Ask Anna

bigstock_Men_Around_Question_1831261Hi – over the years, and certainly over the last 12 months since publishing my first three books, I have been overwhelmed with emails and questions from traders around the world asking a variety of trading related questions, and covering virtually every aspect of trading. It has been a humbling experience and the greatest pleasure for me is to receive emails or to read reviews on Amazon, from traders who have finally found success after struggling for years. This is why I always reply to every email and every question – it does take me some time, but rest assured you will always receive a personal response, so if you have written and are waiting for a response, please bear with me – you will! In order to try to answer some of the questions you may be thinking of asking, I have recently added some of the more recent questions I have been asked along with my reply, and you can find these below in the various links. I have tried to group them together into broad categories, and I hope you find these helpful and useful. But of course, if you do have a question that isn’t answered here, I would be delighted to hear from you, and answer yours personally – so here are the broad groups with questions on…….

Getting started and general questions

Is forex the best place to start trading?
Where to start as an options trader
The Yen, the Real, the Peso and Japanese forex traders
One of the hardest things to do in trading Building your trading strategy
Learn to filter out the news and what it’s saying!
Assessing risk using related markets
Market orders, limit orders and stop loss placement
Stop hunting and stop losses
Speculation vs investing
The complex USD/JPY explained
Getting started in index futures
Trading questions I am often asked
Market opportunities and starting as a full time trader
Relational aspects of trading explained
Trading decisions and emotion
The dangers of analysis paralysis in forex and how to avoid it
My top ten trading check list
Binary options unmasked and other trading books coming soon..
Price manipulation in forex… it’s easier to say who doesn’t
Forex trading decisions and emotion
Where do I start trading currencies?
Do ETF’s have market makers and insiders?
Trading success – it’s not about the money
A trading account numbers explained
Who we are is what matters most in trading
Getting in using volume price analysis
An inside view of support and resistance
Leverage risk and choosing and ECN broker
How market makers manage floating supply

Volume price analysis

Where to find volume for trading stocks 
Learning to trade the GBP/JPY using VPA
Understanding volume in an up and down move
The relative nature of volume bars
Using VPA to trade binary options
Volume and how to see the anomalies
A worked example in VPA using the NZD/USD 
Support and resistance – a cornerstone of VPA
How to use VPA in currency futures to validate the spot fx market
Trading congestion and breakouts – patience is the key
An example of stopping volume on the EUR/JPY – but it’s all relative!
Always consider volume in relation to the market and session
Tick(trade) volume or contract volume on NinjaTrader
A short lesson in volume price analysis
Which volume indicator to use?
What is a tick
Stopping volume and volume at price explained
Volume zones, TPO, and accumulation & distribution
What volume reveals during the open and the close
A lesson in volume price analysis using KNM stock
NZD/USD delivers volume anomaly on the 15 minute chart!

Brokers and platforms

Broker information and the CME waiver programme
Best place to check out your forex broker
Which trading platform – NinjaTrader or MT4 ?

103 Comments on Ask Anna

  1. Hi Anna,

    first of all I would like to say that your book about Volume / Price analysis is really good and it helped me a lot understanding the markets.

    I just read an article you wrote about the current situation with Gold, which, according to you, set up a trap and it’s not diving back to the 1240s …

    To me, at the moment, it seems gold is retracing back to the 50%-61.8% Fibonnaci. In theory, shouldn’t it move higher once the retracement is over? I have some money invested (bad entry, I must say) and I am starting to get worried. 🙂

    Many thanks,
    Rob

    • Hi Rob – many thanks for your kind words which are much appreciated and thank you for buying the volume price analysis book – delighted you have found it helpful in your trading. And so to gold! Naturally as you can appreciate everything I write about here is simply my own personal opinion, based on my own methodology. Everyone has a different way of analyzing a market and there is no right or wrong way, just your own belief system. Mine is based on volume which underpins every trading decision I take, as to me it just makes sense. It was the method that I was lucky enough to learn from day one, and the logic of what VPA reveals, to me, just makes sense. My view on gold at the moment is bearish, and this may change once it reaches the levels outlined in my posts, but as always, the initial analysis will be based on the volumes at the time. The current weekly picture for gold is bearish in my view, for the reasons explained. However, this then leads to a broader question from your comment, which is how long do you plan to hold your position and on what basis you entered the market.

      This is a mistake we have all made, and I can assure you I have too, and more than once, which is to enter on a speculative basis, and then to ‘switch’ to a longer term hold when the market moves against you. This is easy to do, and even more so with instruments such as gold, silver and stocks. We buy a stock for a short term gain, and then convert to a longer term ‘investment’ as we wait for the market to turn back in our favour. It’s just human nature and one of the many difficult things we have to master when trading. Gold is extremely tricky to trade at present as many of the reliable relationships and traditional values associated with the precious metal, its hedge against inflation, its relationship with the US dollar, its safe haven status, have changed as indeed have the markets over the last few years.

      So to try to help, I think the first thing to establish in your own mind, is why you entered this position in the first place. Was it a short term speculative position, which has now turned against you, and you are worried that the market may fall further. If so, you need to make a decision, whether to cut the loss, or to hold on a long term basis. I’m not sure what instrument you have used, and it will all depend on your time horizon. At present on the weekly chart it looks bearish, with some minor rallies along the way. In a few weeks time, a new bottom may be in and it will start to rebase and build some upwards momentum once again.

      I’m not sure if the above helps – it’s always hard in these situations to make a decision, but make a decision you must. To exit and move on, or to hold for the longer term with an associated deep stop loss.I’m not sure if the above helps – it’s always hard in these situations to make a decision, but make a decision you must. To exit and move on, or to hold for the longer term with an associated deep stop loss.

      I hope the above helps, (if only a little) – and once again many thanks – all best wishes – Anna

  2. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME OF MY VISITING YOUR SITE, AND I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED EVERY BEAT OF YOUR LESSONS. YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE IT, I SPENT MORE THAN 6 HOURS SURFING THROUGH YOUR WRITE-UPS WITHOUT KNOWING I HAVE SPENT SO MUCH TIME. MORE GREASE TO YOUR ELBOW. MAY I KNOW IF YOU HOLD WEBINARS OR LIVE CLASS ROOMS, WHERE WE WILL LEARN MORE FROM YOU, WITH LIVE INTERACTIONS. THANKS SO MUCH.


