Aug

14

"The set piece" is an elaborate and memorable interlude in a film or book, e.g. a duel, an escape, a death which is visually striking and somewhat apart from the main story. I like the set piece in Post Captain where Aubrey is dressed up as a bear to evade the French or the train scene in Atlas Shrugged where the workers come to make the ride safe or best of all the scene in Reverse of the Medal where Aubrey is sentenced to the stocks and all his shipmates line the street to prevent him from getting pelted. I understand there is a nice set piece in The Dark Knight where the plane is hijacked at the opening but I missed it amidst the 3 hours of heroism and villainy. What are your favorite set pieces? The set pieces in Count of Monte Cristo are frequently used as great ones.

It's somewhat similar to the Pitching in the Pinch of Christy Mathewson where the crowd is on its feet and the pitcher bears down and it's sudden death at a count of 3 and 2 with the bases loaded. Okay, the market has set pieces. It's a conflict between bear and bulls often with wide gyrations that yes, stand out on a chart, and perhaps have great volatility and volume. Perhaps a change from limit up to limit down like used to happen in silver in a second or the announcement that catches everyone the wrong way and leads to the running of stops, even both sides.

It could be the battle royale that leads to a turning point. What is your favorite set piece in the market and how can it be quantified. And yes, are there any predictive aspects to it?

T.K Marks writes: 

"Perhaps a change from limit up to limit down like used to happen in silver in a second"

Once upon a time I was a fledgling silver clerk during just such an occurrence. Was buried 'neath an avalanche of order tickets, limit up bids in the same pile as limit down offers. They met in the middle and both buyers and sellers thought it was Christmas. They soon made me a trader because I somehow kept my cool that day.

I think that fortune oftentimes smiles on those that find calm in chaos.


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  1. Doug on August 14, 2012 9:34 pm

    My favorite set piece I caught nicely today for a short on S&P’s. I like extreme readings on RSI/ADX followed by a pull back, then on the retest of that last high, short the hell out of it. Vice versa on down trends for a long.

    For currencies I do the same thing, but wait until the next round number gets hit and reverse the trend. (sometimes 20- 50 ticks from the extreme reading)

    Predictive aspects…I guess it is kind of common sense, just paints the picture of the final shakeout. What I mean by this, the first change in direction at the extreme is clearly the smart money selling, the retest of that extreme is the less intelligent smart money getting shook…that’s when my nimble trigger finger hits the execution button.

    I unfortunately can never figure out how long the next trend will be.

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