Pairs,
I was trading and using market profile back in 93, so I’m qualified to comment.
Market Profile is based on Volume and distribution of price over time, it has nothing to do with Time, as part of its core ideology.
Market profile traders don’t know when the next distribution of volume over time will take place until after it takes place, and then the trader will use this distribution as support or resistance, or swing trade back to the same distribution levels from extremes.
Market profile is not a dynamic method, it’s a developing method that misses many ‘key’ components of technical analysis. Market profile won’t tell you where the next distribution of volume will take place until it has taken place
A Trader who uses Market Profile as a tool will use this distribution of volume to finally define support and resistance, and then the trader will mostly likely use these distribution levels to trade away from.
If the same trader is swing trading back towards the distribution levels then the trader is using different components to make those decisions, which are completely independent of market profile.
Personally I’m not a fan of market profile, but it can be beneficial to the ‘screen trader’ as an add on tool:- market profile is not a methodology.
Elliot wave is a methodology. Gann is a methodology. Mine is a methodology. Market profile is a Tool.
In saying that, I did mention it in my first book back in 2003, market profile did allow me to understand the concept of rotating back into central zones:- reversion.
And I also mentioned in the same paragraph, that Market profile fails as a stand alone method because it was marketed as a ‘day-trading’ tool, when the market doesn’t consist of 1 day’s trading, it consists of a number of days, weeks, months, and so on.
The best ‘short-term’ opportunities for swing-traders will always occur from the extreme.
The best ‘short-term’ opportunities for momentum-traders will always occur from the central zone as they trade with the trend.
The best medium-term and long opportunities will always occur from central zones as thrust patterns as price continues with the trend:- trade from the central zones outward to the extreme:- trading with the trend.
Most believe that trading 'breakouts' is the essence of capturing new trends. I beleive that the trader should already be in the trend before the breakout occurs:- central zone thrust patterns
That trend will then depend on the timeframe the trader is trading.
Never discount the two:- swing trading makes money, momentum trading makes money.
Both will make more money than each other when the market is moving in a trend or consolidating after a trend. They are dependant on market conditions.
And what your own preconceived ideas are about ‘noise’, is what the majority of day-traders are trading.
Noise:- bring it on!!!!
If you think that the best opportunties come from outer edges, then your missing a big chunk of the market to push your own barrel (pair trading).
You should know that the best opportunities come when the market presents a ‘new’ trend and you hold that trend as long as possible.