    • Hi – many thanks and yes I do hold live trading training rooms for both forex and also for futures trading. You can register for either or both using the following link and I look forard to seeing you there. Both trading rooms are free so even more reason to join – all best wishes – Anna

      • I read a book by mark”set and forget” but as interesting as it is he said Anna coulling taught him and I thought it would do me a whole lot of good to learn directly from you.

        • Hi Ajayi – many thanks for getting in touch and delighted to hear you found me through Mark. Hope you enjoy the site and content and you can of course join me in my live webclasses which I run regularly with my husband and fellow trader David. Hope to see you there and you can register on my site on the home page. Wishing you every success kind regards Anna

    • Hi – many thanks and yes I do hold live trading training rooms for both forex and also for futures trading. You can register for either or both using the following link and I look forward to seeing you there. Both trading rooms are free so even more reason to join – all best wishes – Anna – click to join my free training rooms

  3. Hi Anna, Recently purchased your Volume Price Analysis and it has really improved my paper trading profitability. Thank you !! Sadly however I find (as I dip my toe in the deep end of the pool so to speak) I am finding that the volumes being reported thru MetaStock/Reuters and Charles Schwab trading platform EDGE show a marked difference in the volume numbers between say half an hour before closing (I’m doing End of Day trading) and an hour or two after the close. I note your observation in the book about the “relativity” re volume which I get vs the absolute numbers, but there seems to be a significant “withholding” of data in some quarters. Could this be a manipulated situation or no ?
    Many thanks,
    Owen Howell
    Brisbane Australia.

    • Hi Owen – many thanks for your kind comments and I’m delighted that the volume price analysis book has helped you in your trading. I cannot tell you what pleasure it gives me to receive comments and emails like this and I am just so thrilled and humbled that my own experience is helping other traders, which is why I wrote the book. So just so pleased.

      With regard to your question, this is one aspect of using volume that is always there. As you say it is all relative and as long as we are comparing the same volume profiles this is fine. However, volume can and does vary from one vendor to another for many reasons. For example, some volume reports on the number of contracts traded, so a volume bar of 1000, may be 1000 contracts which could be one or many orders – this could be one order of 1000, or 1000 orders of one contract. Another interpretation of volume is tick, where 1 tick = 1 trade, so in the above example 1000 would be 1000 trades. In this case we have the opposite information reported if you like – the number of trades but not the contract sizes whereas in the previous example we have the contract sizes but not the number of trades. Finally in spot forex volume there also differs with some vendors delivering tick as a change in price with others delivering volume as the number of trades from their own customer base – FXCM is an example here. Those volumes which are generally close when comparing feeds are in stocks, but even here there are some discrepencies (with some volumes hidden from view and only reported after market hourss). The key as always is to try not to compare one with another and settle on your feed for each market and then apply volume price analysis comparing like with like. I know its tempting to cross check all the time – I did when I first started!

      I hope the above helps and many thanks for your kind comments and good trading – kind regards Anna

  4. Many thanks for your response Anna – it is greatly appreciated. I luckily do not have the urge to go comparing vendors data re volume – so will continue as you suggest – just stay with one system so to speak and compare only the relative movements over time.
    Best Regards,
    Owen Howell
    Brisbane Australia.

  5. Hi Anna

    I love your VPA book – simply stunning!

    I have a query about inside buying. You mention insiders act like a warehouse, filling their space with stock and then sell discounted stockto the public where news media helps market the stock. I love the analogy, but there’s one thing I don’t really get.

    A business marketing a product is usually the only company marketing it. Whereas stock could be held by many, many insiders. How is it they co-ordinate into a single entity, a single ‘warehouse’? How would they intuitively know when to time it right with each other and not be fighting each other with exactly when to sell their discounted warehouse of stock?

    Presumably you’ll talk about support/resistance being a natural guide, and that they too will watch volume/price and test not only the public but also that they’ve timed together. If that’s the case, are they consciously aware that’s what they’re doing, or is it more instinctive than that?

    Many thanks for a fabulous book!
    Veronica

    • Hi Veronica – wow, what can I say except thank you so much – first for investing in my VPA book and second for your very kind and touching comments which are much appreciated. I’m just thrilled you enjoyed reading it, and I hope applying it in your own trading. And so to answer your question which is an excellent one, and also one which had me baffled when I first started to study volume price analysis. Indeed I remember sitting on the President (it’s a boat on the river Thames!!) all those years ago and thinking just the same thing in my head – how is that the market makers work together? Do they talk to one another ahead of any move? Do they meet up? How do they know?

      And the answer is relatively simple. They all see both sides of the market and in addition they will also have very similiar profiles in terms of stock on their books. After all, in a bullish market they will all have been selling into a strong move with their inventory falling as a result. In addition, remember that the news is a powerful tool and as with today’s GDP or next week’s NFP, ideal times to either continue to move the market higher or sell off to gather some more inventory for a further move higher. It is interesting to note the move higher of August which I outlined in a post this morning, where the volumes have been low ( due to the summer ) but the market has risen steadily. However, there is no selling climax just yet, and rest assured when the volumes ramp up, then all the market makers will see this instantly, and join en masse – not because they talk to one another, but simply from the information they have in terms of their inventories. Remember they see both sides and will react accordingly. So the reaction is built on decades of experience and from the ability to see both sides of the market. Finally, yes you are right, in building campaigns they will have target levels, where support and resistance are strong and which will set natural targets in whatever time frame.

      Finally, also remember that generally a stock will only be managed by one or a handful of market makers. The market makers will have hundreds of stocks for which they have to make the market, but only a few will be associated with the same stock. You can read about this further in any of Richard Ney’s books ( I am a fan:-) – they are still available and well worth buying.

      All best wishes and many thanks again for your very kind comments and great question – kind regards Anna

      • Thank you Anna for such a clear and lucid response – AND for responding!

        I did read your VPA book in full so I (sort of!) knew the answer to the question posed. However, I still felt there was something I wasn’t seeing in your book explanation.

