Lesson 5 | How to Study This Course: Theory, Practice, Planning, Always With Review

In one sentence

Everything in this course has to be practised on a chart. There are three stages, theory, practice and planning, and each one comes with review.

Memorise the ideas, practise the techniques

The four ideas are short: the market moves in order, every move has a cause, levels hold each other in check, trends push step by step. You need to remember them; they are the foundation. Techniques are different. Understanding how to measure 1.382 or draw a rhythm line is not enough. You have to drag the mouse across charts again and again until your hand knows it.

In my live classes I teach one lesson every one or two weeks and leave time for practice. On this site you can read several lessons in a day, but I suggest practising for at least three days after each lesson before moving on.

An analogy

Learning to drive. You can memorise the highway code, but you can only learn the steering wheel by driving. The code is theory, laps in the practice yard are practice, and planning a route before a trip is planning. Thinking back after each drive about where you nearly had trouble is review.

Three stages

How to do the homework

This is what I ask of my students; you can do the same.

1. Practise five days a week. Each day measure lines on the daily charts of at least three instruments (gold, silver, forex pairs all work).
2. Take a full-screen screenshot of each chart and label the instrument, timeframe and date.
3. Right or wrong doesn't matter. What matters is coming back with questions. Next to each screenshot, write where you were unsure and what you thought.
4. A module usually takes one to two weeks to digest. If you haven't digested it, the next lessons won't make sense.

The most common mistakes

1. Watching without practising. Understanding a video and being able to measure are two different things.
2. Judging only by results. Review is not about whether a trade made money; it is about whether you followed the system.
3. Starting with real money. Until the system is second nature, no trade beats a losing trade. Use a demo account first.

Explain it in your own words

1. What goes with each of the three stages?
2. Why memorise the ideas but practise the techniques?
3. What three things should every homework screenshot be labelled with?

Practice

Start a review notebook today (paper or digital). On page one, write down the four ideas. From page two, record one measured chart and one question every day.

Previous: Lesson 4 | Trends push; ranges squeeze　Next: Lesson 6 | Two drawing tools: Fibonacci and percentage lines

This course teaches a method using past price action as examples. It does not forecast prices, recommend any broker or give investment advice.