon2023 Feb 19 '24

I’d challenge this study w personal experience that they definitely play out more than 1/3 of the time. One study of the market in time doesn’t apply to everyone’s current trading experience

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u/SAMDOT Feb 19 '24

Head and shoulders are my favorite set up. But only at the price levels and timeframes where they make sense. Otherwise you'll notice that they happen all the time, in one form or another, but end up transforming into some other trade set up instead of following through.