        Anyway, the concept that marketmakers ‘sees both sides’ of trading demand helps clear this up so, thank you! It’s possible that Delta volume (mentioned in your wonderful VPA book) may help to further capture turning points in the market. Equivolume candlesticks also sounds intuitively right for me to investigate further!

        Seems to me in my experience, trading is basically impulse moves (in either direction) followed by consolidations (a response to the impulse to lick wounds and recover!). The moment I realised that, it took away the fog and reverence I had for esoteric analysis.

        I look forward to reading your posts every day now!

        Many thanks
        Veronica

  6. Hi Anna, i read your excellent book and i still confuse about set up trading platform to display Tick count/volume histogram. i use amibroker with interactive broker and can’t found a way to display forex volume/tick count. i try to download ninjatrader with kinetick free EOD data and still can’t display tick count. can you help me?

    • Hi Marciano – many thanks for your kind comments and thank you for buying the book which is much appreciated and I hope you enjoyed it. With regard to tick data on the Kinetick feed, this is only available on the live feed for NinjaTrader and not on the End of Day data. So you will need to be a subscriber in order to receive this from Kinetick. If you run you NinjaTrader platform using your Interactive Brokers feed, this will give you access, but the quality of the data on tick is not as good I’m afraid. However this is worth trying and all you need to do is to create the account connection to your Interactive Brokers account and then use the data from IB to drive the charts. ( again you may need to be subscribed to the appropriate live package). I have the same set up with an IB brokerage account, and NinjaTrader platform, but use the Kinetick data feed rather than the IB feed. I hope this helps and many thanks once again for taking the time to get in touch – all best wishes – Anna

  7. Hi Anna

    I have a thought that might to some degree ‘challenge’ VPA, or at least show that lower volume with higher prices (or vice versa in a downtrend) doesn’t necessarily mean manipulation!

    I do understand your philosophy that price can only be moved legitimately by volume.

    HOWEVER…

    …Scarcity would also make the price of something increase, such as a unique work of art or vintage bottle of wine. The less there is of something that’s appreciated, the more value it acquires. So for instance, if a share price started to climb with lower and lower volume over days, weeks and months, (as I’ve sometimes seen), the volume can actually decrease as less and less people are willing to sell, happy to see their shares rise. Consequently, prices have to rise to persuade those holding shares to give up those shares at a nice, comfortable profit to those desperate to jump onto the trend.

    This suggests in this instance rising prices AREN’T being manipulated by marketmakers at lower volumes, but in fact is rising due to the scarcity of those shares others want to get hold of.

    I’d imagine large amounts of shares ONLY change hands when experienced traders know prices are reaching saturation (by watching volume increase as prices begin to slow). This creates distribution and prices can’t go higher because more professional sellers are selling to the glut of more buyers who believe the trend is their cue to buy. The reality is the trend has already occurred and it’s now time to take profits!

    Though VPA works, the dynamic of price/volume can change depending on the mass motive behind the ratio of price range to volume range.

    I wonder if you have any thoughts about this?! VPA is a fantastic book and I applaud you for your clarity and brevity. It had me thinking about why I sometimes see falling volume with sustained rising prices and this seems to be an answer.

    Many thanks
    Greg

    • Hi Greg – many thanks and you do raise an interesting point with regard to volume price analysis and the question of ‘scarcity’ is one which leads into another aspect of VPA which is that of floating supply.This is the number of shares available for trading and as you might expect is something that the market makers are keenly aware of, since they see both sides of the market – the complete supply and demand picture. At any time, they will be keenly aware of these figures, which you can think of as the levels of stock in the warehouse – too much and prices are driven higher to sell into the market, too low, and the market is driven lower to encourage selling. It is this aspect of a ‘availability’ of the stock which is then reflected in the price action through the activities of the market makers. It is interesting to note that in the last few days someone who was a specialist clerk at Bear Sterns has left a comment on the VPA book on Amazon really confirming the validity of volume price analysis from an insiders perspective, which is wonderful to see – I have included the link here – Amazon reviews

      I hope the above helps to answer your question and many thanks for taking the time to write, and also for your very kind comments which are much appreciated. All best wishes and thanks again – Anna

  8. Hi Anna – I am a novice at trading my own accounts but not a novice in general finance overall. Having said all of that I came across your FFB book in Amazon after doing a search on highly reviewed books for Forex, and I must say I was not disappointed, in fact greatly impressed. I have read several books on day/swing/investment trading and this book (the first of your’s that I’ve read) is excellent. Especially given the real-world context you provide as supporting examples (i.e., margin vs. leverage and the mortgage example). You’ll be happy to know that I have since purchased a few more of your other publications.

    Having said all of that, I have a question for you — my account is with TD Ameritrade and I use their Think or Swim application, but it does not support MT4 for Forex.

    What broker do you use for Forex that supports MT4? I want to make sure I go with a reputable one.

    Thanks

    • Hi Jason – many thanks for your very kind and flattering comments which are much appreciated and I’m just delighted that you have found my books to be useful and I hope enjoyable too. It gives me the greatest please to receive feedback from fellow traders, and naturally if I can help in any way in the future, please just drop me a line here. With regard to your question, this can be a little daunting as you will find that virtually every forex broker around the world will offer MT4 as one of their platforms, as it is so popular. Choosing the right broker is key, and the site I always recommend is this one http://www.100forexbrokers.com As you will see it provides details on all the brokers, their platforms, offers, data feeds etc all in one place, so an excellent place to start your research, and I hope this helps. Thanks once again and wishing you every success and please keep in touch, and if you do have any other questions please just drop me a line here or on to my email anna[at]annacoulling.com – Anna

  9. Much appreciated for the insight…2 quick follow up questions:

    1) Re: brokers — I’m sure you don’t want to endorse any particular one, but seeing that there are so many out there, which ones are the top of your list for reputability?
    2) Assuming the broker(s) noted above are on both platforms, would you go with MT4 or Ninja Trader, and secondly, do bot MT4 & NT have the tick volume indicator?

    Thanks! PS — your new books arrived today…looking forward to diving in…

    • Hi Jason, many thanks and I will try to answer your questions as fully as possible.

