Traders and investors both understand that in order to enhance their trading skill and knowledge of the markets an indicator must be clearly presented, intuitive, and most importantly-actionable. In our books, nothing is clearer than Peter Steidlmayer’s creation of Market Profile® that was developed in the 1980’s yet still holds true today. Markets are essentially an auction bringing together buyer’s and seller’s and what they are willing to pay for a particular object, in this case a stock, bond, or commodity.
Market Profile® is a statistically based method of aggregating market-generated data and presenting it in an informational “profile” format that reveals the true auction that is taking place in a market. This flexible format allows a two-dimensional view of the markets that clearly illuminates the relationship of two mutually exclusive phases of market activity taking place:
- Consolidating prices which is a “fair” price area in the market where supply and demand are in relative balance, accommodating both buyers and sellers
- Trending prices which is an “unfair” price area in the market where either supply or demand are in relative imbalance, accommodating either buyers or sellers-but not both
In its simplest form, these are the only two scenarios that make up all trading which takes place within the global market place. The Commander Series helps to identify what type of market we are in as well as how and when to act while also managing risk and increasing the speed of analysis across multiple time frames.