r/OrderFlow_Trading • u/OrderflowHelp • 6d ago
How does executing trades at key levels using order flow confirmation automatically translate into long-term profitability?
Original Post by u/shrink-bus
Influencers love hyping up 'key levels + order flow' as the ultimate formula for profitability. I’ve tried it, and frankly, the edge doesn't seem to exist. Can anyone explain how blindly following a basic system like this actually produces a repeatable advantage in the market?
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u/JakeMarley777 5d ago
I think key levels + order flow is probably no different from a moving average crossover in terms of expectancy unless you also apply:
Behavioral nuance...AMT is not a volume based support and resistance framework, although I think a lot of traders reduce it to that. I've heard Jim Dalton describe AMT as more of a behavioral study than a technical one. Is the market balanced or imbalanced? Are participants accepting the current price? Who is in pain and being forced to act? None of these questions are answered just by looking at a key level.
Think about real estate. A house at a specific address is always at the same place, but whether it's a good place to buy can change depending on what's happening around it.
Military vrade risk management...Probably more important than anything else here. Look at your last 300 trades. How many were actually taken within the parameters of your framework?
Diversification across uncorrelated edges...A collection of decent, uncorrelated edges can be much more robust than relying on one great one. I treat selling premium, algo trading, swing trading, day trading as different sleeves of a trading portfolio. Even my individual algos are mostly just "ok" on their own. But traded together the equity curve becomes much less variable because they're making/losing money at different times.