      With regard to some of the more reputable brokers, there are many that have been around for several years and have a good reputation, although as always size is not a guarantee of financial stability – one only has to note the demise of Alpari in the wake of the CHF fiasco. Prior to this event, they would have been considered one of the ‘safest’, so as always you will need to do your own due diligence. However, those that come to mind would be companies such as OANDA, forex.com, FXpro, FXDD, VantageFX, AxiTrader – the best place to look is in the STP section of 100 forex brokers, and I must stress that you do need to conduct your own in depth review of each broker and check them our carefully to answer any questions you may have.

      Regarding your second question, if we start with MT4, this is the most widely available platform and one that is offered by virtually all forex brokers. It is ‘free’ in that there is no platform charge and no fees for the data feed which is provided by the broker. As always, there is no such thing as a free lunch and commissions are built into the spreads. The platform is very easy to use and trade from, and once learnt you can easily move from one broker to another. All brokers offer a demo account, some like OANDA never expire, others do. In terms of flexibility it can be a little limiting as the timeframes are prescribed as 1m,5m,15, etc and there is no option to trade using tick charts. It is very stable with a good free volume indicator along with many others as you would expect. Whilst the platform is primarily spot forex, increasingly brokers are offering indices, commodities etc Our indicators work with all MT4 brokers worldwide.

      Moving to NinjaTrader, this is a little different. Once again you can download the platform for free and they do offer an end of day free feed for testing the platform. However, for live data you will need a feed and the one they recommend is from Kinetick which works out at around $50/$75 per month for spot forex and then upwards for other instruments such as futures etc In addition you will need a broker although Ninja have recently acquired Mirus futures and now offer brokerage as part of their offering. NinjaTrader is a more complex but powerful platform offering all charting options from seconds to tick and time. It also offers many other features such as depth of market etc and is extremely well supported by the company. NinjaTrader also offer a scheme with the CME which reduces exchange fees where one of the recommended brokers is used ( of which there are many to choose from ) offered to retail traders. Both platforms have the tick volume indicator – and on NinjaTrader this is offered as standard with their other trading indicators.

      Of the two, I would suggest that if you are just considering trading spot fx, then MT4 would probably be the route to go, and if you thinking of trading forex futures and other markets then NinjaTrader would be the choice I think in very simple terms. For ourselves we offer all our customers the option to change from one platform to another in the future, free of charge, so any investment in our software can always be transferred to other platforms. We are developing for other platforms with Tradestation, Multicharts and Esignal rolling out later this year, along with another from a company called Tradable which is to be launched shortly.

      I hope the above helps but if you do have any other questions please just drop me a line – always happy to help.

      All best wishes and thanks again, and I hope you enjoy my other books as much as the first 🙂 – Anna

  10. Hi Anna,

    I’m currently reading your book “A Complete Guide To Volume Price Analysis”, and I’m enjoying a lot I might say!!
    If I had more time and didn’t love ice hockey, i would be done reading it by now, but I have to work and watch my team play on TV. 🙂

    So far, I understand everything, but I have few questions.

    When insiders creating their “fear campaign” and stock is falling like a knife, who’s is buying at that time? It’s catching a falling knife, and I’m not sure who does that these days..

    Of course, we, as individual traders/investors should not get in in that stage NOR in the next stage, when insiders buying at the wholesale?
    For us, we must get in when successful test has passed for “demand” or “supply” and breakout has began, right?

    Also, do you think insiders are done punishing OAS, SD, HLX and RIG?
    According to your concept, extensive selling is over.
    Right now, all of them looking in the “wholesale buying stage”, and “testing demand” phase.
    Let me know your thoughts.

    Thank you,
    Vadim.

    • Hi Vadim

      Many thanks for taking the time to write and many thanks for your very kind comments which are much appreciated, and I’m delighted you are enjoying reading A Complete Guide To Volume Price Analysis. With regard to your question on the insiders and what happens during a a falling market, this is the reason that the market makers test before moving a market dramatically. In a selling climax, they are selling into a weak market and the test before moving the market dramatically lower to ensure that all the buying has been absorbed. Naturally as the market falls, then traders sell in panic, which then has to be absorbed by the market makers, who then have to sell into a weak market. Remember, there will always be some buyers who will always buy on weakness, thinking they are getting in at the bottom, and simply buying on the expectation that the market has reached a bottom. This is the reason you see the typical price action of wide spread down candles with very high volume, then punctuated with narrow spread up candles in a weak rally, and again with high or very high volume. This is the market makers selling back into the market the stock they have forced to absorb in the rapid move lower, and selling back to those traders who believe the move is over. The market then moves dramatically lower again, with more panic selling, trapping more traders and investors in weak positions. A further pause then ensues with more selling by the market makers back to those buyers who once again think the fall has reached a conclusion. The key for any bottom is to see the reverse of the selling climax ( by the market makers ) which is the buying climax. This then signals the end of the price waterfall, and will be signalled as explained in the book – stopping volume, narrow spreads and testing etc. Rather than answer your specific question on the charts, I will do a post on the site with my analysis on each of these in due course, so you can read this on the site – I hope this is OK and thanks once again for your kind comments and wishing you every success – and enjoy your ice hockey too:-) – all best Anna

  11. Hi Anna – in your forex books & related graphic examples, you reference 3 indicators: real tick volume, pivot points and currency strength indicators. These don’t seem to be part of the basic MT4 platform download. Are these add-ons you purchased, and if so, which ones do you use (product name/product creator)?

    Thanks – Jason

    • Hi Jason – many thanks taking the time to get in touch, and since writing the books, my husband and I have now acquired Quantum Trading, the company responsible for originally developing the indicators. You can find all the details here at http://www.quantumtrading.com and if you do have any questions please just drop me a line at anna[at]annacoulling.com as I am always happy to help if I can. You are also very welcome to join the weekly training rooms for forex which are free and you can find details on my site here on the home page, and I would be delighted to see you there. Thanks once again and I hope the above helps – kind regards Anna

      • Thanks Anna – I did join (I hope, please confirm if it did not go through). I would love to be a fly on the wall. Will I be notified of the date(s) and time(s)?

