It is not uncommon that I come across a new trader who has settled himself to "stare at the DOM (or the time & sales) for 6 months". Obviously, the type of success in learning how to tape read with this approach is going to be very low. Why? Because the importance of context in learning is missing. And, this is something that so many educators don't understand! We learn best what we already know. We learn best what we already understand. We learn best when we understand the context of what we are learning before we learn it. Attempting to learn something new without context is like attempting to put the pieces of a puzzle together without knowing what the completed puzzle looks like.
It should be clear that the lack of context is why most traders won't learn to tape read by just "staring at the DOM". The better approach, in my opinion, is to integrate the skill of tape reading into a framework of placing trades. In other words, the best way to learn to tape read is to read the tape and make trades -- not to stare at the DOM.
Having explained this, let me be clear you don't have to place real money trades. You can place simulated trades. But, please don't stare at the DOM for 6 months. Trade using AlphaReveal for 6 months and you are far more likely to "get it".
Monday, January 20, 2014 3:07:00 PM