Poor Reversals GuidePoor Reversals Indicator
This indicator finds Poor Reversals. Poor reversals are reversals in price with consecutive highs or lows that are close together. Look for the different types of highs and lows. Some say candle patterns don't matter, but they forget it's the orderflow that makes the pattern. Find poor, tweezer , and 1 tic rejections and study what happens next. We don't need to read the depth of market to see what the orderflow is saying. They are called poor because the auction didn't run its course. It didn't continue the direction until all activity in that direction was exhausted. Proper reversals create excess. Excess is a long tail/wick. A proper reversal leaves a long tailed excess unfilled.
The different highs and lows give clues to what kind of orderflow happened there. The difference between them is which high or low happened first. Price does often come back to these areas and clears them up with a proper reversal. We can see them on all timeframes. Knowing what they mean in the orderflow helps with reading charts.
The Poor Reversals are:
Poor
1 Tick Rejection
Tweezer
When looking at 2 bars that have very close high or lows, there are a few different types. They are each poor and can be further defined as each are price action clues.
If next low is higher, it's a poor low
If next low is lower, it's 1 tic rejection
If next low is equal, it's tweezer bottom
If next high is lower, it's a poor low
If next high is higher it's 1 tic rejection
If next high is equal it's tweezer top
Poor Highs and Lows:
The high or low comes first. The next bar does not go past it. Poor highs and lows are often created from price exhaustions. This means at poor highs buyers are trapped. At poor lows sellers are trapped. Price ran out of steam to continue in that direction. There wasn't enough activity/participation to continue the auction in that direction.
Poor lows are defined when 2 lows are very close, and the 1st bar is lower. The 2nd comes very close to a new low. It happens most when shorts, at the moment, "run out of steam". They were "too aggressive" and got themselves "short in the hole". When a poor low is made, price will bounce because shorts are buying to protect profits.
Poor highs are defined when 2 highs are very close. The 1st bar is higher. The 2nd comes very close to a new high. It happens most when longs, at the moment, "run out of steam". They were "too aggressive" and got themselves "long in the tooth". When a poor high is made, price will pullback because longs are selling to protect profits.
1 Tick Rejections:
The high or low comes last. The last bar goes just a little bit beyond the first bar. A "1 tic rejection" happens when a new low is made and quickly rejects. The name is misleading. It doesn't have to be "1 tic". Different markets have different measurements. For ES, it's less than 8 tics. For NQ, it's about 5-20 points. It varies depending on relative market volatility .
1 Tick highs are defined when 2 highs are very close, and the 1st high is lower. The second high is a small peek above. This happens when longs are aggressive and drive price up. Price makes a newer high and longs rapidly start taking profits. Their selling activity drives price lower. In the orderflow, longs likely closed at the same time new shorts sell. This competition to sell drives price lower. At the high, it says longs saw it wouldn't go higher and they took rapid exit.
1 Tick lows are defined when 2 lows are very close, and the 1st low is higher. The second low is a small peek below. This happens when shorts are aggressive and drive price down. Price makes a newer low and shorts rapidly start taking profits. Their buying activity drives price higher. In the orderflow, shorts likely closed at the same time new longs buy. This competition to buy drives price higher. At the low, it says shorts saw it wouldn't go lower and they took rapid exit.
Tweezer Tops and Bottoms
The highs or lows of the bars are equal. Tweezers most often mean that an aggressive trader is influencing price. They drove price in one direction and then quickly reversed sentiment. Tweezers most often happen in stop hunts. An aggressive trader found where the stops were located and then entered an aggressive order to turn the market.
Tweezer Tops are defined when 2 highs are equal. The first bar sets the high. The second bar matches the high. This happens when there is an active seller entering. It could be simple profit taking from longs or new aggressive shorts. In price action, price will move up to find short stops. When the stops are found, the market reverses sharply lower.
Tweezer Bottoms are defined when 2 lows are equal. The first bar sets the low. The second bar matches the low. This happens when there is an active buyer entering. It could be simple profit taking from shorts or new aggressive longs. In price action, price will move down to find long stops. When the stops are found, the market reverses sharply higher.
Poor Reversals can be Poor, 1 Tick Rejections, or Tweezers. They are all considered poor and upon further investigation we can see they are created from different conditions in the orderflow. They are not called Poor Reversals because they are weak. They are called poor because of the action that happened there. One side got caught in a bad position. Other sharks in the market smelled blood and ripped them apart.
This indicator is a work in process. While the concepts are great for real time trading, this indicator is not designed to be used in real time trading. It will repaint based on the bar close. The purpose of this indicator is to train our brains to see these nuances on candle charts. Some say candle patterns don't matter, but they forget it's the orderflow that makes the pattern. We must make split second decisions and knowing the context behind the orderflow reduces response time. These poor reversals don't have to retest, and the best ones won't come back. I use these concepts to find exits, where my trades might be wrong, confirmation I'm on the right side. It's amazing how these simple nuances can turn the markets. But sure enough, they do. Check them out in all time frames.
It's a fun indicator to play with. Some markets do require tweaks to the “Ticks” setting. Too big and charts will be noisy. Too low and not much will show up. A general rule of thumb is more volatile markets need higher tick values while less volatile need lower Tick values. Higher timeframes are also more reliable than lower time frames. I've included some customizable settings and I plan on adding more in the future. Enjoy!