        • Hi Jason – many thanks and just to confirm you are on the list and should have received a link to sign up for the room from me. This is a series that runs on every Thursday and we will shortly be adding another for FX using NinjaTrader which will be on a different day. You will receive details in due course as a subscriber so please don’t worry and many thanks once again and I look forward to meeting you in the room – all best wishes – Anna

        • I read a book by mark”set and forget” but as interesting as it is he said Anna coulling taught him and I thought it would do me a whole lot of good to learn directly from you.

          • Hi Ajayi – many thanks for getting in touch and delighted to hear you found me through Mark. Hope you enjoy the site and content and you can of course join me in my live webclasses which I run regularly with my husband and fellow trader David. Hope to see you there and you can register on my site on the home page. Wishing you every success kind regards Anna

  12. Hi Anna – in your book you reference a site that you prefer for the MT4 platform overview/training. What is that site?

    Thanks – Jason

    • Hi Jason – many thanks, and since writing the book the site I referenced was one run by Alpari, who have since closed following the CHF debacle. However, the link here is from another broker who offer an excellent series of videos to show all aspects of using MT4 which I hope you find useful and helpful. The link is here and the company is XM – MT4 tutorial – thanks once again and if you do have any other questions please just drop me a line – always happy to help further if I can – kind regards – Anna

    • Hi Mike – many thanks for your question and if you could give me some idea on the timescales you are considering I would be happy to take a look at the futures contract on NinjaTrader for you. All best wishes and thanks again – Anna

  13. Hey Anna,

    I’m reading your Binary book at the moment and just finished reading the chapter about brokers and it made me a bit nervous. I now have an account (and deposited) with 24option. Do you know if they are an on-exchange broker? I asked the kind lady in the chat and suddenly the chat was closed, so I have a bad feeling about this, but maybe she just closed it because she really didn’t understand the question.

    Kind regards,
    Tijs

    • Hi Tijs – many thanks for your question and thanks for taking the time to drop me a line. With regard to your question, 24option is not an on exchange binary broker I’m afraid. These are few and far between and the primary one I reference in the book is Nadex in the US. There are other binary option products which can be traded on the exchanges, but the market in general is one of white label brokers and not on exchange brokers. Thanks once again and I hope this helps – all best wishes – Anna

      • Dear Anna,

        Thanks a lot for your answer! I figured I’d make a reply once I had my money back from 24Option, which took quite a while. I actually had to tell them that I was considering to deposit a lot of money but that I wanted to try and see if I could withdraw safely before I actually got help. After I mentioned that, it was dealt with in a day. It’s actually a good way to withdraw your money with such a company I guess.

        Now I’m getting back to reading your book again, looking forward to learn all about it!

        Kind regards,
        Tijs

  14. Dear Anna,

    I am a novice to forex trading and just bought all your 3 books from amazon. I have started reading the forex for beginners book and have a simple question. You spoke about the DJ FXCM index chart as a more realistic option and even showed an example of it in your book. I visited the website but did not find the chart as presented in your book. Do you know specifically where on the dj index website I can find the daily chart or is it a subscription service?

    Thanks

    Nana

    • Hi Nana – many thanks for your kind comments which are much appreciated and thank you for investing in all three books, and I hope you enjoy reading them all. With regard to the Dow Jones FXCM index, you can find more details on it here DOWJONES/FXCM. You can also find this index at Quantum Trading which is one of the indicators David and I have developed and which is available for both Ninjatrader and MT4 and I have included the link here – Quantum Trading USDX index and in addition you will also find indices for both the Japanese yen and the Euro. These also support the currency strength indicator which then reveals individual currency strength or weakness across the 28 currency pairs and is the one referenced in the books. I hope this helps and naturally if you do have any other questions please just drop me a line – always happy to help further if I can – kind regards Anna

  15. hi anna
    i am interested in forex trading ,but to learn forex trading from basics i searched online ,but everyone are asking so much money.what iam asking is the books which you published give me forex knowledge from basics?

    • Hi Sanjay – I hope that in reading all three of my books this will give you a solid grounding and introduction to the world of forex trading. You can find them on my site here on the home page, and I would suggest you start with the Volume Price Analysis book as this is the foundation stone for everything that follows. Hope this helps and many thanks again – kind regards – Anna

  16. Hey Anna
    Loved your books. Finished 2 out of 3 (saving 3d analysis for last) in 4 days. Forex was mumbo jumbo until i read your books. KUDOS!

    One question i had.. volume at price => I can’t seem to find this indicator.. is this called something else?

    Oh yeah.. and another, do you recommend for or against ctrader? I know it’s just a platform and the fundamentals don’t change but ctrader makes it TOO easy to make quick trades and i feel psychologically this is worse in terms of getting emotional with trades

    • Hi Taewoo – many thanks for taking the time to write and thank you for your kind comments which are much appreciated and delighted they helped to make sense of the forex world. It can be a confusing market, so I just so pleased they clarified it for you. The VAP indicator is available on the NinjaTrader platform and is a standard indicator called volume at price. On your question on Ctrader this is interesting, as it is something we have in our plans for the future as we have been asked by other traders about this, so we are considering this for the future. Over trading is a big problem, and not just restricted to Ctrader. Most platforms (including MT4) now offer one click trading from the screen, so it is extremely easy to enter positions from boredom etc This is one of the issues when trading full time – to avoid over trading and only take positions having assessed the probability of success and risk on the position. Thanks once again – regards – Anna

  17. Hello Anna,

    I am reading your Forex for Beginners book and really enjoying it and I will be getting your Volume Price Analysis book after.

    My question to you is: Do you have these books in a PDF Format?

    • Hi Wes – many thanks and thank you for your kind comments which are much appreciated and delighted you are enjoying reading my books. These are only available in Kindle version or in paperback, both from Amazon – hope this helps and thanks again – regards Anna

  18. HI Anna, I am your biggest fan. You are the most inspiring and knowledgeable trader I know. My name on Stocktwits is @superbloom. I basically teach volume analysis from your book. I use your work and book as a textbook. I recommend this book weekly on my feed. I have a question. Do you recommend any other books on volume analysis for more insight? And will you have a 2nd volume book? Thank you. Michael

    • Hi Michael, and what can I say after such kind and flattering comments which are truly appreciated, and make me feel very humble indeed. I cannot begin to tell you the pleasure such words as yours give me, and I’m just so thrilled and pleased for you and all your students, and if I can help in any way in the future, please just drop me a line here or contact me on my personal email at anna[at]annacoulling.com. With regard to your question on books to recommend, the ones I would suggest first, which are still available, are those by Richard Ney. They have a wonderful ‘of the time’ feel about them even more so with the charts and layout of the books. Richard was a champion of the people and a scourge of the SEC, and as you m might expect was a volume based trader and investor.

