VSA Quick Guide
VSA Quick Guide
VSA Quick Guide
Accumulation ranging market characterized by low volume, narrow spread/range. The volume should shrink near a support line and expand near a resistance line. The SM is trying to buy up as much of the currency as possible. Look at how the market was before it was rangingif it was going up then its probably going to go up again after the accumulation. If it was going down then it might go down againalso look at main trend. After the accumulation phase is over, smart money tries to get ready for the Mark up phase by moving prices up. This is characterized by wide spread upbars that close near the top and also increased volume. Sometimes this will happen then the next bar will be a high volume bar downclosing indicating lowered demand. These bars are called Effort without Result bars and are signs of weakness before the start of the uptrend. Mark up characterized by rising lows. Prices are getting higher on lower volumes because of a lack of supply. In this phase, the price will shoot up with some high volume. Sometimes it doesnt need to go through the mark up phaseitll just shoot up after accumulating. Here, a 150% increase in volume and a close near the top = a successful breakout. The breakout is just the beginning. Then the stock moves up in stages. Each stage would be an advance at higher volumes and a retracement at lower volumes. The retracement is mainly due to short term traders booking their profits. The SM also starts the distribution during the retracement. The points at which these retracements stop become important. These should be above the previous retracement stops. We will also see sideways movement during the up move which would be congestion areas. We need to pay lot of attention to these congestion areas for this could be final distribution areas before the mark down begins. Also it pays to give attention to volume during retracement and congestion areas. Increasing volumes near support line and low pivots indicate problem. If the increase is dramatic then it is time to re-evaluate your position. Distribution the smart money is trying to sell while making it look like the markets still going up. Hard to spot this phase because sometimes there is no ranging period. Here the volume starts to diminish and the ranges narrow. Watch out for the volume increasing and price going up too steeply, it makes the price drop too unpredictable. Mark down Price drops, price range widens. Upbar Close of the bar is higher than the close of the previous bar Upclose bar closes in the upper 30% Downbar Close of the bar is below the close of the previous bar Downclose bar closes in the lower 30% Midclose bar closes between 30%-70% Wide spread bar If the spread (range) is ~1.8x the average spread Narrow spread bar if the spread (range) is ~0.08x the average spread Upthrust bar wide spread bar with a high volume and closing down (in an uptrend). Its high is higher than the previous bars high. An upthrust bar usually appears after a wide spread upbar with high volume. The upthrust bar is a sign of weakness in an uptrend. No demand bar a narrow spread upbar with low volume that closes in the lower half. It shows that there is no support from the smart money (SM). Used for finding weakness in an uptrend. No supply bar another narrow spread downbar with low volume. It closes in the lower half. It is used to find strength in a downtrend. Watch out of no supply/demand bars occur after test bars. Absorption volume in a downtrend, when you see a downbar with high volume close near the topindicates the SM is going to start accumulating again so they can get the price moving up once more. Reverse upthrust in a downtrend, a wide spread bar with high volume and closing up near the top. Its low is entering lower territory.