      But as always, the principles of volume price analysis are timeless and span the centuries. Two of the best of his are ‘The Wall Street Gang’ and ‘The Wall Street Jungle’ – you can find them on Amazon. The others I would suggest would be those by Richard Wyckoff – a great educator and again another who believed in helping private investors understand how the markets really worked from the inside out. He was the first to codify this approach in his three laws. You can also find his original course ‘The Richard D Wyckoff method of trading stocks’ – and there are many more of his books also available. Finally one of my favourites – Jesse Livermore – Reminiscences of a Stock Operator – a gem.

      Finally with regard to a second book, the short answer is no, but what I am about to launch with my husband David is a complete education course for forex traders called ‘The Complete Forex Trading Program’ – which is due to be launched in the next couple of weeks. It is a combination of online videos and live webinars, and of course includes VPA along with a workbook over over 200 examples.

      I hope the above helps, and once again, all I can say is thank you for taking the time to write, and thank you also for your immensely kind words. They are truly appreciated and do keep in touch – wishing you and all your students every success – with all best wishes – Anna

  19. Hi Anna, I have started reading your book, Forex For Beginners and I find it is immediately very interesting and clear. The question I have at this stage is how much money do I need to start trading forex and how soon realistically can I expect or forecast to make money or profits if I do the trading properly?

    • Hi Ameen – many thanks for getting in touch and this is a tough question to answer, but when you first start it is all about becoming consistent and then once you have acheived that, to start building and adding to your trading capital. This is something we teach in The Complete Forex Trading Program and also ofcourse understanding yourself which is all part of the psychology of trading, so that you match your traits and personality to your trading style to give you the best chance of success. You can find all the details here at Quantum Trading Education – all best wishes Anna

  20. Hi Anna,

    Hope all well! just a novice here reading your book ‘Forex for beginners’. I am enjoying it so far. I have a question regarding VAP and the hammer candle if that is ok?

    On page 83, Fig 6.13 ‘phase 2 disagreement’, I know you are saying it is a disagreement as the volume decreases as there is a small rise is the price of the GBP (long). But as Phase 2 starts, the is a hammer candle with a deep lower wick and high volume, isn’t this suggesting an upward movement may happen, which is does? why wouldn’t this agree as there is high activity where this happens?

    Any help would be great!

    A Jak

    • Hi – many thanks for getting in touch and glad you are enjoying reading the book. With regard to your question, the Phase 2 disagreement refers to the price action following the hammer candle. The hammer candle signals buying which indeed happens and the price starts to move higher. However, volume is falling and the price is rising which is classical disagreement as we should see rising prices supported by rising volume which means the insiders have moved in to buy and then distribute again in the up move so are not particpating. This is an anamoly and therefore signals a reversal is expected back into the primary trend as explained in classic Wyckoff theory. Hope this helps Anna

  21. Hi Anna,

    I would love to hear your opinion / experience about VPA and cryptocurrencies. Any insight is much appreciated.

    Peter

    • Hi Peter – thanks for your question, and as I’mn sure you know Volume Price Analaysis can be applied to any market in any timeframe and instrument and as long as the price chart has volume, then this approach can be applied in exactly the same way, whether cryptocurrencies or indeed any other. Hope this helps and thanks again – Anna

  22. DEAR ANNA,
    thanks for all the three books published by you.
    i am an equity trader, full time trader for livelihood.

    i had a few questions for clarifications.
    let me first of all pay my gratitude for the wonderful three books which were very enlightening indeed. at last i could find real logic in equity trading.
    my question is : how to select an equity for vpa judgments in our daily trade.
    i would be grateful if you would throw some light on it and lighten my burden please.
    thanks very much indeed
    SR. RAMESH
    dated 13 novemeber, 2017

    • Hi Dr Ramesh – and many thanks for your kind comments which are much appreciated and delighted you enjoyed reading my frist books. As a stock trader and investor you will be delighted to know that I will shortly be publishing a follow up book on VPA which will contain over 200 workd examples in volume price analysis, many of them being based on daily and weekly charts for stocks. The book will be published before the end of the year in the next few weeks, and will be available on both Kindle and paperback versions so this will answers all your questions with some clear and detailed examples – thanks again and wishing you every success – Anna

  23. THANKS A MILLION FOR THE REPLY ANNA . I AM EAGERLY WAITING FOR ANOTHER MASTER PIECE FROM YOU. AND ONCE AGAIN DEEP REGARDS.

    DR.SR.RAMESH
    DATED 21/11/2017

  24. Hi Anna,
    I am just wondering where would be the best place to find the currency strength indicator you previously mentioned in your book. I recently have been looking around for currency strength indicators but I have not managed to find a reliable source as of yet.

    I look forward to hearing from you!
    Kind regards.

  25. Hi Anna, any plans for a Trading Index Futures Using VPA” book any time soon?

    Best,
    Joe
    Orange County, CA USA

    • Hi Joe – I don#t have any plans at present for one specific to index future, but with the VPA book and also the worked examples in other markets you can trade any market. In fact in the stock trading book I have included some examples using indices – but only one or two:-) wishing you sucess Anna

  26. Hi Anna
    I started reading your new book Trading and investing using volume, i came across page 26 section 1 with the example AAP, however to me the transition from weekly chart AAP example to monthy chart AAP on the next page seems odd:
    I thought that your point in weekly chart AAP is to show the bullish sentiment that was ensuing with the subsequent break of resistance. However you start the monthly chart right immediately after on page 28 with the opening words:THIS WAS INDEED THE CASE WITH THE STOCK ROLLING OVER. I thought your whole point in the weekly chart was the development of bullish reversal pattern with the last hammer indicating a bottom and subsequent break of resistance. Appreciate your comment on this.

  27. Hi Anna,
    I recently read ypur book on three dimentional trading and you mention about s&p municipal bonds, however I am having diffculty finding them. Is there anywhere you could recommend me to look?

    Kind regards

  28. dear anna coulling,
    i have two very small questions to ask being a beginner. would you be kind enough to clarify please.
    1. is sell climax the only place where we as minority could sell following the large institutions and
    2. is buy climax the only place where we as minority could buy following the large institutions

    thanks indeed
    DR.SR.RAMESH.
    DATED 30TH JULY, 2018

    • The selling and buying climaxes are areas on the chart which we can see and then base our trading decisions accordingly. You may decide to join the trend once it is underway or trade at the reversal. This is a personal decision based on risk and money management. Hope this explains Anna

  29. Hi Anna,
    You have 2 books on VPA. Which do you recommend reading first of the 2? I’m just starting my FOREX trading journey, so I am new and absorbing as much as I can from your books. Thank you.
    John

    • Hi John – many thanks for getting in touch and delighted to hear you are thinking of investing in my books. Of the two I would suggest you start with the VPA book first as this is the foundation stone for everything else. The forex book will then provide all the additional elements of trading/forex related aspects. I hope this helps and thanks again Anna

  30. Hi Anna,

    I had bought your book on Volume price analysis,I learned a lot from it.I have few question on trading the VPA using 1 hour charts.As you have mentioned in the book of examples of VPA you have divided the for 1 hour session using 5 session.

    My Questions :
    1.What are the different 5 session.
    2.How many 1 hour volume bar consists of the each session.
    3.How to compare the volume of each session with previous session.

    Can you please help in understanding

  31. Can you suggest any other books besides your Binary Options Unmasked that deal with volume price analysis for binary options. Thanks

  32. Hello Anna,

    I am wondering what the best way to communicate with you is. I tried using the contact me option you have on the site but that was over a week ago. I understand you get lots of mail and it’s very easy for mine to have slipped through. Kindly let me know how to get in touch with you beyond this comment section

    Cheers.

  33. Hello Anna,
    First for all I want to thank you for the great work you put into the great book A Complete Guide to Volume Price Analysis. Having said I’m a new beginner and I wanted to ask, should I begin trading as a Forex trader or stock trader? The second question I have is does Forex trading use volume at Price or not.

    • Hi Bernard – many thanks for your kind comments which are much appreciated and thank you for investing in the book, and delighted to hear you enjoyed reading it. With regard to your questions, forex or stocks – will depend to some extent on your trading capital and whether you are proposing to be an intraday trader, longer term investor etc forex will require less trading capital, stocks a great deal more, time available, what your financial goals are etc Volume at price can be applied to any chart and any market where you have volume. We have developed our own indicator for forex based on market profile called the VPOC or volume point of control – you can find all the details here at https://quantumtrading.com hope this helps – regards Anna

  34. Hello Anna,
    I should have included this question in my earlier bunch of question I asked you yesterday. I’m sure you are aware that in the book A Complete Guide to Volume Price Analysis some charts are very ineligible especially the values on the edges. So is there somewhere I can be able to download charts from Chapter 9(Volume At Price),10(VAP examples)and 11(Putting it all together). Having said that you did I great job by having clear and eligible charts in your other book follow up book Stock Trading and Investing Using Volume Price Analysis: Over 200 Worked examples. You have really convinced me with this VPA…the other day i had a debate with my friend who swears by price action with no volume and in my mind, I was like as you said on page 23…Imagine suggesting to Jesse Livermore, Charles Dow, Richard Wyckoff, and Richard Ney, that we had devised a new and exciting way to analyze that markets. They probably would have burst out laughing, so I thought lol
    Thanks again Anna

  35. Hi Anna,
    A complete Guide to Volume and Price Analysis book is too good, it help me lot.I need one example of one topic to understand better.
    Topic is,
    The hammer is followed by shooting star on average to high volume, a sign of weakness in the down trend and confirming the analysis of the hammer candle.The market is weak and our analysis using VPA has given us the confidence to hold the position in the market through this pullback.
    Page no 91.

    Thanks..

    • Hi Arindam – many thanks for your comment but I have checked on page 91 of the VPA book in paperback and this is talking about Narrow Spread candles and The Hanging man candle – perhaps you can confirm where on this page is the section of text? Thanks for clarifying and hope you enjoyed reading the book – regards Anna

  36. Hi Anna,
    To begin, I would like to thank you for the many well written and educational books that you offer on trading using Volume Analysis. I own four of your books and they are extremely helpful in understanding what is actually taking place behind the scenes as I watch price action on a forex chart. Your explanations of the manipulations that take place in terms of accumulation and buying/selling climaxes really has helped me with a more intuitive sense of what is going on from moment to moment.

    In your book “Forex Trading Using Volume Analysis”, you state:

    There have also been many studies over the years which have compared tick activity with the true futures volumes, and the conclusion in every case is that proxy volume is an excellent measure and barometer of ‘true’ volume.

    I am wondering if you could point me to such studies. I am interested in knowing more about how correlated they are and whether it makes any sense for me to work with futures data instead.

    Any direction you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

    • Hi Pat – many thanks for your kind words and I hope you enjoyed reading the books and found them helpful and enjoyable. One person you can certainly look up is Caspar Marney but there are many others, Quants use this data for example also – hope this helps and thanks again and wishing you every success – regards Anna

  37. Hi Anna,
    I’m reading your book The Complete Guide, and I don’t understand why volume has to *keep increasing* for price to keep moving up (or down)… I mean even if the volume bars were all identical, that would still mean more effort, concomitant and harmonious with *more* reward… wouldn’t it? I don’t see why there has to be *acceleration* in volume, just to see a steady rise or fall in price. This is not explained in the book. Could you please elaborate further?

    • Hi Matthew – rising price has to be supported by rising volume otherwise it is anomlous. The same is true in a falling market – we need to see rising volume to confirm – regards Anna

  38. Hi, Anna. How do you doing? I’m from Brazil and only recently I get to know your books and all related material to it. It was a great moment of truth, to me. And I have only to say “thank you” for what you have done for me in relation to my comprehension of trading markets.

    Thank you, a lot!

    But, unfortunately, I still have a doubt in regarding the testing supply and demand. Can you provide me a footage, short film, etc., where the testing supply and demand were executed? It would be great to see how you spot each one of them in real life trade action.

    My best regards, from Brazil.
    Cesar

    • Hi Cesar – many thanks and delighted to hear you enjoyed reading my books and hope you found them helpful in your trading. I will try to cover this in future posts for you, so keep watching – thanks again Anna

  39. Hi ANNA COULING
    I started to learn trading in late 2017. At the start of my trading journey I realised that I can not get the true picture of moving prices without volume analysis. I wondered to search the true insight to Learn VPA. At last I found an author with Name of ANNA COULING. Red the content lists, intro, and reviews of books. Followed you on twitter and YouTube. Learning the true insight for trading and investing. I was Delighted on discovery of these great books and great teacher. Tried to buy 2 books namely (1) Forex Trading using VPA, and (2) Investing and trading Crypto currencies using VPA.
    My hopes and happiness got vanished when I come to know that amazon is restricting me to buy these books in my country. Why I am being deprived from these valuable books? I am ready to pay the cost these 2 books. Please oblige me and send me PDF copies of these books. I will be very thankful to you for this act of kindness.
    Regards

  40. Hi Anna, thank you for writing A Complete Guide to Volume Price Analysis. The way you explain the formation of trends is very eye-opening. I had a question re: your explanation just before Fig. 8.13 (I am reading this book on kindle sans page numbers). When you say that after the first pivot “the volume is falling, which is a good sign (falling price and falling volume signals weakness in the trend)” do you mean to say strength, not weakness? Falling price on low volume is usually a bullish sign, isn’t it, and this low price/low volume ties into the market reversal you talk about later in fig 8.13 with the pivot low. Am I getting this wrong? Thank you so much for your time and your helpful book!

    • Hi Andreea – many thanks for investing in the book and glad you enjoyed it – with regard to your question – no it is correct falling price and falling volume signals weakness in the downtrend and possible reversal in due course into uptrend – hope this helps Anna

  41. Hi Anna,

    Thank you very much for your interesting and helpful books. I have a question. In the book “Stock Trading & Investing Using Volume Price Analysis: Over 200 worked examples”, for example on page 121, NVDA-monthly Nov 2015-Nov 2017, the June 2017 candle was suggested as a sign of weakness ahead (selling by the MM). How do you know that this is not a sign of uptrend continuation, assuming the MM has tried to prevent a drop in price here by buying a huge volume of shares (like putting a “propup” here)? There are many instances like this in your book. Thank you

  42. Hello Mam, Love from India, I am a Big Follower of you , You have made a significant change in my life , Special thanks for all the knowledge you have given in your books , I request you to write book on ” Worked Examples of Intraday Chart ” , 100 / 200 examples will be sufficient to understand the basic of Intraday perspective , Thanking you mam

  43. Hey Anna! Just finished your VPA book. Quite a different way to look at the markets and I learned a lot, although still digesting a lot of the concepts.

    Would love to get your thoughts on the last couple weekly SPY candles after this dramatic week! Last week’s was an inverted hammer on above average volume. This week’s bar was a bearish engulfing on yet higher volume. The only issue is that this is happening after a significant downtrend, and so, can we make the same assumption about this pattern that we would after an uptrend?

  44. Dear Anna hello,
    I’m reading “A Complete Guide…” and I’m very happy about this. I must say that this book enlighting me.
    On page 103 Fig. 7.11, you write “All-ve” and next “All+ve”.Please explain to me the meaning of ve. Thank you very much for all, and again your book is excellent.

  45. Hello Anna,
    I am at the beginning in studying your wonderful book “A Complete Guide to Volume Price Analysis” . I already encountered in more than one place you writing about the specialists and market makers marking higher/lower the price. Would you be so kind to guide me in finding the workings of the process changing the price shown for equities in “time and sales” trading platform snippets (thinkorswim) ? At this point I have a vague view of the matching software engines on the exchanges mainly doing that and the market makers having ways to intervene and overriding it (“fat finger” occurrences).
    Thank you.
    George

  46. Hi, Ms. Coulling. First, I wanted to say how truly amazing your book is; there isn’t any other book that could match it. I wanted to get your opinion on support and resistance vs. supply and demand. Also, if support and resistance is better, how do you plot these levels? What time frames are you looking at when plotting them? Also, when do you plan to release information about The Complete Stock Trading & Investing Program?

    • The Stock Program is complete and we anticipate launch in a few weeks’ time. If you have not done so already, please sign up for information on the launch. Re your questions on s&r & supply/demand zones – you can do these manually based on the price action & candle patterns. David & I have developed specialist indicators to do this for us. These include the accumulation & distribution indicator, the volume point of control and Camarilla pivots. You can find details at http://www.quantumtrading.com. Hope this helps & look forward to you joining our Program. Have a great weekend.

  47. Hi Anna,
    Let me tell you first that great fan of yours after reading your book. Thankyou so much for helping traders.
    But I have a question.
    About the shooting star and Hammer candle is that are they not dependent of the color and just the volume is sufficient to predict their weakness and strength respectively. ?

  48. Hi Anna,
    Big fan of yours and lots of love from India. I keep recommending your book to every trader.
    I wanted to ask about the 4 prime candlesticks you mentioned in the book, does the colr matter?

    Thanks again ❤

  49. Hello Anna, I hope all is well.

    Im currently reading ” A complete guide to volume price analysis” and i love it. As i’m new to trading theres a lot to take in. I just want to make sure i’m right with this concept.

    High Volume associated with a shooting star means theres weakness in the bullish trend. This is because market makers are pushing the bullish sentiment down with high volume and we should be ready for a possible bearish reversal.

    Thank you

    • Hi Aden – many thanks and thank you for your kind words which are much appreciated. Yes, the market makers are selling into weakness here and struggling to maintain the bullish trend, so prepar for a reversal in due course, but be patient. Remember, reversals often take time and not just off one candle – they do occassionaly with hammers and shooting stars, but generally into some form of congestion first. Wishing you every success – regards Anna

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